Where the Linus Ullmark trade bites the Senators

The Ottawa Senators were looking for a goaltender for the future after missing the playoffs for the seventh straight season. Last June, the Senators made a deal to acquire Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins.

Ullmark won the 2023 Vezina Trophy in Boston and Ottawa saw enough of Joonas Korpisalo after just one season.

At the time of the trade, the main part of the trade was the teams trading their goaltenders and the Senators also trading a late 2024 first-round draft pick to the Bruins. However, part of the trade helped the Bruins with the possibility that he could come back and bite the Senators.

Mark Kastelic took off in Boston after the Ullmark trade and embarrassed the Sens

Mark Kastelic was the only player involved in the Ullmark trade. From 2021 to 2024, Kastelic played 144 games and scored 25 points for the Senators. Kastelic only scored 10 points for the Senators last season.

This season with the Bruins, Kastelic has exceeded expectations. Kastelic is tied for first on the Bruins with five points and has the most points on the team. Kastelic scored his first two-goal game of the season in just the second game of the Bruins' season, and it was his first two-goal game since April 2022.

Two games later, Kastelic scored the first three-point game of his career with three assists. In three of the Bruins' five games, Kastelic recorded a +3 rating and Kastelic has the Bruins' second-highest +/- rating at a +8, so Kastelic's influence on the Bruins is well known.

The Senators were pleased with the results of the Ullmark trade after Korpisalo's disastrous Bruins debut, when he allowed six goals in the Bruins' season opener. However, Kastelic's performance and the fact that Ullmark missed the last two games due to a strain injury have helped the team develop in the Bruins' favor.

The Senators fell to 2-2-0 after last night's 3-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils and are currently two points behind the Bruins in the standings. Given the way Kastelic has played this season, the Senators might kick themselves for trading Kastelic and not someone else.

The Senators have players on their roster capable of scoring like Kastelic is with the Bruins, but Tim Stutzle and Brady Tkachuk are the only players who have more points than Kastelic this season. Every other Senators player has four points or fewer. The Senators need to get more offensive production outside of Stutzle and Tkachuk so that the Kastelic trade doesn't look worse.