The Ottawa Senators are bringing in Linus Ullmark's personal goalie coach, Maciej Szwoch, on a full-time basis. Senators president of hockey operations and general manager Steve Staios announced on Friday that the team has hired Szwoch to serve as coordinator of goaltending scouting and development.
Szwoch, 41, was initially brought in to work with Ullmark when he took a 35-day leave of absence for mental health reasons. The two are close friends, and Szwoch is considered a mentor to Ullmark. Szwoch will not replace goaltending coach Justin Peters but will work alongside him at both the National Hockey League and American Hockey League levels.
Ullmark previously spoke about Szwoch's impact: "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. 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."
He added: "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 arose from him 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."
With three years at $8.25 million U.S. left on Ullmark's contract, this move makes sense for the Senators. They need Ullmark to perform at a high level to make the playoffs, and he was solid in the post-season with a .933 save percentage in the four-game sweep. Ullmark noted that it wasn't his decision whether Szwoch would stay on staff, but he acknowledged that any hire must fit the organization's philosophy. The team confirmed that Szwoch will work with goalies at all levels within the organization.
