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Leave it to the Ottawa Senators to steal a little thunder and lightning from the biggest hockey game in years.
About half an hour before the puck drop of Game 7 between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers, the Senators announced a trade they believe will be a salve to their glaring goaltending wounds, acquiring Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins in exchange for goalie Joonas Korpisalo, fourth line forward Mark Kastelic and a late first-round draft pick in 2024 (Boston’s original pick, No. 25 overall).
What a deal.
What a steal. (If there is a new contract to come).
All Ullmark did in the 2022-23 season was win the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goaltender.
Ullmark, 30, has one year left in his contract paying him $5 million per season. He is also due a $1-million bonus on July 1. The Senators will certainly pitch an extension to Ullmark to try to keep him in Senators colours for years to come.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said during tonight’s broadcast that Ullmark will “play it out” as far as anything in writing past this season. That means the Senators will have to impress their new goalie to convince him to stick around.
As part of the trade, Ottawa retains one-quarter of Korpisalo’s remaining salary. Korpisalo was signed to a five-year, $20-million contract by previous general manager Pierre Dorion prior to last season.
To his credit, first-year GM Steve Staios was able to get out from the weight of Korpisalo’s contract without having to buy him out. Paying $1M per year for four years for the sins of his predecessor is more than admirable.
Staios knew he couldn’t run back with this season’s tandem of Korpisalo and Anton Forsberg.
In Ullmark, he gets a massive upgrade without giving up a key member of his roster.
As noted by NHL stats guru Mike Kelly, Ullmark was fifth in goals saved above expected last season and he was second the year before.
As a team, the Senators finished dead last in goals saved above expected, with Korpisalo and Forsberg getting the bulk of the starts.
In tandem with Jeremy Swayman, his post-game hugging partner, Ullmark carried a 22-10-7 record with a 2.55 goals-against average and .915 save percentage.