Senators Double Down on Ullmark After Roller-Coaster Season
The Ottawa Senators have been searching for stability in goal for a long time. Ever since the days of Craig Anderson, it’s felt like a revolving door back there—different names, different hopes, not much lasting certainty. Linus Ullmark was supposed to change that. And in a lot of ways, he still might.
Ullmark’s role with the Senators evolved over the season.
His first season in Ottawa was anything but smooth. There were stretches where he looked exactly like the goalie the Senators thought they were getting, and other stretches where the consistency just wasn’t there. That kind of up-and-down year naturally led to questions. But the story doesn’t really make sense without the full picture.
Ullmark stepped away from the team during the season to address personal and mental health matters, and that context is important when you look at how his year unfolded. When he came back, you could see the game starting to settle again. The timing, the reads, the confidence—it all started to look more like the version of him that’s been one of the more dependable goalies in the league in recent years.
Ullmark played some of his best hockey of the season during the playoffs.
By the time the playoffs arrived, he was playing his best hockey of the season. The Senators were eliminated in a first-round sweep, but Ullmark still posted a .932 save percentage. That’s a goalie giving his team a chance even when the results weren’t there.
A big part of that late push was his relationship with Maciej Szwoch, a former goaltending coach and longtime friend. Head coach Travis Green even described him at first as more of a mentor and support figure than anything formal. He was “just” someone helping Ullmark find his footing again during a difficult stretch.
Ullmark himself was open about how important that support was, crediting Szwoch with helping him get back to enjoying the game and feeling like himself again.
Now the Senators have brought Szwoch into a full-time role.
So when Ottawa officially brought Szwoch into a full-time role, it wasn’t just a procedural hire. It felt like a message: they believe in Ullmark, and they’re willing to build around what helped him finish the season strong.
There’s also a practical angle here. Szwoch isn’t just a personal support figure. He’s expected to contribute to goalie development across the organization as well. That matters for a team that’s still trying to build depth at the position.
In the end, this is less about a flashy move and more about continuity. Ottawa saw what Ullmark can look like when things are in place. Now the question is whether they’ve done enough to make sure that version shows up more often.