After the Boston Bruins fired head coach Bruce Cassidy in the spring of 2022, it sent shockwaves not only throughout Bruins Nation but also the rest of the NHL.
General manager Don Sweeney hired Jim Montgomery to be the Black and Gold's next head coach long after Cassidy found a new home with the Vegas Golden Knights. Little did anyone know what was about to happen.
Boston put together an NHL-record regular season after it set the record for wins and points in an 82-game regular season. That record will stand forever, as the league is now heading to an 84-game schedule beginning in 2026-27. However, a major reason for the success that Boston had was because of the season that goalie Linus Ullmark had.
Bruins goalie Linus Ullmark's record-setting 2022-23 season will be tough to top
Going into that season, who saw the season Linus Ullmark had coming that ended up with him winning the Vezina Trophy? Pete Peters had set the franchise record for wins in a season with 40, and Ullmark tied that. However, it was other numbers that set him apart from Peters and other franchise netminders when it comes to a single season.
For comparison, Peters played in 63 games in 1982-83 and went 40-12-9, while Ullmark played in just 49 games, going 40-6-1 with a 1.98 goals-against average and a .938 save percentage with a pair of shutouts. He was a clear runaway Vezina Trophy winner.
With the NHL going to 84 games this upcoming season, it is still going to make it very difficult for another Boston goalie to even tie Ullmark and Peters with 40 wins in a season. Could two extra games make a difference? Sure, but what Ullmark did was impressive and will be difficult to top.
The Boston Bruins have had some good goaltenders in their history, but doing what Peters and Ullmark did hasn't been done except for those two times. Could Jeremy Swayman be the next? It wouldn't be surprising, but it's still a tall order to top.
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