Senators sign Linus Ullmark to a four-year, $33 million contract extension: What it means for the goaltending market

Linus Ullmark has signed a four-year contract extension with the Ottawa Senators, paying the goaltender an average annual value of $8.25 million per season, the team announced Wednesday. The contract contains a full no-movement clause for all four seasons.

Ullmark was about to enter the 2024-25 NHL season as an unrestricted free agent. When asked about Ullmark's contract status in an interview late last month, Senators GM Steve Staios said he would have a conversation with agent Joakim Persson in the “near future.” Ullmark also preached patience regarding his contract.

“I don’t want to make any hasty decisions that are very big or crucial,” Ullmark said previously The athlete. “And you never want to make a big decision when you're emotionally affected by certain things. You want to have a good attitude. You want to be calm, you want your family to feel that they are doing well and that they are enjoying their time too. Once that's sorted out, I can make the right decision.

“Whenever I have to make a decision, I will make the decision.”

Ullmark was traded to Ottawa from the Boston Bruins in June in exchange for goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, a 2024 first-round pick and forward Mark Kastelic. Ullmark won a Vezina Trophy with the Bruins in 2023 after posting a 40-6-1 record with a .938 save percentage and 1.89 goals-against average. Last season, Ullmark's record was 22-10-7 with a .915 save percentage and a 2.57 goals-against average in Boston.

Why did the senators make this move?

Goaltending has been an Achilles heel for the Senators since 2017, when they last made the postseason. Since then, the Senators team's goals-against average has been at best 21st in the league. With the Senators looking to end a seven-year playoff drought, improving the goaltending position was a high priority for Staios. Now the Senators have locked him in for the next five seasons, including the final year of his current contract.

In three preseason games with the Senators, Ullmark looked like a No. 1 goaltender. According to Natural Stat Trick, Ullmark posted a .930 save percentage, a 2.41 goals-against average and no losses.

“It means a lot,” Senators coach Travis Green said earlier this week when asked about having a goalie like Ullmark on his team. “Any time you have a good goalkeeper it gives the team a lot of confidence. It's an important position. I think it goes without saying how important it is to have a good goalkeeper or a top goalkeeper in the league.” — Julian McKenzie, Senators beat writer

How does this change the goalkeeping market?

Not only does the AAV match the AAV that Boston awarded his good friend and former teammate Jeremy Swayman last weekend, but this deal also puts Ullmark in select company among the highest-paid goaltenders in the world. He and Swayman currently rank fourth among active goaltenders under contract for 2025-26, behind only Florida's Sergei Bobrovsky ($10 million AAV), Tampa's Andrei Vasilevskiy ($9 million AAV) and Winnipeg's Connor Hellebuyck ($8.5 million AAV).

Impending unrestricted free agent Igor Shesterkin will almost certainly edge them out for a spot before next season — he's currently negotiating a contract with the New York Rangers on terms that would make him the NHL's highest-paid goaltender — but it's always a question Another strong contract for the New York Rangers is the 31-year-old Ullmark.

He passed up the opportunity to test the free agent waters next summer by signing with the Senators before even appearing in a regular-season game for the team, receiving a sizable raise for the $20 million Dollar four-year contract he signed with the Bruins in 2021. — Chris Johnston, senior NHL writer

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(Photo: Chris Tanouye / Freestyle Photography / Getty Images)