Maybe the Bruins were ready to trade Linus Ullmark after all. According to ESPN's Kevin Weekes, Boston thought it had a deal in place to move the goalie, but Ullmark "essentially nixed" the move "in large part based on geography."
Ullmark has a 16-team no-trade list as part of his contract, so if there was a trade involving a team on his list, or if he was unwilling to alter the list, he had the right to block a move.
Did Linus Ullmark nix a trade?
According to Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli, the trade would have been with the Los Angeles Kings. That would check out on the "geography" front, as Ullmark may not have wanted to go West.
Meeting with reporters Friday afternoon, Bruins general manager Don Sweeney declined to answer when asked whether or not Ullmark invoked his no-trade clause.
Obviously, trading Ullmark would have been a massive shakeup for the Bruins, who have made the goalie rotation of him and Jeremy Swayman the strength of their team the last two seasons.
It would have been interesting to see if it would have been a hockey trade for either a forward or defenseman, or a trade for future assets that then may have been flipped in another deal. Center Pierre-Luc Dubois and defenseman Matt Roy could have been Kings players of interest.
The Bruins wound up making two smaller moves on deadline day, acquiring fourth-line winger Pat Maroon from the Minnesota Wild and third-pairing defenseman Andrew Peeke from the Columbus Blue Jackets.