Emotional Ullmark 'very happy' to remain with Bruins following Deadline

BOSTON -- The hug seemed to go on and on.

While Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman have made something of a trademark of the postgame embrace, this one seemed to hit differently. Swayman repeatedly pointed to Ullmark and to the ice, as if to emphasize that Ullmark was still here, still in Boston, still on the Boston Bruins.

“There’s going to be some games you’re going to take with you a little bit longer, obviously,” Ullmark said after he was named the No. 1 star in a 5-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at TD Garden on Saturday. “I’m going to keep it a little bit in the memory bank, and you can pull it out from time to time.

“I got emotional as well when Sway said all these nice words to me. I would have done the same for him if he was in my shoes. It’s tough to talk about, but I’m just so gosh darn happy.”

Rumors had swirled in recent weeks that the Bruins were shopping Ullmark, a way to take an area of obvious strength -- two goalies among the best in the NHL -- to bolster other areas of their team. And it had reached a crescendo this week when there were reports that Ullmark had invoked his no-trade clause to block a proposed deal, enabling him to stay in Boston, a city in which he’s comfortable, in which he won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goalie last season, in which he has found an exceptionally close friend in Swayman.

Asked about those rumors, Ullmark said: “I’m just very happy to be here. This is the team that I want to be in. I’m very fortunate to be a part of this group. Ever since Day One I’ve loved it here. So I’m very happy with where I am right now.”

Is he glad the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline is over?

“Oh my God, yes,” he said. “No, it’s tough. You try to act tough beforehand. You don’t want to show anything. You don’t want to show any emotions, kind of like in a playoff situation as well. But it is tough on players. And this is the first time when I had to go through and actually being rumored about – I’ve always felt safe. But then once it actually starts picking up more, more, more, you hear those outside noises, it takes a toll on you. And then there’s the emotional part of it and then you start thinking about your family and then there’s all these questions that you just don’t have any answers to.

“So, yes, I am very happy that it’s over with. I’m very glad and happy to be here.”

On Friday, after the deadline had passed, general manager Don Sweeney declined to specify if anything in particular had materialized in terms of trading a goalie.

“I really like the tandem we have right now,” Sweeney said. “I’m very happy that we stand pat there. Rumors are rumors in terms of what happens in private conversations. You guys know me well enough it’s not coming from here in terms of what we’re trying to explore and what other teams are asking about.

“I made no bones that if I had to rob from a real strength of this hockey club that was something we may have to do if it made our team ultimately better, and we didn’t move in that direction.”

It had been a rough month for Ullmark. Not only were there the rumors that he might be moved, he seemed often to be the unfortunate recipient of the team’s struggles. Over his previous six games, Ullmark was 0-1-5, allowing 20 goals against. His last win had come a month ago, on Feb. 8 against the Vancouver Canucks.

Which was why Saturday afternoon felt cathartic. Ullmark allowed one goal on 39 shots, with Kris Letang scoring at 2:51 of the third period after the Bruins had already built up a 3-0 lead. It was the fewest goals he had given up in a game since that shutout of the Canucks.

Before the rumors built up. Before the trade deadline started bearing down.

It had weighed enough, on Ullmark and on Swayman, that the latter had needed to take a pause on Thursday when asked, after the Bruins defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, about potentially having had his final hug with Ullmark.

“That guy is my brother for life,” Swayman said. “He’s a huge reason why we’ve had success every year. I have no doubt that there’s not going to be any surprises hopefully. I love that guy to death and whatever happens, happens. It’s a business, I know it just as well, and whatever happens, happens. We’ve dealt with it over the years. But …”

He paused briefly.

“I don’t even want to think about that.”

In recent days, Ullmark had turned to his teammates, and former teammates, for support. He had a conversation with Patrice Bergeron recently that helped settle him. Charlie McAvoy reached out to him on Friday with a well-thought-out text message that Ullmark said “really hit home.”

“Just kind of shows what kind of a group and what kind of people there [are] in this team,” he said. “So I was very happy -- and emotional -- after I read it.”

And then, on Saturday, he came out and shined.

“He was our best player. It wasn’t close,” Boston coach Jim Montgomery said. “He was really good. Glad he’s still a Bruin.”