Senators sign Linus Ullmark to a four-year extension

The Senators have signed a goalkeeper Linus Ullmark to a four-year, $33 million extension, the team announced today. TSN's Darren Dreger was the first to report the news. It will bring in a cap hit of $8.25 million and keep him in Canada's capital through the 2028-29 season.

According to PuckPedia, Ullmark's contract contains a full no-move clause. It will also be paid in full as base salary, with no signing bonuses. He will make $7 million in 2025-2026 and $8 million in 2026-27 before making $9 million annually in the final two years of the contract.

The deal ends a brief period of uncertainty for the Sens, who parted with the No. 25 pick in this year's draft. Joonas KorpisaloAnd Mark Kastelic acquiring the 2023 Vezina Trophy winner from the Bruins in the offseason without assurances that the impending free agent would sign a contract extension. Instead, the 31-year-old will avoid becoming a UFA for the second time in his career and spend the rest of his prime years in Ottawa.

However, Ullmark is not doing his new team any favors by discounting his market value. His $8.25 million cap hit is identical to his former tandem partner's eight-year contract Jeremy Swayman signed to stay in Boston long-term. However, he is much older, and while he has been a significantly above-average goaltender for five straight years now, he probably couldn't have gotten a more successful deal on the open market. That provides some explanation as to why he decided to sign this agreement so early after there were reportedly no talks about an extension as recently as two weeks ago.

But it also quickly becomes apparent that Swayman has already achieved his self-imposed goal of reshaping the goalkeeper market with his contract. Before he signed, it would have been hard to imagine Ullmark getting a contract just $250,000 per year less than the recent long-term extension Connor Hellebuycka more established true No. 1 signed in Winnipeg not long ago. Now, however, Ullmark will easily become the fourth-highest paid goalkeeper in the league next season, although he will drop to fifth place at some point. He was the second-best goalie at the top of UFA's 2025 class, surpassed by the Rangers' star Igor Shesterkin. But aAfter reportedly turning down an eight-year, $88 million offer to keep him in New York, he remains without a contract.

After spending his entire career in the Sabers organization until the 2021 offseason, Ullmark landed a four-year, $20 million contract with the Bruins. The Swede had put up solid numbers on a limited basis in Buffalo, but emerged as an absolute star in Boston, posting a solid .917 SV% and 11.0 GSAA in 41 appearances in his first season as the Bruins faced the franchise's retirement. goalkeeper had to struggle Tuukka Rask. This year he shared the net evenly with freshman Swayman, a sign of things to come.

Not many goaltenders can win the Vezina in a full season with fewer than 50 appearances, but if there is ever going to be an exception to the rule, it was Ullmark's 2022-23 season. His play was amazing and one of the biggest factors in the Bruins' record 65 regular season wins. He compiled a 40-6-1 record in 49 appearances, with a league-leading .938 SV%, a 1.89 GAA and an eye-popping 48.5 GSAA. He took home the Vezina, shared the Jennings Trophy with Swayman (who was solid himself with a .920 SV) and finished 10th in the Hart Trophy voting.

Even in a down season, Ullmark was still one of the best goalkeepers in the league in 2023/24. He finished sixth in Vezina voting after posting a .915 SV%, 2.57 GAA and two shutouts for a 22-10-7 record. But his level of play was only just surpassed by Swayman, who started a slim majority of Boston's games for the first time and took over completely in the postseason. With Swayman in restricted free agency this offseason and Ullmark set to hit the open market the following year, the signs were close for Boston to part ways with the veteran and make room for the younger goaltender with its bargain price of $5 million improve other areas of their squad that have relied too heavily on elite goalkeeping services in recent years.

For the Senators, acquiring Ullmark has already addressed their biggest weakness. His extension only gives them more room with this core to finally return to the playoffs after a seven-year drought. In almost every way, last year's Ottawa team should have taken a step forward and controlled the majority of scoring chances, shot attempts and dangerous chances at even strength. Terrible performances between the pipes of Korpisalo and Anton Forsberg They were doomed, however, as their combined GSAA rating of -30.9 dropped the Sens' record back below the .500 mark and well away from a wild card spot.

With Ullmark in place of Korpisalo last season, there is a very real argument that Ottawa would have already ended its playoff drought. The only question mark will be whether Ullmark can handle an increased workload with less support in the form of Forsberg as his replacement. He never played more than 50 games in a season and only started more than 40 times once during his Vezina-winning season.

Looking ahead to the 2025-26 season, Ottawa has now raised $75.4 million from 13 players after extending Ullmark, according to PuckPedia. Assuming the cap rises to the reported cap hit of $92.5 million, the Sens have just over $17 million to fill 10 roster spots, including an extension for the pending RFA Ridly Greig.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.