Ottawa Senators star goalie Linus Ullmark is a major part of the Sens' push to this year's Stanley Cup playoffs. But in this cover story from THN's March 20, 2023 edition, editor-in-chief Ryan Kennedy profiled Ullmark as he thrived with the Boston Bruins:
HITTING HIS MARK
By Ryan Kennedy
Boston goalie Linus Ullmark didn’t just walk into the room for his media availability at all-star weekend in Florida; he made an entrance. With a silver-and-white paisley suit enrobing his 6-foot-5 frame and a matching fedora that would make teammate/hockey style icon David Pastrnak proud, Ullmark was impossible to miss – just like his play on the ice for the Bruins this season. “I talked to my tailor and said, ‘Hey, we need to come up with something fancy now that it’s in Florida and it’s my first one,’” Ullmark said.
And hey, mission accomplished on that front. But the weekend also gave one of the NHL’s newest stars a chance to take it all in, as he was now in the same company as netminding titans such as Andrei Vasilevskiy, Igor Shesterkin and Connor Hellebuyck. “It’s always fun to be around guys who are great at their job,” Ullmark said. “To see what they’re doing, pick their brains a little. It’s just about being in the moment for me.”
As Boston carved a path of carnage through the NHL – at one point, it looked like the B’s might threaten the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens’ modern record of only eight losses in a season – it was clear the team had weapons and depth everywhere. But Ullmark, whose gaudy individual numbers had him as the betting favorite to win the Vezina Trophy, has been the breakout star. His .938 save percentage at the end of February was on track to be the best mark in the past 10 years (minimum 25 games), while his league-leading 33.3 goals saved above expected showed he wasn’t simply taking advantage of playing on a juggernaut squad.
“That’s a huge reason we have the record we have,” said coach Jim Montgomery. “He’s just so rock-solid. There’s nothing coming off his body, he just swallows everything up. He takes whistles when he should. He plays the puck extremely well. He’s having a fantastic year.”
Indeed, delving more into the advanced stats, Ullmark is freezing more pucks than expected, and his wins above replacement (5.54) leads all NHL goalies. Ullmark even got himself on the score sheet, becoming the first goalie in franchise history to score a goal – shooting the puck the length of the ice into an empty net against Vancouver on Feb. 25. “He’s been standing on his head and playing unbelievable,” Pastrnak said. “It’s fun to watch him, to be honest. He’s big, he’s playing confident in the net, and he’s having a special year.”
Ullmark was good for the Bruins last season after signing on as a free agent in the summer. But he split duty equally with rookie Jeremy Swayman, and it was Swayman who played the majority of Boston’s seven-game opening-round playoff loss to Carolina after the Hurricanes bombed Ullmark in the first two games. So where did this next level come from?
Let’s go way back and start with Ullmark’s roots. He grew up in Lugnvik, Sweden, not far from the legendary northern hockey city of Ornskoldsvik. That’s where the Modo program is based, and that’s where iconic names such as Peter Forsberg, Markus Naslund, the Sedin twins and Victor Hedman honed their craft before coming to the NHL. It’s where Ullmark got his start, too.
“It was a lot of fun,” he said. “My goal when I was young was to play for the big-league team, and I managed to get there. I had the opportunity to go through their system when I was in high school as well and met a lot of special people during my time there who still help me on my journey.”
In fact, Ullmark made his debut with the big team when he was just 18. The following summer (in 2012), the Buffalo Sabres drafted him 163rd overall. Ullmark continued to climb the ladder with Modo in the ensuing years and was the team’s starter for two seasons before he decamped for North America in 2015. His first pro season stateside was split between the Sabres and AHL Rochester, then mostly Rochester for the two years after that. He was with Buffalo full-time starting in 2018-19. Despite the team’s struggles, the experience was vital for his growth.
“It meant a lot,” Ullmark said. “I grew up, basically, over here in Rochester and Buffalo. I have a lot of gratitude towards that organization and all my teammates and coaches there over the years. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be where I am now.”
Ullmark arrived in Boston during a fascinating time for the franchise. The Bruins had been on easy street when it came to goalies for more than a decade, going from 2011 Cup-winning stopper Tim Thomas to backup-turned-star Tuukka Rask. With Rask’s future in question due to a hip injury and the B’s still one of the best teams in the East, Boston needed reinforcements. Swayman was a promising option whose NHL career got off to a great start at the end of 2020-21, but the team didn’t want to rush him. Ullmark, a free-agent signing, was the safer option.
As it turned out, both Swayman and Ullmark were solid last season, and that Ullmark has seized the starting role now hasn’t led to any friction because the two have a great relationship. “It’s part of the Bruins’ culture,” Montgomery said. “Everybody supports each other. Everybody is hoping the other one has success, and those two exemplify that. I guess the only other time I’ve seen that is when I was in college (with the NCAA Maine Black Bears) when Garth Snow and Mike Dunham were close like that.”
When asked why this season has gone so well for him, Ullmark finds himself still searching for a concrete answer – but he knows he has done it as part of a unit. “It’s hard to say,” Ullmark said. “I’ve been thinking of that myself. Small pieces here and there have fallen into place. I feel more at home in Boston since it’s no longer my first year, and we have a great team, it goes hand-in-hand with my performance and also Sway’s performance. It’s not a one-man show.”
And that’s what makes Boston such an easy pick for success. The Bruins’ culture has been so strong over the years – led by the likes of Zdeno Chara to Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand – that working new guys into the lineup appears to be seamless. “We are equal,” Pastrnak said. “The guys set such a high standard and have done so for years. It doesn’t matter if you’re in your first year or last, everybody is open to each other. We speak up and try to get better together as a group.”
For the Bruins to be in the mix as long as they have is admirable, and the end goal remains the same. Hence the passion. “We have a lot of personnel on our team that know what needs to be done,” Ullmark said. “First and foremost is Bergy, our captain. He knows what needs to be done and tells us to stay humble to the process, to believe in the process. And that’s what we try to work on every single day, doesn’t matter if we win or lose. Our goal is, at the end of the year, to win the last game of the season.”
A new voice has also helped the group. Montgomery is in his first year behind the bench, and while the man he replaced, Bruce Cassidy, is having his own success with the Vegas Golden Knights, the Bruins have been very happy under ‘Monty,’ with Pastrnak calling him a “pleasure to work with” and lauding the coach’s smarts and understanding of his players. And that respect goes both ways, as the bench boss has been impressed with how unselfish the team is. “The leadership, they’re professional every day they come to the rink, they want to be coached,” Montgomery said. “It’s a special group of people that want to be great.”
But you can’t be great without goaltending, and that’s why Ullmark has been so key to Boston’s success. “That’s what my line of work is,” he said. “And for some reason, it’s been going better than normal. You know, a lot of things have fallen into place. I have a good understanding of my game. I have a great relationship with my teammates and my coaches.”
As for expectations, Ullmark is fine with them. Clearly, the Bruins were going to be one of the most targeted (or feared, depending on how good or bad your lineup is) teams down the stretch, and when you rack up as many wins as they have, you can’t go into the playoffs claiming that nobody believed in you – even Travis Kelce would probably admit that Boston is the favorite. But that’s just fine with them.
Ullmark deflects hype just as well as he bats away pucks. “We, as players in our locker room, put more pressure on ourselves than anybody else could,” he said. “We know what to expect, we know what needs to be done out there. I would much rather be in this position than the opposite position, where you have a 33-percent winning percentage instead of 70 percent or whatever we’re at.”
Currently, the franchise is stuck on six Cups – that 2011 win being the most recent. Boston has been blessed with numerous pro-sports titles recently, but you know Bostonians would love another from their Bruins. Ullmark has been doing his part to make that happen, and he doesn’t plan on stopping. “It’s been working so far, so hopefully I can keep it up,” he said. “I’m very fortunate and blessed to be here, and now, I feel a lot of gratitude to my teammates who helped me get to this point. And to Boston itself.”
