Breaking: Linus Ullmark Taking Leave of Absence From Senators

The Ottawa Senators have announced that struggling goaltender Linus Ullmark has taken a leave of absence from the team for personal reasons.

Linus Ullmark is taking a leave of absence from the Ottawa Senators for personal reasons.

Statement below: pic.twitter.com/MZz1N0sJec
— Julian McKenzie (@jkamckenzie) December 28, 2025

The Sens say that the goaltender will be away from the team indefinitely.

“Linus has the full support of our organization during this time,” said Senators GM Steve Staios. “Out of respect to Linus, we will not be making any further comments.”

Ullmark has the worst numbers of his career this season

Ullmark is in the middle of a difficult season, and was pulled in the middle of the second period in Saturday night's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs after allowing four goals on 14 shots. He currently has a career-worst .881 save percentage. In fact, it's the first time he's been under the .900 mark in his 11-year career. He has allowed a league-high 82 goals.

Ullmark was the Vezina Trophy winner in the 2022-23 season with a .938 Sv%, and shared the Jennings Trophy as well with his cohort, Jeremy Swayman with the Boston Bruins.

But the numbers have deteriorated for the 32-year-old netminder over the past three seasons. In a year and a half with Ottawa, he has an .899 Sv% and a 2.82 goals against average, both appreciably worse than his stats the previous three years with the Bruins.

Ullmark is in the second season of a four-year, $33-million contract with the Sens, with an $8.25 million AAV.