NHL goaltending is volatile – but the Wild have it all figured out
Three-goaltender rotations have become increasingly common in the NHL.
The Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, and Montreal Canadiens routinely used them last season, while the Toronto Maple Leafs leaned on third-string goaltender Martin Jones to hold the fort last winter. It isn’t always ideal, but sometimes, it’s a necessity.
In the case of the Minnesota Wild, the three-headed monster general manager Bill Guerin has put together has proven to be a team strength to this point in the season.
Sitting second in the Central Division with a record of 5-0-2, the Wild have been humming along through the first several weeks. It’s not a total shock to be where they are, but most prognosticators (including yours truly) had the Wild in and around the Wildcard picture. Many things have gone into the torrid start for Minnesota, but the play they’ve gotten between the pipes can’t go unnoticed.
Leading the way – not just for the Wild but the league as well – is Filip Gustavsson.
Gustavsson, 26, arrived in Minnesota via a trade with the Ottawa Senators in the summer of 2022. His first campaign was as solid as one would have expected, earning the former Pittsburgh Penguins second-round pick a three-year, $3.75 million deal per year. His second season did not go as swimmingly (sub .900 save percentage), which raised concerns about how he’d rebound.
It’s only five games, but Gustavsson’s .952 SV% and 4-0-1 record have his career seemingly back on track – and even on an upward trajectory. On the surface, the 26-year-old’s play would have most people assuming the Wild’s crease would be locked up for the foreseeable future. Oh, and did I mention he even has a goal?
The (good?) problem is, another promising young goaltender rapidly coming up the Wild’s pipeline.
A first-round pick in 2021, goaltender Jesper Wallstedt’s play over the last three seasons has had him considered as arguably the best prospect goaltender going. Wallstedt arrived in North America two seasons ago, sporting a SV% of .908 and .910 in each of the last two seasons, respectively.
Though he has only appeared in four NHL contests, the Wild locked up Wallstedt to a two year contract extension earlier this month. The new contract carries an AAV of $2.2 million, giving the Wild two years of cost certainty with a final year left to go on the player’s entry-level deal.
The Wild have committed to Wallstedt and clearly believe in him – so why isn’t he a full time NHLer?
Speaking with those around the league, the outlook on Wallstedt is overwhelmingly positive; one went so far to say that, even as of today, he’s NHL ready. If the hype on Wallstedt is this high – so much so that the Wild felt comfortable handing him a contract extension before the season even really got going – some posed this question to me: why re-sign veteran netminder Marc-Andre Fleury?
Fleury, who turns 40 next month, re-upped with the Wild last year on a one year, $2.5 million contract. Starting his third full season in Minnesota after being acquired ahead of the 2022 NHL Trade Deadline, Fleury’s play, while not overtly bad, has gradually begun to tail off. He is not the Vezina trophy-winning Stanley Cup champion he once was, but Fleury’s benefit has proven to go beyond on-ice play, meshing phenomenally with his younger compatriots.
The mentorship that Fleury has been able to provide for Gustavsson is evident in the latter’s numbers, as more than once it has been echoed to me how strong of a leader the former is. Having the veteran/young gun tandem has (predominantly) worked well for the Wild; so why fix what isn’t broken?
The Wild value what Gustavsson and Fleury bring – both on and off the ice. While Wallstedt has the organization’s trust in the long term, he still only played three games entering the season. Trying to navigate through the last year of a dicey salary cap situation due to the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyout penalties, the Wild had to have a sure thing in net to give themselves the best chance to win; a 21-year-old backup in need of playing time wasn’t the most optimal option.
That being said, there is an expectation that the Wild will be using Wallstedt throughout the season. From what I’ve heard over the last few days, the Wild plan to have Wallstedt play for both the Wild and the Iowa Wild, though being principally based out of Minnesota. The play of Gustavsson and Fleury will affect this, of course, but the idea is to get Wallstedt in as many games as possible (both in the NHL and AHL) while also being around the big club and under the learning tree of the other two Minnesota goaltenders. Like Gustavsson, Wallstedt could stand to learn a lot from Fleury.
The three-headed monster is now the plan, but there was a time when Gustavsson’s future in Minnesota was up in the air.
While not actively shopping him, the Wild listened on Gustavsson last summer. Coming off a down year and with Wallstedt knocking on the door, Gustavsson’s services were expendable, which became much clearer after Fleury re-signed.
Though this was the case a few months back, it sounds like teams who once had interest in Gustavsson have missed the boat. As of Thursday, I was told that the Wild had no intentions of moving on from Gustavsson and intend, at this point, on keeping him through the duration of his contract that expires in 2026.
It seems safe to assume that this will be Fleury’s last NHL season, and with Wallstedt’s new contract set to kick in next year, the Wild have some good cost certainty on two promising, young goaltenders. At a combined cap hit of $5.95 million, Gustavsson and Wallstedt have a combination of proven talent and a high ceiling that could translate to be not only one of the best bargain tandems in the league, but also one of the best tandems, period.
With the Wild exiting salary cap “hell” next season, they will have more money to spend – all without worrying about their netminders. Their goaltending has proven to be an anchor in the early going this season, but is also set up nicely through the foreseeable future with talent, youth and cost certainty.
Goaltending has never been so volatile in the NHL, and while many teams continue to roll the dice and scour the market for solutions, the Wild are one of the few that don’t have much to worry about between the pipes for a while.
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