MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Wild and goaltender Filip Gustavsson avoided arbitration by agreeing to a three-year, $11.25 million deal on Monday.
The 25-year-old was set to have a hearing on Friday, and he had a solid case after posting a record of 22-9-7 with a 2.10 goals-against average, .931 save percentage and three shutouts in 39 games (37 starts) while splitting time with Marc-Andre Fleury last season.
With Fleury entering the final year of his contract and highly-touted prospect Jesper Wallstedt waiting in the wings, that three-year deal is huge as the Wild go through a transition period in net.
"The Wild give themselves options for how to handle this as the contract unfolds," says Seth Toupal of Locked on Wild. "If Wallstedt pans out the way they hope he does, he's your starter. If something happens, you've got Gustavsson locked in and you've got some possibilites for what to do."
In other words, Gustavsson and Fleury will likely split duties again this season while Wallstedt - who's still only 21 - continues to develop his game at the AHL level.
As a reminder, if the two sides had gone to arbitration, the max deal would have been two years.
Now, once Fleury is off the books, Minnesota can run with a Gustavsson / Wallstedt tandem in net and make a determination from there as to who will be the long term No. 1 option. If Wallstedt takes over the job, there will be the option of flipping Gustavsson for help at other positions.
But don't expect Gustavsson to hand Wallstedt the job without some competition.
"In three years, I hope to be the No. 1, and be really the outspoken No. 1 and play most of the games and hopefully sign another deal, a longer deal in the NHL," Gustavsson said, per NHL.com. "This feels like my proving point. That I can keep playing such a high level for consecutive years in a row."
So, for now, signing Gustavsson and retaining Fleury gives Minnesota the luxury of not rushing Wallstedt. Then, they can push each other to get better in tandem for a couple years before Wallstedt emerges as the star he's projected to be and Gustavsson serves as his wingman or moves on to a better personal opportunity.
Either way, Minnesota is pretty set in net for the foreseeable future.