TSN Analyst On Linus Ullmark: 'What He Did On Saturday Was Completely Unacceptable'
Linus Ullmark's controversial decision to sit out a crucial game because he needed rest has provoked criticism.
As the Ottawa Senators prepare to take on the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night, it's not unreasonable or even sarcastic to wonder if their eight-million-dollar starting goalie will be rested enough to play or not. On Saturday, two days after Linus Ullmark and the Ottawa Senators lost 4-3 in a shootout to the Pittsburgh Penguins, it was expected that Ullmark would start in Tampa against the Lightning. After all, their next game was still three days away.
But when game time rolled around, it was 38-year-old backup James Reimer who led the Sens onto the ice for what turned out to be a 4-2 loss to the Lightning. Reimer wasn't the reason for the loss, but not going with Ullmark seemed like a curious choice. Tim Stutzle wonders why the Senators ever traded away Michael Amadio.
With no local media on the road, Sens host Jackson Starr, who's a Senators employee, asked head coach Travis Green after the game what went into the decision to start Reimer over Ullmark. "I want to play Linus every night," Green replied. "But he needed a rest and he wasn’t available to start tonight.
” Ullmark has yet to give his account of why he didn't play, but Green's explanation that he needed a rest has had Sens Nation and the hockey world buzzing over the past two days. Former NHL player Jeff O' Neill is never one to pull punches on his TSN Toronto radio show, Overdrive, and he certainly didn't on this story. "What Linus Ullmark did on Saturday night was completely unacceptable," O' Neill said on Monday's show .