BOSTON — Linus Ullmark was an American Hockey League goaltender in Rochester, N.Y., when he decided to upgrade his style.

Roughly eight years ago, Ullmark discovered an Instagram account that blew up overnight. Tom Marchitelli spent years as a hedge fund accountant wearing expensive clothes and trusting his stylist. But with the encouragement of his wife, he decided to start his own business and show off his outfits. His Instagram and Twitter accounts, Gents Playbook, soon rose in popularity online — as did his client base of NHL, NFL and Major League Baseball players.

When Ullmark found him, Marchitelli already was working with his then-NHL teammates Jack Eichel and Evander Kane, among others. Ullmark was getting married later in the year, and he needed a suit. Marchitelli agreed to meet Ullmark in a Buffalo, N.Y., hotel room.

“He wanted a light-gray, three-piece suit,” Marchitelli said. “Very classic, very simple compared to what he’s wearing now — which is great because it’s been a style progression.”

This has gone hand in hand with Ullmark’s career progression, as he’s gone from an unproven Buffalo Sabres netminder to a Vezina Trophy-winning goalie with the Boston Bruins

Ullmark might share the net with Jeremy Swayman on a first-place Bruins team in the Eastern Conference, but what Ullmark has on Swayman — and most other hockey players — is a heightened sense of style. Ullmark has made a handful of appearances on The Athletic’s biweekly NHL style rankings, reaching No. 1 in a recent edition with a dark-blue overcoat over a lighter-blue suit and hat. He can rock outfits that make him look like an extra on the popular British show “Peaky Blinders,” but he also has expanded his comfort zone with various colorways.

“I enjoy suits,” Ullmark said. “For me, it makes me feel like it’s a game instead of a normal (day). I like when I have to dress up, because that means I’m putting my working clothes on, and I go to battle.”

One of Ullmark’s teammates happens to be a more-than-worthy challenger to the NHL style throne. David Pastrňák has been included in many of The Athletic style rankings before, most recently atop our NHL All-Star edition two weeks ago. He was ranked the “style king” during the inaugural season of the rankings for the 2021-22 season.

But is the attention too skewed toward one of the Bruins players?

“I’ll tell you something. I like (Pastrňák). Met him many times. Great guy,” Marchitelli said. “He gets all the credit and the love for being, so-called, one of the best-dressed or the best-dressed player in the NHL. Especially on the Bruins’ (social media) page. They show him, doesn’t matter what he’s wearing.

“They’ll show him 10 times before you get a picture of Linus. And that bothers me.”

In a league where getting players to show an ounce of personality can feel like pulling teeth, Pastrňák’s own personality has emerged at the league’s forefront thanks to his wardrobe. One day, he could wear a baby-blue, Adidas-branded tracksuit doubling as formal wear. The next day, it could be a black-and-white hat with a black blazer and white pants. It would make Cruella de Vil do a double take.

“I’m just open-minded, free,” Pastrňák said. “(I) wear what I want. If I want to wear it, I wear it. I don’t really look around much twice and think about it.”

A standout outfit from Pastrňák’s time in Toronto during NHL All-Star Weekend was a bright yellow suit, designed by Czechian brand Poner, with a black shirt underneath. Brother and sister duo Jakub and Nikol Poner met Pastrňák and his fiancée, Rebecca Rohlsson, ahead of last summer’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in Czechia and hooked them up with outfits. Their relationship blossomed from there, as Pastrňák wears shirts and trousers from their collection.

“David is his own stylist,” Nikol and Jakub told The Athletic via email.

Ahead of the All-Star week, Pastrňák gave Poner the freedom to design a suit. The company designed it blindly and didn’t even schedule a fitting for him. It now is part of Pastrňák’s pantheon of great outfits.

David Pastrňák wearing his yellow Poner suit during NHL All-Star weekend in Toronto. (Nicole Osborne / NHLI via Getty Images)

“You kind of get used to the crazy outfits over time, but (then) he shows up with something new,” Bruins teammate Jakub Lauko said. “He’s one of the few guys in the league that can wear it and pull it off. He can just put on a nice shirt and tie. He can have a nice jacket with it. Not even a dress jacket, a puff jacket, and can still pull it off. If I would show up with a puff jacket, I would get roasted.”

Though Pastrňák is much more free-flowing with his sense of style, Ullmark appears to be more methodical and thoughtful in his choices. Marchitelli remembers meeting Ullmark in a back room at a pizza restaurant ahead of last year’s NHL All-Star Game in Florida. Both men spent two hours going over fabrics and putting together a three-outfit wardrobe that would dress Ullmark from media day to game day. He even got a casual outfit — a black-and-teal bomber jacket with leather shoulders combined with black jeans and Air Jordans.

The highlight for Marchitelli, however, was an ice-blue, paisley silk suit with a hat. To Marchitelli, the hat was the “crown jewel” of the outfit.

Linus Ullmark greets fans during the 2023 NHL All-Star Game in Florida. (Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images)

“A lot of the guys that year, because it was hot in Florida, they showed up in button-down shirts and pants for a red carpet,” Marchitelli said. “He’s over there in a silk paisley suit. I mean, he put everybody to shame.”

So, who has more drip between Pastrňák and Ullmark? Ullmark sees Pastrňák as his style equal, but he also thinks it’s like comparing apples to oranges.

“You can’t really compare us, because we style ourselves differently,” Ullmark said.

There was a time when judging and focusing on NHL styles would be considered foreign. Players like Ullmark and Pastrňák would just put on a basic suit and not think about being shown on a team’s social media feed. But that exposure has changed the approach of several players.

“You realize, I’ve got to take it up a notch,” Ullmark said. “I’m going to represent. I’m going to do it my way.”

It’s a far cry from previous years. Ullmark and Pastrňák now can say they rule the NHL when it comes to style.

(Top photos: Steve Babineau / NHLI via Getty Images)