After the Minnesota Wild’s Kirill Kaprizov signed his extension on Tuesday, Sept. 30, it seemed like the team was done with any major contract signings, at least for a little while. However, a little less than a week later, on Saturday, Oct. 4, the team announced that they had locked up their starting goaltender to an extension as well. Filip Gustavsson agreed to a five-year, $34 million deal that averages about $6.8 million a year.
Gustavsson asserted his spot last season with a strong performance in net, and it was expected that the Wild would do what they could to keep him in net for the near future. They do have Jesper Wallstedt as well, but he’s going to take some time to adjust to the NHL, and Gustavsson is their clear number one currently. In this article, we’ll take a look at what this signing means for everyone involved, starting with Gustavsson.
Gustavsson’s Job Secured
With this signing, this means the Wild have a starting goaltender that they trust and have watched develop not only for this season but the next five after that as well. One of the hardest positions to fill on any hockey team is a strong starting goaltender, and the Wild have been lucky enough to find one. While his second full season with the Wild was a little rough after having a great debut, he bounced back strong in his third season and secured his job between the pipes.
The Wild got the better end of the deal with his last contract, which was a three-year deal worth $11.25 million that broke down to $3.75 million a season. It’ll be interesting to see how this new deal ages as Gustavsson hits what should be considered the best years of his career. He’s shown a lot of maturity over the last few seasons, and he’s truly become the goaltender the Wild had hoped for.
After his struggle in 2023-24, he worked hard in the offseason and came back as an almost new goaltender both mentally and physically, which really showed the Wild he was willing to put in the work, and not every player is willing to do that. Hopefully, he’ll be able to continue to improve his game and keep helping the Wild win games.
Wild Have Top Slot Covered
While it’s good for Gustavsson to sign an extension because it means he’ll keep playing, it’s also good for the Wild because they don’t have to figure out who their number one goaltender is. Again, as stated before, it’s hard to find a goaltender who can consistently put up good numbers. He had a record of 31 wins, 19 losses, and six overtime losses, which earned him the seventh spot among all goaltenders in the NHL last season. His 31 wins had him tied for sixth and among the top 10 goaltenders; his .914 save percentage would’ve earned him the fourth spot.
With Gustavsson in place, the Wild also don’t have to worry about pushing Wallstedt too hard to take over the top spot. The original plan back when they drafted Wallstedt was for him to take over the top spot by now, but it’s taken a different course than expected, as happens with sports. After the Wild traded for Marc-André Fleury and then traded for Gustavsson, they found their top two goaltenders until Fleury retired this past season, and there wasn’t room for Wallstedt at the time.
Gustavsson and Fleury worked great together, with Gustavsson learning everything he could from Fleury. Now it’ll be his turn to do the same for Wallstedt and help him along in his transition to the NHL. He may have earned the top slot, but the work isn’t over, and the Wild will need him to do what he can to help Wallstedt become a top goaltender as well.
Wild’s Goaltending Future Hopefully Locked
While every team wants to have a top goaltender, having two that can play any night is the best of the best. This is exactly what the Wild are hoping for with locking Gustavsson up and also having Wallstedt. Of course, the eventual plan would likely be to have Wallstedt take over for Gustavsson when he reaches the end of this contract, when he’ll be 33 years old, according to PuckPedia. That’s not necessarily old for a goaltender, but he may not be in his peak anymore by that time, which means Wallstedt would eventually get more of the load with Gustavsson backing up.
Again, Gustavsson may still be a solid starter by the time he’s 33, but it’s not a guarantee, and this contract gives the Wild that leeway to extend or not without giving up too much. If Wallstedt can become what the Wild hope, they’ll have a solid tandem for quite some time. However, if they get good at the same time, it could also hinder the Wild if one decides they want to go somewhere they don’t have to share the net.
Right now, that seems unlikely as Wallstedt has a bit of adjustments to do before he would rival for that starting spot, but it’s not impossible. While it would be great if the Wild could have both goaltenders consistently battling for the top slot, it may be a bit before fans get to see that. Hopefully, the Wild have two top goaltenders in the near future and can keep them both as well.
Related: What Kaprizov’s Contract Means For the Minnesota Wild
The Wild locked up Gustavsson, and now he’ll need to back up the contract, which so far seems pretty likely to happen. He found a way to outperform his last contract, and hopefully, he’ll be able to do the same with this one and guarantee the Wild more wins and a deep run in the postseason.
