Minnesota Wild: Why It Was The Right Move To Avoid Arbitration and Lock Up Filip Gustavsson

When Wild general manager Bill Guerin traded for Filip Gustavsson before the season started last year, many people didn't think much of it as he was going to be the backup for Marc-Andre Fleury for the year. 

Now the Wild have signed Gustavsson to a three-year deal with a 3.75 million cap hit per year. 

At the time the Ottawa Senators had many young goalies in their system and some with NHL experience: Mads Sogaard, Leevi Merilainen, Kevin Mandolese and Gustavsson to name a few. 

They even had Anton Forsberg who was 29 at the time but was in their future goaltending plans. The Senators also lost young Joey Daccord to the Seattle Kraken in the expansion draft. 

But Senators general manager Pierre Dorion wanted an experienced goaltender to split time with Forsberg for the 2022-23 season and Cam Talbot fit the bill. 

After not starting in the playoffs against the St. Louis Blues in the 2021-22 season, Talbot seemly wanted out, which led to a trade with the Senators for Gustavsson straight up. A trade that Dorion probably regrets. 

Talbot has now signed with the Los Angeles Kings, and Gustavsson had a breakout year with the Wild and just signed a three-year extension. 

At the time of the trade, Gustavsson was 24-years-old and Talbot was 35. The former Wild goaltender went 17-14-2 in 32 starts with a 2.93 goals-against-average and a .898 save percentage. 

We all know the type of season Gustavsson had for the Wild as he established himself as one of the top goalies in the league. 

It's been a long off-season for Gustavsson so far as he admitted he was a bit nervous leading up to his scheduled arbitration date of Aug. 4, but he is happy his agent got a deal done before then. 

"I got a little nervous when they started talking about arbitration," Gustavsson told the media via zoom. "I was packing my bag and was ready to go to Toronto on Wednesday and my agent called me on Friday and said we may have something going here."

Gustavsson got a call from his agent Kurt Overhardt at 2 a.m. on Sunday night saying his deal is done and Gustavsson can sign the paperwork on Monday, July 31.

Waking up at 2 a.m. hasn't been a surprise for Gustavsson since he welcomed his first son, Vollrad, earlier in the off-season. 

"I feel like I'm aging five years," Gustavsson said. "I'm getting less and less sleep. You just lay in bed staring at him, like 'How did this creature happen?' It's so amazing having him in my life."

The Wild will look to run the same goalie tandem with Fleury and Gustavsson for the second straight season. But the true No. 1 goaltender spot is still up for grabs.

"This is not something where there's a clear-cut No. 1 and clear-cut No.2," Guerin told the media via zoom. "They're both going to get a great opportunity to prove what they can do."

We all know Gustavsson has the potential to be the Wild's No. 1 goaltender especially after the season he just had, but with Fleury in his last year of his deal, the 38-year-old goaltender will still get a lot of games under his belt. 

Gustavsson does admit he wants to play more games and be the Wild's main goaltender, but he knows it is up to him to prove to the Wild he can. 

"My expectation is I'm going to try to start off where I finished last year," Gustavsson said. "Play all the games I get from the coach and win as many games as I can to get even more games."

Guerin added: "As a team, we're more than happy to make this investment in him. It'll be nice to watch Filip grow over the next few years and see what he can really be."

Even though Gustavsson isn't the No.1 goaltender, he was during the playoffs when the Wild lost to the Dallas Stars in six games, but he wished he was better. 

"I think I played very good during the regular season and then in the playoffs I was just average," Gustavsson said. "Average isn't good in the playoffs, that's what needs to change. I played in my first playoffs in the NHL, I know what to expect and I know the challenge so hopefully by knowing that, I can prepare better for when that time comes again."

The Wild have their No. 1 prospect in Jesper Wallstedt currently playing in the AHL so the question is when will Wallstedt be ready and does Gustavsson affect that?

Goaltenders take a lot longer to develop then other prospects, just look around the league at some of the young goaltenders and when they started. 

Wallstedt just finished his first season in the AHL where he was on the AHL Top Prospects team, but he still isn't even 21-years-old. I would think at least another full year in the AHL will be great for Wallstedt. 

After that, Fleury will be 39-years-old and without a contract and Gustavsson will have finished his first year of his three-year deal. 

You can then sign a stopgap backup to play 15-25 games while Gustavsson takes over as the No. 1 goaltender and let Wallstedt complete three full seasons in the AHL. 

After that, Gustavsson will be entering the final year of his three-year contract and Wallstedt will be 22 and will turn 23 in November. He can ease into the NHL after three years of AHL experience by backing up Gustavsson and when the season ends Gustavsson will be without a contract and 28-years-old. 

You could give him another deal based on the three previous seasons, but I'd imagine it wouldn't be over two years with Wallstedt almost ready to be the No. 1 or you could move Gustavsson because at 28-years-old he would want to continue to be a starter rather then mentor a younger goalie to eventually take his job. 

Obviously all of this depends on each of the two goalies and how they play but it's still fun to speculate. 

The Wild now only have about $1.6 million in cap space with 20 signed players on their roster and $14.7 million going to buyouts for Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, per PuckPedia.

They have little wiggle room to sign young defenseman, Calen Addison, but with his status as the likely No. 1 defender on the power play, I'd think a deal gets done or the Wild will have to play either Alex Goligoski or Jon Merrill on their off-side for the third pair.