Senators' Linus Ullmark gets important injury update

The Ottawa Senators acquired a major upgrade between the pipes during the offseason, acquiring former Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins and sending the struggling Joonas Korpisalo back to Boston in return; they soon locked up Ullmark with a four-year contract extension.

However, Ullmark has only played in two games with his new club ; he's been sidelined with what the team described as a "strain". Meanwhile, the goaltending duties have fallen to Anton Forsberg and Mads Sogaard.

However, the latest update on Ullmark's condition paints a more positive picture. According to Ullmark himself, he's been feeling physically better and is inching toward a return to action, via MSN.

"It feels better every day," Ullmark said. "We're going to do an evaluation to see what we're going to do going forward," Ullmark said. "If it means playing, backing up or sitting out (Saturday), I don't know yet."

"Full practice today, looked good," Senators coach Travis Green said. "We will assess it later today or tomorrow."

"It's a fine line when you're talking about pushing through things and being stupid," Ullmark continued. "It's tough when you're on the sidelines, you might feel well enough to go and battle it out. But you don't want to go out and play when you're not ready. You can make it worse, which can set you back multiple weeks."

The Senators are in action on Saturday afternoon , hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning at Canadian Tire Centre.

Linus Ullmark was recently extended by the Senators for four years

The Senators were impressed enough with Linus Ullmark to reward him with a four-year contract extension before the season opener. Management valued how Ullmark quickly endeared himself to the community and believed he was embracing the culture they are striving to build within the organization, via ESPN.

"We are excited to have Linus signed to a contract extension before the start of the regular season," Senators president of hockey operations and general manager Steve Staios said in a statement. "In a short window of time, Linus has been able to see the culture we're trying to grow with our hockey club and his family has experienced the community spirit of Ottawa-Gatineau."

Ullmark has gone 1-1 with a 2.58 goals-against average in his pair of appearances with Ottawa so far.