It was a relatively quiet week for the Boston Bruins. However, as New England Hockey Journal hinted at last Sunday, the team made the news official that a pair of former players and members of the 2011 Stanley Cup championship squad in Chris Kelly and Adam McQuaid, have both been promoted within the organization.
Additionally, the organization announced that Ryan Mougenel has been named head coach of the Providence Bruins after serving as an assistant coach under Jay Leach. The latter left the Bruins organization in early July to be assistant coach on the inaugural Seattle Kraken staff under head coach Dave Hakstol.
Kelly, previously serving as player development coordinator, has been elevated to assistant coach to fill the spot left open by Jay Pandolfo’s departure in late June. After a long NHL career as a top two-way forward and respected leader on every club he was with, Kelly will no doubt bring an instant connection with not only some of his former teammates, but all of the other roster players as well.
McQuaid will take over in Kelly’s role. He was a member of the B's coaching staff on hand to run the development camp last week, and given his experience, ties to the organization and even-keeled temperament, is a great choice to work with the team's prospects.
The player development coordinator’s job is to serve as a touch point between the organization and its prospects. In a normal season, he will typically travel around to see the various players where they are and observe them practicing, playing games and monitor their progress. He serves as a feedback loop for the player and helps build a relationship between that player and the B’s. At the same time, McQuaid's job is to evaluate and report back to the GM and hockey operations staff on the progress and provide input for the signing process later on.
Having Kelly and McQuaid on board is another step toward reinforcing the winning culture of the past decade in Boston. Both players and teammates were respected when they wore the Spoked-B for their character, toughness and work ethic. They both battled hard to establish themselves in the NHL and will be able to relate to the Boston prospects at any level, bringing with them an unimpeachable credibility.
As for Mougenel, he was never attached to the Boston organization as a player, but has developed a sterling reputation in the AHL over the past year working primarily with the Providence defensemen. He ran a tight ship in the development camp and showed himself to be a capable leader and teacher with the way he interacted with the players. The 45-year-old Ontario native was a rugged minor league forward who spent most of his six seasons riding the buses in the ECHL.
As a head coach in the ECHL with the Las Vegas Wranglers, he amassed a 151-111-26 record in four seasons. He moved to the AHL as an assistant coach with Hershey, Worcester, the San Jose Barracuda and Providence since 2013.
Free agent impact: Linus Ullmark
It was a bit of a surprise when the news broke that the B’s had signed Swedish goaltender Linus Ullmark on the first day of free agency, perhaps because it hit home that the Tuukka Rask era in Boston appears to be at an end. At least, if not at an end, then nearing the culmination point.
Beyond the fact that Rask just had hip surgery and won’t even be available to play for months, Ullmark’s four-year deal represents a hedge by Boston to shore up the team’s goaltending. Prior to signing Ullmark, the team was looking at entering the 2021-22 NHL season with two young and promising, but unseasoned netminders in Jeremy Swayman and Dan Vladar. In a potential scenario where Swayman was not quite ready for primetime after opening a lot of eyes in the 10 NHL games he appeared in at the end of last season, and Vladar not on the same level as Swayman, it was a bold push of the reset button in net for Don Sweeney.
Swayman looks like the real deal, but the team did not need to put itself in a position where the 22-year-old faced needless pressure to be a No. 1 goaltender right away. Enter: Ullmark.
The 28-year-old is in his prime, and while he’s battled injuries over the past several seasons, he was highly effective in net for the league’s worst team whenever he could go. A quick look at Ullmark’s career statistics show something remarkable. With the exception of one three-game stint as an 18-year-old in his country’s top pro league where he posted an .890 save percentage, in every season and league since, Ullmark’s save numbers have been north of .900. What is important to note, is that he has been on some bad hockey teams in North America: his first two years in the AHL with the Rochester Americans, the team went 66-79-7, but he accounted for 36 of those wins and posted a .905 save percentage.
Despite playing 117 NHL games for what has been one of the worst, and most dysfunctional teams of the last decade in Buffalo, Ullmark has managed to post a winning record of 50-47-13, against a 2.78 GAA and .912 save percentage.
According to the Dobber Hockey’s frozen pool statistics, Ullmark’s quality start percentage (45%), and goals saved above average (5.10) are well above the league average. What is impressive is that Ullmark posted those numbers (albeit with a small sample size of just 20 games) on the league’s last-place team. His GSAA, which represents the goal differential between the goalie and league average, where a positive number is better, was 1.5 points higher than Rask’s. All of that put Ullmark in the top-25 of the NHL’s top-100 goalies based on a variety of factors including traditional and advanced metrics. With Andrei Vasilevskiy and Connor Hellebuyck at the very top of the list, Ullmark graded out ahead of veterans like Marc-Andre Fleury and Rask.
The belief in Ullmark and Swayman allowed for the team to trade Vladar to Calgary for a third-round pick in 2022. A new era of goaltending begins now in Boston.
Why Ullmark will succeed in Boston: After being under siege the entire time he’s been in the NHL full-time since 2018, the newest Bruin goes to a team that has far more structure and stability. He won’t be left on an island as much, and he’s six years younger than Rask is. Ullmark’s 6-foot-4 frame, athletic ability and puck tracking skills are all above average, but he’s also a worker and a battler. He won’t have to expend as much energy playing behind Boston’s defense, and with a superb young netminder in Swayman with him, his usage numbers will be managed so as not to overtax him.
Why Ullmark is risky: As good as his numbers have been, he has yet to get through an entire NHL season without having some kind of issue that forces him to miss extended time. From lower to upper body injuries, Ullmark has run the gamut, so Boston’s training staff will likely have to put in the work to keep him healthy. All the promise in the world won’t translate into production if you’re sitting up on the press level watching the games.
As for Rask, the team is leaving the door open for a possible return later on when he's gone through rehab and is cleared to play. As long as he doesn't appear in any games in Europe, he would not need to pass through waivers if the Bruins were to sign him, though they would need the cap space (pro-rated) to do it. We will see, and it will all depend on how Ullmark and Swayman do between the pipes.
However, based on the information we have, it looks like the B's have positioned themselves for success with the younger duo. If they falter or someone gets hurt, the team has a veteran emergency option on the farm in Troy Grosenick (4 career NHL games), but will have to hope they can make it to Jan./Feb. when Rask would be much closer to being an option to return if needed. Kyle Keyser, who will likely play his first full season in the AHL with Grosenick in Providence is the only other signed goaltender in Boston's system. He shows promise, but is still a good distance from being a viable NHL option.
