Should the Bruins start worrying about Linus Ulmark?

The Boston Bruins didn't make many big moves during the offseason, but one of the bigger ones was the acquisition of a new goaltender. There appeared to be some uncertainty around the future of veteran goaltender Tuukka Rask, who remains an unrestricted free agent after offseason hip surgery, and in order to shore up their goaltending situation the Bruins acquired former Buffalo Sabres goaltender Linus Ullmark.

It was a significant pickup for the Bruins and one that came with a significant contract as well. Over the next 4 years Ullmark will earn himself an average annual value of $5 million per season, a sizeable hit to the Bruins salary cap. The contract also came with a full no movement clause in the first 2 years of the deal, and a modified no trade clause in the two that follow.

It is perhaps for those reasons more than any other that there is already some growing concern over the performance that Ullmark has thus far put forward in the preseason. In his first preseason game with the Bruins the veteran netminder allowed two goals in spite of facing just 13 shots on goal, good for a save percentage of .846. 

As if that wasn't a bad enough start though, Ullmark really outdid himself on Saturday night against the New York Rangers. In spite of facing just 19 shots on goal Ullmark would allow 4 of those to get past him, good enough for an abysmal save percentage of .789. The cherry on top of course was the game winning goal from Rangers first round pick Alexis Lafreniere, a goal that was gifted to him by Ullmark himself.

Needless to say Ullmark has not found his bearings yet with the Bruins, although in his defense he still has time to work on things prior to the start of this upcoming regular season. You certainly can't blame anyone who has been concerned by Ullmark's performance in front of the Bruins net thus far however.

Thankfully for the Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman continues to look more and more like the goaltender of the future for this organization. If Swayman does indeed take on the bulk of the workload this season, which certainly looks like it might be the case based on his preseason performance, it won't help make Ullmark's contract look any more palatable.