{"id":440044,"date":"2026-02-01T16:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T16:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/440044\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T16:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T16:04:12","slug":"ullmark-inspires-senators-to-victory-in-return-from-mental-health-leave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/440044\/","title":{"rendered":"Ullmark inspires Senators to victory in return from mental-health leave"},"content":{"rendered":"

OTTAWA \u2014 On Saturday night, Linus Ullmark<\/a> reminded us of our humanity.<\/p>\n

Just over one month ago, the Ottawa Senators<\/a> goalie stepped away from his team in the middle of the fight to make the playoffs for a bigger one \u2014 his own battle with mental health.<\/p>\n

The hockey gods could hardly have scripted a better return, as the former Vezina Trophy winner stopped 26 of 27 shots in a 4-1 win over the New Jersey Devils.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur MVP tonight was Linus Ullmark,\u201d captain Brady Tkachuk said.<\/p>\n

Added head coach Travis Green: “I thought it was, if not his best game, one of the best games he\u2019s played this year.”<\/p>\n

But even before he made a single save, the Swedish netminder received adoration.<\/p>\n

The Senators pre-game ran a video in the Canadian Tire Centre of fans showing their support for Ullmark, which he later said he didn\u2019t know about ahead of time.<\/p>\n

Then, during lineup introductions right before puck drop, Ullmark received a standing ovation, during which he put his hand on his heart. It was a touching moment.<\/p>\n

You can only imagine what was racing through Ullmark\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really hard holding it together, and I didn’t want to hold it together,\u201d Ullmark said. \u201cAlso, one of the things that I’ve been working on is letting the feelings flow a little bit. Nothing bad about that.”<\/p>\n

The Swede explained that he wanted to take in the moment and think about the journey he had gone through to get back between the\u00a0pipes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of things that we take for granted when it comes to hockey in general,\u201d Ullmark said. \u201cAnd as players, we play 82 games in a short amount of time. So, you don\u2019t really have time to take a step back and think about what you\u2019re actually doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a moment to do that. And I’m really thankful for the support from the fans, during warmups, during the anthems and all that, and throughout the game as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were numerous posters from fans in the crowd sharing their love, from “we missed you” to “we’re proud of you.” There were faint “Linus, Linus” chants at the end of the game, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was so excited to come back,” defenceman Jake Sanderson said. \u201cHe\u2019s all smiles, and I think it rubs off on our team, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ullmark commended the support from his teammates during his leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest thing has been the support in this locker room has been tremendous ever since Day 1,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I can’t thank enough, this whole organization. I can’t thank them enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the first game in 35 days for the Senators\u2019 No. 35; it only seemed like an eternity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like I came out of retirement,\u201d Ullmark said. \u201cI didn\u2019t have a real practice since before Christmas. So, it\u2019s been a battle coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n

It took two weeks of practice for Ullmark to feel prepared to return. He had initially hoped to come back sooner, but he said he wanted to make sure he was 100 per cent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn’t feeling it was up to snuff. There were some doubts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The last time Ullmark donned a Senators crest, he said he was suffering from incidents of panic and anxiety. Rewatch his last game in Toronto, when he got pulled, and the emotions on his face were palpable.<\/p>\n

But instead of bottling it up, he sought help.<\/p>\n

He called Dr. Joel Gold, the head of the NHL\/NHLPA player assistance program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m f—— up,\u201d Ullmark told Gold. \u201cI need help.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the mental-health profession, a common saying is that \u201cyou can only help someone that wants help.\u201d<\/p>\n

That courageous step is what allowed Ullmark to address his mental-health challenges.<\/p>\n

But that wasn\u2019t the only support he received. The Senators also brought Ullmark\u2019s former goalie coach and mentor, Maciej Szwoch, from Sweden to facilitate Ullmark\u2019s return.<\/p>\n

While Ullmark was away, online rumours spun out of control, leading to an intense official statement from the team.<\/p>\n

If you or I were struggling with mental health, it’s unlikely we’d have to deal with unfounded public rumours about our personal life to boot. The drama surely couldn\u2019t have helped.<\/p>\n

Life can be cruel at times \u2014 even to NHLers.<\/p>\n

The Senators\u2019 hope was that after tending to his health, a refreshed and mentally robust Ullmark would be a better version of the hockey man who just three years ago was deemed the best goaltender on the planet.<\/p>\n

And on Saturday, he was just that, gulping up pucks like it was his 2022-23 Vezina season.<\/p>\n

A comeback story for the ages could be exactly what the Senators need from their\u00a0No. 1.<\/p>\n

Before his respite, however, things in net weren’t so smooth.<\/p>\n

According to Moneypuck.com, Ullmark had a minus-18 goals saved above expected, which is cumulatively the second-worst of any goalie this season. His .884 save percentage wasn\u2019t good, though it was still significantly better than the Senators\u2019 team save percentage of .868. <\/p>\n

It’s no wonder the Senators are dead-last in save percentage, and among the worst of any team in the last 35 years.<\/p>\n

No Senators goalie has offered even league-average goaltending. Even with Ullmark’s mediocre .884 mark, the team could be on the fringe of a playoff spot. Instead, it woke up Sunday morning eight points out.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, when Ullmark took his leave of absence, the gap between the Senators and the post-season was just a single point.<\/p>\n

Ottawa went 7-7-2 without Ullmark on a .849 save percentage, compared to a 15-8-5 mark with him.<\/p>\n

We can only imagine that a steadier mind leads to steadier play. Nobody does their best work when they are in a dark place \u2014 whether they are a first responder, a teacher or a goalie.<\/p>\n

In victory Saturday night, the team showered Ullmark with love.<\/p>\n

His captain had one of the bigger bear hugs for the\u00a0Ice bear dude\u00a0(Ullmark\u2019s X handle).<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just really proud of him,\u201d Tkachuk said. \u201cHe played an unbelievable game. Just told him that he won us the game. We really missed him and (we\u2019re) just really happy for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a night filled with emotion, the cold and hard truth was that the Senators got a win thanks to their netminder\u2019s excellent play. \u00a0<\/p>\n

If Ullmark can replicate that level, he could inspire the Senators on a miraculous playoff push. <\/p>\n

But, perhaps more importantly, Ullmark is inspiring hockey fans and the next generation of players to end the stigma around mental health and get the help they need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OTTAWA \u2014 On Saturday night, Linus Ullmark reminded us of our humanity. Just over one month ago, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5104],"tags":[5,4,72,25,5157,73],"class_list":{"0":"post-440044","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ottawa-senators","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-ottawa","11":"tag-ottawa-senators","12":"tag-ottawasenators","13":"tag-senators"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115996227797770241","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}