The Ottawa Senators have signed offseason acquisition Linus Ullmark to a new 4 year, $33M contract extension on Wednesday the club announced.
Ullmark, who came over via trade from Boston, will now sport an AAV of $8.25M, which is equal to that of former teammate Jeremy Swayman who inked a new deal with the Bruins earlier this week. The former Bruin will have a $5M cap hit in 2024-25 before his extension kicks in next season.
“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 Wednesday. “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.”
“When you get to this part of your career, you really want to put an emphasis on what’s best for your family. And we felt that ever since we came here, it’s been a great fit,” said Ullmark. “I’m hoping this can help change things for the better in this organizaiton for this city.”
The new contract will make Ullman the 4th highest paid goaltender, alongside Swayman when it comes into effect. Only Sergei Bobrovsky, Andrei Vasilevskiy and Connor Hellebuyck will make more on an annual basis than the Swedish netminder.
That being said, New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin is likely to reset the goalie market when he puts pen to paper on his new deal. The Russian goaltender reportedly turned down an $11M AAV contract extension from the club earlier this week, as his camp seeks to receive an historic new deal.
Ullmark turned in a career season in 2022-23, going 40-6-1 with a .938 save percentage and 1.89 GAA, en route to a Vezina Trophy & William M. Jennings Trophy winning campaign. He was also named to the NHL First All-Star Team for his on ice performance as well.
Ottawa’s Achilles heel in recent years has been their subpar goaltending since long time starter Craig Anderson departed following the 2019-20 season. Since then, the team has flirted with the postseason, but has ultimately fallen short as they attempt to exit the rebuild phase of their franchise and enter the contender phase as a club.
General Manager Steve Staios evidently believes that the 31 year old from Lugnvik, Sweden is the missing piece of that puzzle as Ottawa prepares to kick off their 2024-25 campaign against the Florida Panthers on Thursday night.
Photo: Jenn G. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.