After the Boston Bruins signed Linus Ullmark to a long-term deal, it was clear that one of the team’s young duo of Jeremy Swayman and Dan Vladar would have to go. It didn’t take long to make a decision, as Vladar is on his way to the Calgary Flames in exchange for a 2022 third-round pick.
The 23-year-old Vladar made his regular season debut this year, playing in five games for the Bruins. He posted an .886 save percentage during those appearances, but still looked like he might have an NHL future with the Bruins before long. Tuukka Rask is getting older and was facing a long rehab from hip surgery, while veteran backup Jaroslav Halak was moving on from the team. The third-round pick had plenty of AHL success to show for his time in the organization, including a league-best .936 save percentage in 2019-20.
The moment that Boston signed Ullmark though, everything changed, and Vladar will now have to prove his worth all over again to a new team. Still, that may be a blessing for the young netminder, who moves into a Calgary depth chart as the potential NHL backup. The team has prospect Dustin Wolf that looks to have a bright future, but he’s at least a few years away from pushing for NHL playing time. Vladar can instead slide in right behind starter Jacob Markstrom and attempt to establish himself as a backup at the highest level.
Landing a third-round pick for a promising young goaltender might not be ideal, but at least the Bruins got something of value back from a tight situation. Vladar is not waiver-exempt any longer, meaning they potentially could have lost him for nothing at the start of the season. While they won’t get back all the hours and money spent developing him, at least they recoup the pick they used to select him in 2015.
What kind of mental illness is going through the bruins front office today?
No idea. They were better off going with Vladar and Swayman until Rask is healthy. Instead they’re going to be spending North of $10 million on their goaltending if they re-sign Rask.
They ain’t signing that stiff Rask. He’s as done as Cam Newton
Cam Newton? The guy who was getting Pro Bowl talk before he caught COVID-19?
3 Games into the season and he was getting Pro Bowl talk? Wow, what an accomplishment.
Cam Newton isn’t good anymore, lets get real here.
I think they’re trying to do what the Pats did… except the Pats did it better
Treliving has quietly done some nice work this week. Zadorov and Vladar are upgrades that still have upside over what they had before.
This is what needed to be done after signing Ullmark. Swayman is the future and until he’s ready to assume #1, you have Ullmark, who hopefully you can turn around and trade for better picks/prospects when he is. Going with Swayman and Vladar for 3-4 months on a team whose core is getting older was too risky. They didn’t have a 3rd round pick in 2022, having traded it for Reilly. I also think they’re thinking that Rask may not be back – or at least they’re not banking on it. If he is, he can sign for a prorated contract, meaning you might owe him $2MM for the rest of the year.
Agreed. Swayman is the future, not Vladar. And Ullmark had decent success in front of a terrible Sabres team, so he & Swayman should work much better than Vladar/Swayman. And maybe Boston has seen the medicals on Rask and aren’t optimistic. Hip surgery on a 34-year-old netminder could get dicey.
Yes, but Ullmark got at least 2M more than he should have
Good trade I think. The old days (with Sutter) the Flames would just get a nobody to help with practice puck fodder.
Treviling made a good move here. A 3rd round drafted goalie for a 3rd round pick after they already took some time to develop. You can coach and train them the same, cuz they are both monsters in net. And you get a player that could have a pretty high ceiling?? He’ll train hard and learn for 20 or so starts. I like this trade a lot.
If Markstrom goes down the Flames are in trouble.
A lot of teams look to be in trouble if it would so happen that their starter goes down. I like the fact that the Flames are developing instead of just filling. It’s a fickle position in hockey, where Goalies come out of nowhere because of need. This doesn’t feel like a stop gap for a backup. This is a legitimate future asset in the making. Just doing some research on this….Vladar looks to be poised to build on his game. Whether he is a starter in his future or a journeyman backup, he looks to be a genuine NHL goalie. He’s a monster with athletic save acumen. You can train and coach these guys (Markstrom) exactly the same. We all know that Sutter likes to ride his starters, so developing a goalie for 20 games or so is good management. There will be plenty of journeymen goalies available through the season if needed. Every team who follows the starter/backup philosophy would be in trouble (on paper) if their starter went down. Building an asset, and putting your money into a more needed approach is good management.
I really like this signing….
If it is one note on this…Sutter knows his goalie feel. He’s had success in this.
He wants Vladar as his backup. Give him kudos for this pick as well.