Ottawa Senators bringing in Linus Ullmark's goalie coach full-time

Ottawa Senator Linus Ullmark waving to the fans after loss on April 25, 2026. Photo by TONY CALDWELL /POSTMEDIA

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The Ottawa Senators are bringing in Linus Ullmark’s goalie coach on a full-time basis.

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Senators president of hockey operations and general manager Steve Staios announced on Friday that the team has hired Maciej Szwoch to serve as coordinator of goaltending scouting and development.

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Szwoch, 41, was brought in to work with Ullmark when he took his 35-day leave of absence for mental health reasons. The two are close friends, and Szwoch is considered to be a mentor to Ullmark.

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Szwoch won’t replace goaltending coach Justin Peters, but will work with him at the National Hockey League and American Hockey League levels.

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“There was a reason why he was here, and it changed over time. In the beginning, for myself, it was more to have an extra support, and we had a lot of conversations, a lot of discussions, trying to find the reason why I play hockey, basically,” Ullmark said last month.

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“Talking about legacies, talking about everyday things, talking about who I want to be, on and off the ice, everything, we dissected, everything when the time felt right to do it. And the things started falling into place. Motivation started to come back. I started to find a reason to keep playing hockey, so to speak. And once that starts falling into place, you get a little bit more inspired. Might get a little bit more motivation from different things. And instead of just being happy to be back, which I was when I came back after my leave of absence

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A big help

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“I’m just happy to play hockey again, and it truly felt like it was a good fit for the situation that me personally was in, and I’m very grateful for the help that he provided and the conversations, discussions, thoughts that arouse from he coming here and us sitting down as a team with him, Me and Petey, going over things, dissecting and trying to figure out together. And I’m truly blessed to have people like him, Petey, and other people in my life to sort of want to be there, reaching out a hand when in need.”

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With three years at $8.25 million U.S. left on Ullmark’s deal, this is a move that makes sense. The Senators need him to have success to make the playoffs, and he was solid in the post-season with a .933 save percentage in the four-game sweep.

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Ullmark said it wasn’t up to him to determine if Szwoch would be kept on staff.

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“If it makes sense. But you can’t just add people here and there, right? Because of one person, you know, it has to, has to make sense. That’s pretty self evident when it comes to any sort of organization or company or whatever, you just don’t hire people. They have to actually bring something to the table as well that fits the philosophy and ideology of the place they didn’t want to be hired at,” Ullmark said.

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The organization said in a news release that Szwoch will work with the goalies at all levels.

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