Why Linus Ullmark is prepared to be the Ottawa Senators’ solution in net
As the hockey world braced itself for an epic conclusion to the Stanley Cup Final, Linus Ullmark was sound asleep.
Ullmark's season ended weeks earlier, with his Boston Bruins losing to the eventual Cup champion Florida Panthers , and Ullmark and his family had travelled to Örnsköldsvik, Sweden — known affectionately as Ö-Vik by the locals. The offseason is Ullmark's time to be with his wife and two children, Harry and Lily, and he wouldn't lose sleep over a Stanley Cup Final he wasn't involved in.
But at 1:30 a.m., Ullmark's phone rang. His agent, Joakim Persson, needed to talk.
"He never calls me that late," Ullmark thought.
The goaltender picked up. Persson told him he'd hear from Bruins GM Don Sweeney a little later, but informed him that he had been traded. As millions of viewers were preparing to tune in to Game 7 between the Panthers and Edmonton Oilers , a trade served as their preamble. Ullmark was sent to the Ottawa Senators for goaltender Joonas Korpisalo , centre Mark Kastelic and a 2024 first-round pick (Boston's own).
For months, the Senators had their eyes on Ullmark. While they couldn't get a deal done before the deadline in March, the trade was finally consummated in late June as the Senators' front office was about to fly to Las Vegas for the NHL Draft.
"I wasn't all too fond of the timing of it," Senators GM Steve Staios said in a recent one-on-one with The Athletic. "But each one of these deals and these trades take on a life of their own and timing was what it was."
In Ullmark, the Senators added the 2022-23 Vezina Trophy winner who spent the last three seasons in Boston as a battery mate and hugging partner with Jeremy Swayman .
Through preseason with the Senators, Ullmark has looked everything like the No. 1 goalie the team needs as it tries to end a seven-year playoff drought. According to Natural Stat Trick, Ullmark ended the preseason with a .930 save percentage, a 2.41 goals-against average and no losses through three appearances.
The Bruins have their reasons for sticking with Swayman — who signed an eight-year, $66 million extension on Sunday — but there's a reason why he shared the net with Ullmark in Boston. The Swedish goalie is the second netminder in Bruins history to win 40 games in a season and became the fastest goalie in NHL history to win 25 games in a year, doing it in 28 games. Even if his statistics dropped last year, Ullmark still posted a winning record with 22 wins in 40 games with a .915 save percentage and a 2.58 goals-against average. Over the last two seasons, Ullmark ranks first in goals-against average (2.20) and save percentage (.928) and eighth in wins (62) among goalies who have played a minimum of 80 games, according to NHL.com.
Ullmark drew headlines for his goaltending bromance with Swayman but it also meant sharing the net with an equally "confident" goaltender.
"I don't know if it's possible for everyone. I don't think it's suitable for everyone and every team," Ullmark said. "But it's certainly something that I can look back and be very proud of how we handled it, how we came to work every day, how we supported each other and the joy that we brought to the game but also to the locker room and to ourselves. Because it was a lot of fun even though it wasn't the best situation for both of us. Because, at the end of the day, we all want to play the majority of the games. And when you're splitting games, you're going to have to share. I think that during these three years, we really did our utmost to make it work when it came to the mental side of it, the sports side of it and the performance side of it."
Off the ice, Ullmark has emerged as one of the NHL's most stylish personalities . He nearly edged out former teammate David Pastrnak in The Athletic's season-ending style rankings last year. Ullmark once wore a matching outfit with the legendary Céline Dion, a surprise guest in the Bruins locker before a game. It wasn't planned.
For those wondering, "Ashes" — yes, from the "Deadpool 2" soundtrack — is Ullmark's favourite song from the Québecois songstress.
"I actually got starstruck," Ullmark said. "That's the first time in a long time that I got really starstruck. I can't remember, I don't think I played the game, but it was a surreal feeling of having her in the locker room and meeting her afterwards. She was so sweet. She was awesome to have a conversation with, easy to talk to as well. It was just a blast having the opportunity to talk to her. And then when it ended up being that we had a matching outfit, that was even better."
Ullmark's penchant for style applies to his goalie mask. He had three previous Senators goaltenders in mind when he met with mask artist David Gunnarsson about possible ideas. Dominik Hasek was an early idol of Ullmark's with his caged helmet. His Ottawa tenure was brief but the Hall of Famer helped the Senators make the playoffs in 2006. Craig Anderson wore a traditional mask through his 10 seasons in Ottawa, and Ullmark knew how much of a role he played in the Senators' success. But the most obvious tribute on Ullmark's mask is the Marvin the Martian eyes, reminiscent of Patrick Lalime's mask from his Senators days.
"I wanted to create something that is very personal to me, but also pays a major tribute to the ones that came before me," Ullmark said.
It's been a few years since the Senators had a goaltender on the level of Ullmark's inspirations. Anderson was the last Senators starter to take the team to the postseason and was in goal when they lost in double overtime to the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 7 of that year's Eastern Conference final. While the Sens' issues in goal can partially be attributed to them being a rebuilding team since 2017, the position has been an Achilles' heel over the years. Ottawa's goaltending stats have ranked near the bottom of the league since the 2017-18 season.
Korpisalo's lone season with the Senators proved fruitless, as the Finnish netminder ended the season with a 21-26-4 record, a .890 save percentage and a 3.27 goals-against average last year. Backup Anton Forsberg didn't help matters with a 15-12-0 record, a 3.21 goals-against average and a .890 save percentage of his own. Mads Sogaard's six games (1-3-0 record, .859 save percentage, 4.05 goals-against average) with Ottawa last season also contributed to the Sens' fourth-worst goals-against average mark across the league.
The Senators hope Ullmark can be the solution. And while he's never played more than 49 games in a season, Ullmark is confident in his abilities to improve Ottawa's fortunes in goal.
"It's an honour, first of all, that they believe in me that much and that they sought out to trade for me," Ullmark said. "You've got to look at that perspective as well and not be no sour that your old team gave you up. You can always see situations in two different ways, obviously, and I want to look at it in a positive way that they really wanted me.
"I want to be one of the reasons why Ottawa makes the playoffs and then goes on."
And if that pressure wasn't enough, Ullmark is a pending unrestricted free agent at season's end. Contract talks have been dormant, with Ullmark wanting to get settled in Ottawa before making his choice on staying or going.
"I am not a person that likes to speculate and also I have a lot of respect towards the management," Ullmark said. "I have a lot of respect towards my agent as well. All these rumours and the conversations regarding the contract situation, the negotiations and all these sort of things, I always try to stay out of it and let the people that actually do the business do the talking.
"I don't want to rush into decisions that are quite big or quite decisive. And you never want to do a big decision when you're affected emotionally by certain things. You want to be in a good mindset. You want to be calm, you want your family to feel like they're thriving and that they're enjoying their time as well. Once that sorts itself, that's when I can make the appropriate decision.
"Whenever I have to make a decision, I'll make the decision."
Until then, Ullmark is committed to the Senators for the next year. He will share the high expectations saddled atop the team's young core, led by captain Brady Tkachuk , to return to the playoffs. He isn't shying away from them, either.
"I think we're in a good position of creating something very positive in Ottawa," Ullmark said. "I'm looking forward to keep building it and hopefully be a very positive change in the organization."
(Top photo of Linus Ullmark: Chris Tanouye / Freestyle Photography / )
