Senators acquire Linus Ullmark in trade with Bruins

The Ottawa Senators have made a big splash to shore up their netminding.

The Senators announced Monday that they had acquired goaltender Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins. In exchange, Boston will receive goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, centre Mark Kastelic and the 25th overall pick in Friday’s NHL Draft.

Additionally, the Senators will retain 25 per cent of Korpisalo’s salary.

Ullmark was half of Boston’s elite goaltending duo, sharing the net with Jeremy Swayman over the past three seasons.

In 2022-23, Ullmark won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie, recording a 40-6-1 record with a .938 save percentage and 1.89 goals-against-average for the record-breaking Bruins.

However, in 2023-24, Swayman took over as Boston’s primary netminder. Ullmark played in 40 games, posting a 22-10-7 record, .915 save percentage and 2.57 goals-against-average.

Ullmark was between the pipes for two games during Boston’s trip to the second round, during the 2024 playoffs. He recorded a win and a loss while posting an .886 save percentage and 3.90 goals-against-average.

He has played in three straight post-seasons with Boston, but only appeared in the second round one time — this spring’s Game 2 loss to the Florida Panthers.

“The Boston Bruins would like to thank Linus, Moa, Harry and Lily for all their contributions to the Bruins’ family. Linus is a Vezina-winning goalie who was a star on and off the ice,” Boston general manager Don Sweeney said in a statement released by the team. “We want to wish Linus and his family much success and happiness as he continues his career in Ottawa.”

The 30-year-old from Lugnvik, Sweden is entering the final year of a four-year, $20-million contract he signed with the Bruins in 2021.

According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, there is no extension in place for Ullmark with the Senators as part of the trade.

During the first intermission of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final Monday, Friedman said, “As it stands right now, the expectation is (Ullmark) is prepared to play out the year and see how things go before committing to doing anything. We’ll see if that changes over the next little while.”

Ullmark had a modified no-trade clause as part of his contract with the Bruins, and it is believed that he would have had to approve any trade to Ottawa.

The Bruins will receive their original first-round pick from the Senators, which had made its way to Detroit in a trade for Tyler Bertuzzi and then to Ottawa in the Alex DeBrincat deal.

The Senators were looking for an upgrade in net after a disappointing season that saw them finish 14th in the Eastern Conference.

“We’re not happy with the goaltending tandem, but I don’t think the goaltending tandem was happy with the goaltending tandem,” Senators’ senior vice-president Dave Poulin said last week.

Ottawa allowed the fifth-most goals in the NHL in 2023-24 while using three different goalies — Korpisalo, Anton Forsberg and Mads Sogaard. Korpisalo and Forsberg started in 77 of Ottawa’s games but posted matching .890 save percentages.

Korpisalo signed with the Senators last off-season on a five-year, $20-million deal, coming off a career-best season split between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Los Angeles Kings.

In his lone season with Ottawa, the 30-year-old netminder had a 21-26-4 record, the .890 save percentage and a 3.27 goals-against-average.

Originally a third-round pick of the Blue Jackets in 2012, Korpisalo has played in nine NHL seasons. He made his post-season debut in 2019-20 with Columbus before returning for the second time with the Kings in 2022-23.

Kastelic, Ottawa’s fifth-round pick in the 2019 draft, has spent parts of the last three seasons with the Senators, collecting 14 goals, 11 assists and 179 penalty minutes in 144 career games.

In 2023-24, the 25-year-old scored five goals and 10 points in 63 games.