Why crucial Senators season depends on 'calm and collected' Linus Ullmark

OTTAWA — Hockey can be a simple game. Sometimes a team can head home with two points just because they had the better goaltender, leaving their opponent overthinking what went wrong. Steve Staios and the Ottawa Senators are hoping Linus Ullmark can be that kind of game- and season-changer, a type of goalie the team has been dying to have for years. 

If Ullmark is feeling the pressure of backing a team that was 28^th in goals against and 31^st in save percentage last season, he’s not showing it. The man is personable, funny and cool.

Asked about his off-season preparations on Thursday, he replied: “I went to Canada for a vacation that was pretty nice. Other than that, nothing has really changed.”

Ullmark won the Vezina Trophy in the 2022-23 season with the Boston Bruins, who traded him to Ottawa this past the summer, and promises to provide a missing sense of confidence between the pipes.

“For me, personally, I feel very calm and collected,” says Ullmark.

He comes to a team that hasn’t felt good about its goaltending since its last playoff appearance, a spectacular run to the 2017 Eastern Conference Final in front of Craig Anderson. Since then, there’s been a parade of supposed saviours in net that just didn’t work out: Matt Murray, then Cam Talbot and, last year, Joonas Korpisalo.

Ullmark, at age 31, is closer to being in his prime. But if there is a question about his ability to fill this void and carry the mantle as a full-time starter, it’s about how much work he can handle. In Boston last season, he had a very solid .915 save percentage and a 2.57 goals-against average, but was in a tandem with Jeremy Swayman and only had to play 40 games.

In fact, even in his Vezina Trophy season Ullmark only played 49 games, a career high. Senators head coach Travis Green intimated he’d like for Ullmark to play roughly 50 games and perhaps the biggest factor in Ottawa’s push for the playoffs is whether or not the goalie can handle that workload.

“I don't think there's a lucky number or a target or anything like that,” Ullmark said Thursday. “Definitely I came here with the goal to play more than 50 games, to do that and be able to put up the numbers as well.

“If it turns out to be 55-60, or 75 games, or whatever it may be, it all comes down to basically how I'm playing.”

Behind Ullmark the Senators have Anton Forsberg, who will turn 32 in November and struggled mightily in 30 games last season. There’s also 23-year-old Mads Sogaard, who has excelled in the AHL, but whose game has fallen off dramatically when he was brought up to the NHL for 27 games over the past three years.

There’s no other starter to tandem with here. The weight is heavy on Ullmark.

Leaving his friend Swayman behind in Boston, Ullmark says he’s intent on bringing the Bruins’ winning mentality with him. Boston had the league’s third-best team save percentage last season and has regularly competed in the playoffs despite losing some important players over the past few years.

“Showing how it's supposed to be done every single day, and not just on some days,” Ullmark said of setting an example for his teammates. “It's a long road ahead of us. You can't just play well for 25 games: you have to play well for 82.”

If Ullmark can play as well for the Senators as he did with the Bruins, it would put the team in the playoff hunt.

“When the dog days come around 56 games into the season, and you're gone on a road trip for nine days and you're going into a back-to-back in Western Canada, whatever it may be, you know, those are the games that you need to win,” he said.

However, as much as goaltending can be transformative, the Sens also need to show they can play in front of him.

For the past couple of seasons, the Senators have lacked in their own end, finishing in the bottom half of the league in shots against each season from 2018 to 2023. There was a little improvement last season, however, where the Sens were 13^th in shots against per game. According to NaturalStatTrick.com, Ottawa also ranked 14^th in high-danger chances against in 2023-24. Last season at least, the goalies surely could have done a better job to protect the team in front.

The Senators fell behind on the first or second shot they allowed in nearly a quarter of their games last season, leaving the forwards constantly looking to find a make-up goal and the defence pinching rather than minding the store at home.

Ullmark has something to prove and play for on his own, too. In the last year of his contract, if he does become the difference maker Ottawa craves, he’ll likely be offered a hefty extension to stay in place and lock in as a No. 1.

“I learned a lot of things that were necessary in Boston during my time there, what the expectation level is,” said Ullmark. “You can't always go 110 per cent, sometimes you have to take a step back, take a look and see, what do I need to focus on? What do I need to work on?”

There won’t be much time for reflection as the Senators battle through the tough Atlantic Division, however. They will need Ullmark’s consistent best facing down the powerhouses of Florida, Boston, Toronto, and Tampa, while Montreal, Detroit and Buffalo all aim to supplant the old guard just as much as Ottawa.

Ullmark, and his contract situation, will provide a litmus test for the entire Senators team as it is constructed. Is this core, which has seemed to be promising year after year but has not delivered a giant step, ready for that leap, or is it time to reconsider the team’s makeup at a deeper level? How Ullmark performs could well determine the future of this entire Senators group.