He's Ours and He's Perfect
Written by: AJ Bhueller
The worst kept secret in the NHL the last few months was Linus Ullmark was becoming an Ottawa Senator, it was only a matter of time. We had heard names thrown around for months: Markstrom, Saros, and Ullmark among the bigger names. With the exception of myself, if he wore pads and was available, he was linked to the Senators. Late on the evening of June 24th, we got our man. With the former, reigning Vezina Trophy winner in Ullmark the Senators addressed a major need going into this off-season. Ullmark will be the 18th goalie used in the Ottawa crease since our run to the conference finals in 2017. That is staggering but President of Hockey Operations and GM Steve Staios hopes the puck stops at our newest Goalie acquisition.
A Need for the Senators
This time last year the Senators signed former goalie Joonas Korpisalo to a five-year $20 million deal on the first day of free agency. Korpisalo was one of the better goaltending options available. The previous regime under Pierre Dorion thought they got their man. But as we know, the Senators had the league-worst goaltending from their goalies in 2023-2024. This cannot be put all on their shoulders as the defensive play was inconsistent. But the team could never get a save when they needed it most. Staios said he felt the goalies were better than their stats showed. With improved team play, the goalies could be improved but he wasn't going to sit on his hands to find out either. If Ullmark can come in and bring stable goaltending to the team like what they once got from Craig Anderson, this trade will be a win around.
The Fleecing of the Boston Bruins
Ullmark comes to Ottawa with a 2.52 goals-against average and a 0.918% save percentage for his career. Only Dominik Hasek had better stats coming to the Senators via off-season acquisition. For about one month, fans of both teams contemplated what the return would be. The most concrete report we got was hearing it would take Defensemen Jakob Chychrun and picks to get it done. Reports coming out of Boston were that they were asking for Shane Pinto, which was laughable. I don't know why I let reports like that get me riled up, but they did. Instead, we got what is sure to be one of the better goalies in franchise history for Joonas Korpisalo at 25% retained, Mark Kastelic, and a 1st round pick which was 25th overall in this draft and Boston's original pick in the 2024 draft. Not only was the price low, but it’s the trade that keeps giving. There really are two parts to this trade. Number 1) We acquired arguably the best goalie available in the last two years in the league. Number 2) The Senators paid a small price to rid themselves of a substantial portion of Korpisalo's contract. What should have taken two trades to pull off, the Senators did in one. In a normal world where the Sens would have Sens'd (and not in a good way) we would have paid 25th overall just to dump a contract of that calibre. But instead, Steady Steve Staois was able to extract the two-for-one special.
Photo: Bob DeChiara — USA TODAY Sports
Skeptical and a little scared
Like some of you, I am trying to temper my expectations. I was over the moon when we acquired Matt Murray, even when we signed Korpisalo. And again, I find myself sleeplessly excited about acquiring our newest saviour in Ullmark. But I had my doubts even when I first started hearing his name about one and a half months ago. His physical package reminded me of Korpisalo and hence I assumed he would come to Ottawa and behind our defense, allow a muffin or two occasionally. But through discussions with analytics experts within the Sens Talk team (thank you Trent Raynard) and watching some game tapes (thank you YouTube) I have completely changed my tune. When you look at the analytics, we are getting one of the most consistent goalies in the NHL from the last 3 years. Leagues ahead of anything seen in Ottawa creased since the departure of Craig Anderson. Ullmark has never had a save percentage under 0.905 since coming to the NHL. Factor in the leadership and all-out vibes he brings with him, and this is as close to a slam dunk as can be. If you don't buy into the metrics, I don't blame you, the eyeball test is what I prefer as well. From watching old Bruins games, I see a goalie who is big in the net, technically sound, athletic, and has that calmness factor that people love to talk about with goalies. If you squint, you can almost picture a six foot 4 Henrik Lundqvist. His supreme confidence will be invaluable to this young team during an 82-game season.
Photo: Jeff Chiu — AP Photo
Next Major Business
No, I am not talking about a contract extension as it's been talked about, and I am optimistic this gets done in time. I almost prefer Ullmark coming over with one year left, so both sides can get a trial run. And let's be honest, he is coming to the greatest city in the world and he seems like a smart cookie, unlike that DeBrincat guy. But what all the goalies reading this are wondering: what will Ullmark's equipment look like? He has already said, he is not flashy, but he will be using all of the Senators’ colours on his pads. Music to our ears that he doesn't like all white gear either. Ullmark recently stated he will be doing some digging for ideas on his mask looking through Ottawa's history to come up with ideas. I think he sticks with the pad setup style he had in Boston, simply adding Ottawa colours. But I am hoping he goes with a more custom look which he has done in the past. I loved it when he did his Byron Dafoe Homage during the Heritage game and his Winter Classic setup. I think I speak for all of us when I say for his mask, I hope we see some kind of homage to Patrick Lalime's Marvin the Martian mask.
Enjoy this for what it is folks. We have acquired a premium asset for next to nothing in a position of need. Nobody knows what the result will be when the season starts. But in the meantime, sit back and relax and try to enjoy this little victory before the real test starts. This fan base deserves good news, and my gut feeling is, there is plenty yet to come.
