Mike Milbury has been on the “trade Linus Ullmark, keep Jeremy Swayman” bandwagon for a while, and he thinks the time has come for the Bruins to get more aggressive in making that happen.
Making his weekly appearance on The Greg Hill Show on Thursday, the former Bruins defenseman and coach said that it’s becoming increasingly clear to him that Swayman is the future, and that Ullmark could and should be flipped for some necessary offensive help. Listen to the full interview above.
“The biggest problem now seems to be scoring some goals,” Milbury said of the Bruins. “They’re [14th] in the league now in total goals scored. We probably saw that coming with the absence of Bergeron and Krejci, but it really speaks to some of their needs.
“…If they have other holes – and they have other holes – I don’t think they can afford to have the two-goaltender system. I know we’re trending toward that, but you can use that in the regular season. You won’t have your goaltender play 60 or so games. But when you get to the playoffs, you’re gonna want to go with your best goaltender every game.
“I think for me, as good as Ullmark is, I think Swayman’s the guy for the future. I think you have to start dangling this guy [Ullmark] out there. There are a number of teams that need goaltending help. It’s a valuable commodity. I think they should aggressively start to look at making a move in that direction.”
Milbury is convinced that Swayman is already one of the best goalies in the NHL and is ready to handle more of a true No. 1 role.
“I think Swayman has just become one of the top goaltenders in the league. There’s just no doubt about it,” Milbury said. “If you guys watched the game on TNT last night, I thought Henrik Lundqvist did a great job of breaking down Swayman’s strengths. He’s quick, he’s aggressive, he’s upright. It was a good point by him: He always seems to be straight-backed and fills the net. It’s just almost impossible to see daylight behind him. The goals that were scored against him were magnificent goals, great goals that would beat anybody. I thought he was the star of the game. You can see how economical he is. His vision’s good, his anticipation’s good.”
The Bruins may not be as ready to trade away a goalie as Milbury is, though. There’s no question that their goalies – both of them – have been their biggest strength this season, and they aren’t ruling out the idea of using both in the playoffs like Milbury is. Last month, coach Jim Montgomery said the organization would “for sure” be more open to a playoff rotation than they were last year.
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