Player Discussion Linus Ullmark (G)

Boud

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Dec 27, 2011
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Yikes that’s not good.

Merrilainen should be getting some starts here. With Ullmark out and the top 9 missing pieces it won’t be long that we’ll be trying to catch up to one of the 6 teams within 2 points of the wildcard.
 
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DrSense

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Oct 4, 2017
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It's a herniated disc and not something that will go away this season. He just has to manage it and hope the pain and discomfort subsides. The only way to fix it is surgery which is typically 3+ months from what I understand. He hopefully is ok to get us to April, and then can have the surgery.
 

Sensrule

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Aug 30, 2007
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Well that was fun while it lasted. Hoping for a speedy recovery for Ullmark. Pretty dire situation right now with our starter gone for an extended period of time and our offence drying up.
 

DrEasy

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Oct 3, 2010
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It's a herniated disc and not something that will go away this season. He just has to manage it and hope the pain and discomfort subsides. The only way to fix it is surgery which is typically 3+ months from what I understand. He hopefully is ok to get us to April, and then can have the surgery.
Wonder if this was happening prior to the trade, and whether Boston and/or Ottawa knew about it...
 

BigRig4

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Feb 22, 2014
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It's a herniated disc and not something that will go away this season. He just has to manage it and hope the pain and discomfort subsides. The only way to fix it is surgery which is typically 3+ months from what I understand. He hopefully is ok to get us to April, and then can have the surgery.
Was this reported somewhere?
 
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Boud

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Dec 27, 2011
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Wonder if this was happening prior to the trade, and whether Boston and/or Ottawa knew about it...

I tried to find history of back injury and I couldn’t find anything related to his back. Last year he had a lower body injury and had to be helped off the ice but nothing otherwise. It’s possible this is something new from the offseason. I understand it looks strange but I assume teams have to provide player’s medical files when they’re traded. I’d be surprised if this was a known issue before the trade.

Back injuries are very fickle and tricky to deal with. It only takes one little false movement and you can throw it out. Methot had back issues and it took him out of plenty of games towards the end of his career and I remember him talking about it after his career, it was just never right and it impacted his skating ability. For a goalie I can imagine if’s 10 times worse with the type of athleticism they need to have.

I don’t think this is something that’ll magically go away. Team will have to manage it. Probably Staios trades for a good backup at some point unless Forsberg can hold the fort and I wouldn’t count on that. Crazy how unlucky/bad the goaltending has been on this team last few years. So many goalies and none of them working out. Surgery in the offseason looks like a realistic possibility without knowing exactly what’s the issue.

Staios will have a real tricky next 2 months here. Perron is out until god knows when. I know he’s skating but again, if it’s a back issue he could be out again. We need a top 6 forward. We need a Dman, and now we might very well need a stopgap goalie. It’s a lot of holes to fill for a team trying to make the playoffs … and not a lot of assets to play with. If we’re on the fence, and it looks like we will, do you trade for help or do you stand path and wait for the offseason to make longer term moves?
 
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PlayOn

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Jun 22, 2010
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I tried to find history of back injury and I couldn’t find anything related to his back. Last year he had a lower body injury and had to be helped off the ice but nothing otherwise. It’s possible this is something new from the offseason. I understand it looks strange but I assume teams have to provide player’s medical files when they’re traded. I’d be surprised if this was a known issue before the trade.

Back injuries are very fickle and tricky to deal with. It only takes one little false movement and you can throw it out. Methot had back issues and it took him out of plenty of games towards the end of his career and I remember him talking about it after his career, it was just never right and it impacted his skating ability. For a goalie I can imagine if’s 10 times worse with the type of athleticism they need to have.

I don’t think this is something that’ll magically go away. Team will have to manage it. Probably Staios trades for a good backup at some point unless Forsberg can hold the fort and I wouldn’t count on that. Crazy how unlucky/bad the goaltending has been on this team last few years. So many goalies and none of them working out. Surgery in the offseason looks like a realistic possibility without knowing exactly what’s the issue.

Staios will have a real tricky next 2 months here. Perron is out until god knows when. I know he’s skating but again, if it’s a back issue he could be out again. We need a top 6 forward. We need a Dman, and now we might very well need a stopgap goalie. It’s a lot of holes to fill for a team trying to make the playoffs … and not a lot of assets to play with. If we’re on the fence, and it looks like we will, do you trade for help or do you stand path and wait for the offseason to make longer term moves?
Garrioch thinks he’s had issues before:

We were told by a league executive this week that Ullmark has had issues with his back in the past. We’re not 100% certain if that’s the case because of the league’s lack of a policy on injury disclosure, but we know that back injuries are unpredictable.

 
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Sun God Nika

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Apr 22, 2013
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It's a herniated disc and not something that will go away this season. He just has to manage it and hope the pain and discomfort subsides. The only way to fix it is surgery which is typically 3+ months from what I understand. He hopefully is ok to get us to April, and then can have the surgery.
im not a doc, but with how hush hush they have been and the media not asking questions on it only to get a timeline a couple of weeks after the injury, I can see this being the situation.
 

Golden_Jet

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Sep 21, 2005
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It's a herniated disc and not something that will go away this season. He just has to manage it and hope the pain and discomfort subsides. The only way to fix it is surgery which is typically 3+ months from what I understand. He hopefully is ok to get us to April, and then can have the surgery.
That’s one of the possibilities yep.
 
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DylanSensFan

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Aug 3, 2010
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It's a herniated disc and not something that will go away this season. He just has to manage it and hope the pain and discomfort subsides. The only way to fix it is surgery which is typically 3+ months from what I understand. He hopefully is ok to get us to April, and then can have the surgery.
A herniated disk causing spasms? I mean, it's possible. Seems pretty young for a herniated disk.
 

DylanSensFan

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Aug 3, 2010
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Calgary
You can't fight through back injuries as a goalie unless you want to never be able to stand up straight again.

Anyway, it's pretty obvious he's got a serious chronic issue and it looks like we may have yet again got ourselves a lemon.
Nah, I don't think we've got a lemon. Ullmark is fantastic he just needs to heal up properly.
 

Boud

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Dec 27, 2011
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A herniated disk causing spasms? I mean, it's possible. Seems pretty young for a herniated disk.

I wouldn’t say it’s completely uncommon with pro athletes. For your average person doing regular exercise and living a life with average amount of physical stress it’s not as common at a young age but it’s different for an athlete.

Many NHLers have had herniated discs. Bergeron, Vasilevsky, Couturier, Parise, Eichel and there’s more.

Ullmark is going on 32 this year and with all the hockey he’s played since he’s a teen, and all the stress he put on his back as a goalie it wouldn’t be completely surprising if he has a(or multiple) effed up disc.

Vasilevsky had the surgery and had 10 weeks recovery. He had surgery in September of 2023 and when he came back he just wasn’t the same goalie but this year he looks like his regular self.

IF it’s actually a herniated disc for Ullmark, I would assume he/the team wants him to fight through it so he can play some games this season. Surgery now would essentially mean he’d be missing until March and I don’t see them wanting to do that until the offseason with the team pushing for playoffs. A few weeks off would allow things to settle down a bit but I would be surprised if he doesn’t aggravate it at some point.

If there’s a history of back issues, as Garrioch mentionned (Thanks PlayOn) , I’m pretty sure the team would’ve known about this before making the trade by getting the player’s medical records. It might be the reason why the return was average and why Boston was willing to trade him within the division- but who knows.
 
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Nac Mac Feegle

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Jun 10, 2011
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Yikes...

I really hope we get some kind of clarification when these issues started, and if the team knew about this before trading for him (and before giving him that contract).

I'm really not liking the sound of any of this.
 
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SensFactor

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Oct 25, 2008
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I'm really starting to question if Ullmark, who we have for 4 more seasons after this one, can be a full time goalie. The greatest player ability is availability and this is the 3rd time he has missed games this year because of various ailments.

I'm concerned we just paid $8.25M/year for a #1 goalie that can only play 40 games a year.
 
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