Linus Ullmark Embraces Bright Future in the Bruins Net after Last Year’s Breakthrough – Update

Linus Ullmark, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner, and his sidekick, Jeremy Swayman, are back again and they’re looking for some more bear hugs.

“I mean 65 last year,” Ullmark said following Friday’s practice, referencing the record-setting number of wins the Bruins had in the regular season. “I probably would want plus 65, but if that’s going to happen, that’s something the future will tell. But obviously we’re going to keep hugging and hopefully a lot more — many more times is what I want.”

Ullmark was a towering presence between the pipes in 2022-23, posting 40 wins and a 1.89 goals against average.

“It just felt like everything clicked last year,” said Ullmark. “Obviously, it’s a good thing for my mental state and that side of it that I don’t have to doubt myself at all [whether] I can perform at this level. I know I can.”

Ullmark has picked right up where he left off with a sterling training camp and a couple of solid exhibition game performances.

While he relished the accomplishments of a season ago — he and Swayman also bagged the Jennings Trophy for fewest goals allowed — he has eyes focused on the future.

“My goal now is to get past the first round and then keep building off of that one. I had two years in a row now when we haven’t, and that’s something that’s really kind of bothering me quite a bit,” he said. “So, looking back at it, we did a fantastic thing last year. A lot of memorable moments that I will cherish for all my life and all my career. But that’s in the past. Nothing to worry about now, nothing to think about now. Now it’s this group, these personnel, it’s a new season.”

Ullmark said the competition with Swayman, who collected 24 wins last year, is all about keeping each other sharp.

“I [can] speak for both of us. It doesn’t matter who’s starting, we still want to keep playing the net and I always feel like it’s a performance-based type of thing,” he said. “You don’t get games for free. You earned them and you have to keep earning them.”

Jim Montgomery said the workload plan for his goalies will follow a similar script to last season.

“I think it’s the same mind-set as last year as far as they’re both going to get games and they’re both going to get the ability [to play],” said the coach. “We’re not going to ride one guy, that’s for sure.”

The only other remaining goalie in camp, Brandon Bussi, was assigned to Providence Friday.

Starting to feel real

With less bodies on the ice after a number of transactions the last 10 days, the Bruins had just one practice session Friday and there was a noticeable uptick in the pace.

“It was great to be down to one group . . . you can tell the energy, when you get down real close to your [final] group, the energy picks up, the pace picks up,” noted Montgomery. “You have a lot of things accomplished in a short amount of time.”

Montgomery said no decisions have been made on the final spots, but that Saturday’s practice will be another evaluation period.

“We’ll do a little bit of scrimmaging again and some special teams situations before we make final decisions on where we’re headed,” the coach said.

Longer look for Matt Poitras

Montgomery said it is “absolutely” a possibility that the club uses the 10-game NHL window as an extension of Matt Poitras’s evaluation. Because the talented center is just 19, he is not eligible to play in the AHL. After 10 games, the club will need to decide whether to keep him on the varsity for the season or ship him back to his junior team, Guelph in the Ontario Hockey League . . . At Friday’s practice, Poitras centered a line with Trent Frederic on his left wing and Morgan Geekie and Danton Heinen alternating at right wing . . . The other lines: Pavel Zacha centering James van Riemsdyk and David Pastrnak; Charlie Coyle between Brad Marchand and Jake DeBrusk; Greg Brown centering Milan Lucic and Jakub Lauko; and Johnny Beecher with Jesper Boqvist and A.J. Greer (with Oskar Steen subbing in) . . . The defense pairings: Matt Grzelcyk–Charlie McAvoy; Hampus Lindholm–Brandon Carlo; Derek Forbort–Kevin Shattenkirk; and Mason Lohrei–Ian Mitchell, with Jakub Zboril filling in . . . Hand-eye coordination moment of the day: After Shattenkirk lost his stick in a collision with Heinen, Lucic deftly used his stick to flip Shattenkirk’s twig high in the air, where it landed safely in the defenseman’s hands.

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Jim McBride can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @globejimmcbride.