How sustainable is Linus Ullmark’s play for the Senators? 

Watch out…the Ottawa Senators are picking up steam, and a lot of it has to do with their top-notch goaltender.

The Senators came into the 2024-25 season with expectations to compete for a playoff spot, much thanks to the team acquiring goaltender Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins back in June. While Ottawa had a rocky start to the season, Ullmark was a steady force in trying to give the team a chance to win.

Lately, the Swedish netminder has been playing at the level that led to him winning the Vezina Trophy two years ago. Ullmark has won each of his last five starts and six of his last seven appearances. It isn’t as if the 31-year-old has experienced light duty during this stretch. Five of the last seven games have seen Ullmark make 30 or more saves, including a 32-save shutout against the Carolina Hurricanes last Friday.

Even more impressive, he made 27 saves the next night against the Pittsburgh Penguins after being called into duty right after Anton Forsberg injured himself during warmups.

On Tuesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton talked about whether Ullmark’s recent stretch of play is sustainable.

Carter Hutton: I think it’s very sustainable. I don’t know if this is the high of the high, right? I think they’re somewhere in between for Linus, and I’ve been a big backer. I said this is a team that would make the playoffs. As soon as they got Linus Ullmark, I thought he would get them over the hump. You got to remember there’s a bit of decompression here. You get traded, it’s a whole change of scenery…he signs a life-changing contract…it’s hard to come to the rink every day with that accountability.

The way he’s playing is unbelievable. This is the Linus Ullmark that I was dreaming to play with for three years.

You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…