ESPN recently conducted a poll to name the best goaltender, and Boston Bruins fans won’t be happy with where Linus Ullmark ended up.
Ullmark is having the best season of his career. He is a Vezina favorite and a major reason for Boston’s success in the 2022-23 season. In 33 games played, Ullmark is 26-4-1 with a .937 save percentage and a 1.90 goals against average.
ESPN had players and executives participate in the poll, and Ullmark hasn’t earned their respect. Ullmark is seventh on the list. Greg Wyshynski spoke to an executive about Ullmark.
“When you look at goalies, it is just really tough. It is so year-by-year,” the exec said. “Linus Ullmark is on the list this year but struggled last year in the middle part of the season. He became better as the season went on. Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman went to camp battling for the job, and Ullmark won the job and has had a Vezina-winning season to date.”
It’s fair to point to last year, but this year Ullmark is dominating. Having him outside of the top five is absurd.
The top spot on the list isn’t all that surprising. Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning leads the way.
“For me, the No. 1 is clear cut,” a coach told Wyshynski. “He is the king right now. He’s been the king for a while. There is no argument there.”
The Tampa Bay goaltender is 25-13-1 with a .919 save percentage and a 2.52 goals against average. While there is no denying that Vasilevskiy has a bigger body of work, Ullmark’s numbers are superb this season. He deserves a spot higher on the list.
With the second half of the season underway, Ullmark will get an opportunity to prove that he deserves to be among the top goaltenders in the NHL (if he isn’t already there). If he maintains his impressive level of play, he could even end up with some hardware in his trophy cabinet.
But while a Vezina Trophy would be great, winning a Stanley Cup is the ultimate goal. The Bruins record-breaking regular season performance is great, but it will be a tough pill to swallow if they fail to win a championship.
So those around the NHL need to start respecting Ullmark a bit more. There is no way that he isn’t a top-five goaltender in the league today.
