NHL-ийн шинэ улирлын бэлтгэл сургуулилт эхэлсэнтэй холбогдуулан хаалгач Линус Улльмарк өөрийн тоглолтын форм болон багийн ирээдүйн талаар байр сууриа илэрхийллээ.
Өнгөрсөн улирлын туршид сэтгэл зүйн асуудлын улмаас түр завсарлага авсан Линус Улльмарк олимпын завсарлагааны дараах тоглолтуудад өндөр амжилт үзүүлж, улмаар плей-оффын шатанд 0.932 хувийн хаалттайгаар амжилттай тоглосон юм. Тэрээр 2024 онд Бостоноос ирснээсээ хойш багийнхаа найдвартай хаалгач байж, нийт 49 тоглолтод оролцсон статистиктай байна. Улльмаркийн хувьд 50 орчим тоглолтод оролцох нь NHL-ийн өнөөгийн нөхцөлд нэгдүгээр хаалгачийн хувьд хэвийн ачаалал гэж үзэж байгаа бөгөөд тэрээр өмнө нь Везина цом хүртэхдээ яг 49 тоглолтод оролцож байсан түүхтэй.
Сенаторс баг хаалгачийн байрлалд Линус Улльмаркаас гадна Самуэль Эрссон болон Леэви Мериляйнен нарыг бүрэлдэхүүндээ нэгтгэн бэлтгэл сургуулилтаа үргэлжлүүлж байна. Линус Улльмарк шинэ хамтрагч Самуэль Эрссоны талаар сэтгэгдлээ хуваалцахдаа, Шведийн хаалгачийн хувьд түүнтэй өдөр бүр зөвлөлдөх нь таатай байгаа бөгөөд туршлагатай тоглогчийн хувьд түүнд туслахад бэлэн гэдгээ илэрхийлэв.
Улирлын өмнөх бэлтгэлийн үеэр Линус Улльмарк илүү тайван, эрч хүчтэй харагдаж байгаа нь багийн хөгжилд эерэг нөлөө үзүүлнэ хэмээн мэргэжилтнүүд дүгнэж байна. Олимпын завсарлагааны дараах 23 тоглолтод 0.908 хувийн хаалт, 2.42 гоолын дундаж үзүүлэлттэй байсан Линус Улльмарк энэхүү амжилтаа шинэ улиралд хадгалах зорилготой байна.
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For every team in every sport, hope springs eternal as a new season approaches.
Everyone is tied for first place. Everyone thinks this could be the year. Everyone is tanning themselves on the bright side of things.
But in hockey, unless your best goalie is healthy and on his game, that well of hope can dry up quickly.
In Ottawa, if the Senators are going to succeed this season, it will be because Linus Ullmark has carried his late-season resurgence into a new year.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, on day two of training camp, Ullmark appeared noticeably lighter and more relaxed than he did through much of last year. He looked like a man enjoying the vibe of a fresh start… for everyone.
“Everybody’s very eager, very energetic,” Ullmark said. “Just like every single camp I’ve been to, it’s the same thing. Everybody comes out hot, blazing and excited about what’s to come.”
As Sens fans know very well, that enthusiasm wasn’t always evident last season. Ullmark had more than his share of hard moments, on and off the ice, before taking a month-long leave of absence to address his mental health.
Through his final start before that leave on Dec. 27, Ullmark had gone 14-8-5 with a 2.95 goals-against average and an .881 save percentage. The winning record was decent,but there were also too many nights when the boys needed a save that didn’t come.
After returning at the end of January, Ullmark made just two starts before the NHL paused its schedule for the Olympics. That gave him two extended breaks in the middle of the season, which appeared to be just what the doctor ordered.
From the end of the Olympic break through to the end of the regular season, Ullmark went 12-4-3 with a 2.51 goals-against average and a .902 save percentage in 19 starts.
He was even better in the playoffs.
Sure, the Sens were swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes and scored only five goals in four games, but Ullmark gave them every opportunity to win. He stopped 124 of the 133 shots he faced, producing a .932 save percentage and a 2.03 goals-against average.
Combined, Ullmark posted a .908 save percentage and a 2.42 goals-against average over his final 23 regular-season and playoff appearances following the Olympic break. That was much closer to the level GM Steve Staios believed he was getting when he acquired him from Boston in 2024.
And despite his leave, Ullmark still started 49 regular-season games.
Sometimes, there’s concern raised about the fact that Ullmark has never appeared in more than 50 games in any NHL season. But this is no longer a league where Martin Brodeur types are powering past the 70-game mark.
Utah’s Karel Vejmelka was the only NHL goalie to reach 60 appearances last season. Most of the league’s busiest starters finished somewhere in the 50s.
In other words, playing approximately 50 games is no longer an unusually light workload for a No. 1 goaltender.
Ullmark’s own history also suggests that less is more.
When he won the Vezina Trophy with Boston three years ago, he appeared in exactly 49 games, with an outrageous record of 40-6-1, a 1.89 goals-against average, and a .938 save percentage.
Based on that history and his performance in last spring’s playoffs, the goal shouldn’t be for Ullmark to start more than 60 games, which is what he was on pace for when he stepped away in December. The goal is availability and whatever it takes for him to play at a high level.
That leaves Ullmark’s backup to play 30-35 games, which is a huge chunk of the season, so the Senators had better be right about Samuel Ersson.
The Sens signed Ersson to a two-year contract at $2.2 million a year. At 26, Ersson is a younger option than James Reimer, who took over the position here last year but wasn’t re-signed.
But just based on the stats from last season, Ersson isn’t an obvious upgrade.
He went 14-11-5 with a 3.12 goals-against average and an .870 save percentage in 33 appearances for Philadelphia. Reimer went 7-4-2 with a 2.42 goals-against average and an .886 save percentage in 14 games for the Sens.
Of course, Reimer is due for the hard regression that comes for every 38-year-old goalie. Meanwhile, the Sens’ goalie whisperers love the way Ersson plays the position, and naturally, they hope his numbers improve in a new organization.
Ullmark first got to know Ersson when they represented Sweden together at the 4 Nations Face-Off last year.
“He made a good impression on me at that point,” Ullmark said. “Once everything was said and done, and he was going to be a part of this organization, I was very happy. It’s always fun to have a fellow Swede join the ranks, but also for me, as a Swedish goaltender, it’s nice to have that conversation with him on a daily basis.
“Hopefully, I can show the way for him as well, being an older guy, which I feel like I’m more comfortable in now than I used to be.”
Leevi Meriläinen also remains in the mix after signing a one-year, one-way contract worth $1.1 million. The 23-year-old went 8-10-1 with a 3.51 goals-against average and an .860 save percentage in 20 NHL appearances last season.
The question now is whether the Ullmark we saw following the Olympic break and during the playoffs can carry that form into the new season.
He acknowledged that the summer passed too quickly and was filled with family responsibilities, travel and preparations for another season.
“It felt like I said goodbye to the people here in June,” he said. “And then, bam, the next time I woke up, I was back here in Ottawa. So that was both very nice, but also a little bit bittersweet in a way that I didn’t get to enjoy it as much at home as I would like to.”
Last season actually ended in April for the Senators, but no one who deals with Ottawa winters would ever describe their summer as being anything but short, no matter what.
Whether Ullmark is affected by the busy summer that went by too fast remains to be seen, but his outlook was certainly positive on Friday. He appears to be entering this season in a much better place.
And for a fan base that’s been starving for a great goaltender, that’s encouraging news.
By Steve Warne
The Hockey News
This article was first published in The Hockey News. For more Sens coverage at The Hockey News, click on one of the latest THN Ottawa headlines below:
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