The Ottawa Senators for the past seven years have had major issues with their goaltending. To solidify goaltending issues, the Senators made a trade to acquire 2023 Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins.
Ullmark enters this season as the biggest key factor to determine how much success the Senators can have in 2024-25. Having an expiring contract after 2025 does come as the biggest risk for the Senators trading for Ullmark, but Ullmark's success in Boston gives a good reason for Ottawa to trade for him.
Senator fans are excited to have Ullmark be the number one goaltender, but one question is growing with how many games he will start this season. New Senators head coach Travis Green gave an answer to how many games Ullmark will start, but didn't give an exact number of how many.
Travis Green says Linus Ullmark will start "a lot" of games this season
Yesterday at Senators Media Day, Green commented that Ullmark will start "a lot" of games for the Senators this season, but he doesn't have an exact number of how many.
Green asked about the number of games Ullmark will play. Said he doesn't have an exact number, but he will play a lot of games. That 50 number is a number elite goalies talk about.
— TSN 1200 (@TSN1200) September 18, 2024
When saying Ullmark will start "a lot," the question of predicting how many games Ullmark will start begins. Going back to when Green was the head coach of the Vancouver Canucks and seeing the starts by goaltenders is valuable to see how many games Green could feel is right for Ullmark.
In the 2017-18 season, Jacob Markstrom started the most games for the Canucks with 57. In the following 2018-19 season, Markstrom started 60. In both seasons, the Canucks missed the playoffs.
In the 2019-20 season, the Canucks made the playoffs. When the season was suspended due to COVID-19 concerns, the Canucks had played 69 games. Markstrom started 43 games in the season, and backup Thatcher Demko started 25. If possible, Green isn't afraid to have a reliable backup start if needed. However, Anton Forsberg has struggled the past two seasons with the Senators and needs to earn the Senators trust back to get more starts in net.
The 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons aren't much to look at starts by Canucks goaltenders. The 2020-21 season played 26 fewer games than a full 82-game season, and Green was fired 15 games into the 2021-22 season.
Another question that is looked at is how many starts do elite goaltenders in the NHL start. Here are four elite goaltenders and the amount of starts they had who were fully healthy last season:
Juuse Saros- 64
Connor Hellebuyck- 60
Igor Shesterkin- 55
Ilya Sorokin- 55
Obviously, Green wants Ullmark to regain his Vezina form from 2023 and be an elite goaltender. Playing Ullmark a lot will give the Senators a better chance to win, but giving a goaltender rest is crucial. If Ullmark plays like he did in Boston over the past three seasons, it provides Ottawa a chance to sneak in the playoffs as a Wild Card team.
So, how many starts could be expected right now to start based on Green's comments? About 57-63 starts. Ullmark showed that he can be a top goaltender in Boston. Forsberg's struggles also provide Ullmark with a better chance to start more. With Forsberg starting 28 games last season, Forsberg could see fewer starts if Green has intentions to play Ullmark a lot.