The Minnesota Wild Aren't Letting Former Senator Filip Gustavsson Get Away

One year after trading "Gus" to Minnesota, the Wild have a new number one goalie and the Senators have absolutely nothing to show for it.

The Minnesota Wild have locked up their number-one goalie, avoiding the messy business of arbitration.

The Wild signed Filip Gustavsson to a three-year deal Monday worth $11.25 million. He'll tag team once again with aging veteran backup Marc-Andre Fleury, who'll be 39 in November. 

Gustavsson finished second in the NHL in save percentage, and started five of Minnesota's six playoff games this year. He went 22-9-7, posted a 2.10 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage. He set career-highs in games played, starts, wins and shutouts.

So Gustavsson enters camp completely in the driver's seat for the lion's share of playing time on a very good team. 

What a difference a year can make. 

Last July, the Ottawa Senators didn't feel confident that Gustavsson could even be their backup goalie. So they put "Gus" on a bus to Minnesota, trading him straight up for veteran goalie Cam Talbot. Talbot played 36 games this season and the Senators let him walk into free agency this summer. 

Ottawa now, literally, has nothing to show for giving Minnesota their new starting goalie. 

And Gustavsson wasn't a project for the future. It wasn't a case of, hey, if absolutely everything goes right and maybe they sprinkle a little fairy dust and click their heels together, maybe someday, one day, Gus can be Minnesota's starting goalie. No, he was the Wild's clear number one goalie within a matter of months of the trade – pretty much plug and play. 

And now, at 25, the tall Swede has a big contract and his whole career in front of him.

After the glaring misevaluations of what they had in Gustavsson, Talbot and Matt Murray, the Senators are hoping their goalie whisperer has finally gotten it right this time with 29 year old Joonas Korpisalo. Korpisalo signed a five-year-deal with the Sens this summer.