Article: What Does A Filip Gustavsson Extension Look Like?

[Justin Hein]

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[MNCountryLife]

I am hoping the Wild wait a bit for this contract.  If Wally can put down some good tape it changes the signing game for the Wild.

[Scalptrash]

If he maintains the same performance level as last year 5x$8M. I always thought it would be $7M, but with the cap increasing so rapidly and now players being greedy...

[TCMooch]

Based on history of the team--I'm fine not investing a lot in goalies to get our cap reasonable. This team seems to always do well with finding goalies and making them work.

If Gus doesn't want to sign for something reasonable then I think we just bring in another 1B or 2A goalie and go from there.

[Citizen Strife]

If Wally plays really well, $6.5-7m.  If Wally sucks, $7.5-8m.

I don't think goalies are the sort of position you want to skimp on nor overspend.  Find a happy medium at high six or low seven, and I think it'll be fine.

[MNCountryLife]

8 minutes ago, TCMooch said:

This team seems to always do well with finding goalies and making them work.

Agreed.  The Wild are typically very goalie friendly.  Responsible players in the D zone sure help.

[mnhockeyfan03]

Wait on resigning him.  It’s our system that helps these goalies look better than they are.  Cal Peterson looked like an all star 2 nights ago due to the system.  We need forwards.  If Gus stands on his head and has a great season we could trade him at the deadline for a top 6 fwd.  goalies shouldnt be making over $4mm.  They are to streaky.  And I worry once Gus gets a new contract he will relax and not play hard.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

$32.5M over 5 years = $6.5M. Pay $24M in the first 3 seasons, and $4.25M each of the last 2. If he's still going strong at age 33, he'll get another nice deal.

I might sign him for $50M over 8 years, but I'm not sure if his agent would agree to that term. He's also unlikely to be as good ages 33-35 as he is 27-32, but it's possible.

[Justin Hein]

3 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

If Wally plays really well, $6.5-7m.  If Wally sucks, $7.5-8m.

I don't think goalies are the sort of position you want to skimp on nor overspend.  Find a happy medium at high six or low seven, and I think it'll be fine.

This is an interesting point. Gustavsson's market value won't change based on how good Wallstedt is though -- if you let him walk, they probably need to find another 1B to replace him as they pass the torch to Wallstedt. 

Personally, I'd rather pay Gustavsson market rate. Even if Wallstedt looks elite this season, the sample size won't be worth going all-in on Wallstedt. 

[1Brotherbill]

Look around the league the top paid goalies usually don't go to the finals let alone win a cup.  If you take out the two goalies from the state of Florida you have zero in the top ten winning cups.  Goalies can be found everywhere.

That being said I like Gus and it would be nice to see him and Wallstedt be in the net for a bit longer. 

[raithis]

Quote

On the other hand, Gustavsson’s agent has a reasonable excuse to throw out that ‘23-24 season: he was playing behind something which barely resembled an NHL roster.

I disagree with this.

While there were a ton of injuries in 2023-24, it took time before the Wind had that many injuries and Gustavsson was bad even before the injuries started piling up.

I agree that there's a case to be made that the injuries prevented him from doing better as the season went along; however, I can't just discard the entire season when he was pretty bad from the beginning.  He came out pretty good getting a shutout in that first game, but then he just kind of fell off a cliff.  He was having a bad season BEFORE we had a roster that was half-full of career AHLers.

[mnfaninnc]

I like having Goose around, he's an adequate goalie, and knows the defensive tendencies. But, I'm sorry, $7m is too high. I think the Blackwood contract would be a good starting point. 

What we don't know about Goose is whether or not he is an every other year goalie. His stats seem to present that trend. That is why I'd be reluctant to sign him right away. Let's see how his 1st 3 months go this season and look at something in January. 

I do like a Goose/The Wall battery and would like to keep it for awhile. But, to do that, both goalies will need to be on team friendly deals. Also, I still believe The Wall will end up being a franchise goalie. He'll be the one we have to pay. Not the next deal but the following one. 

It is important to remember that Goose is good behind a good defense, but he's really an average goalie that has elevated stats do to the structure. He knows what it's like to play under no structure, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to do that again. So, I'm starting at 5 x $5.25m (and Blackwood's contract was signed last season). 

Also, I think we need to look at usage of the goalie going forward. In this lineup, Goose has 1-2 seasons left as the true #1. After that it's 1a/1b as both goalies will be pretty interchangeable. This, of course, assumes that The Wall progresses like he should. 

Where could Goose go that might be a better opportunity? Edmonton needs a 'tender, but are they paying high? Toronto probably could use a goalie, but they think they've got theirs in Stolarz. Carolina has goalie depth issues, but are known not to pay top dollar (but they are structured). Florida might have Bob retire soon, there could be an opening there. And, finally, there are the also rans that really aren't too structured and aren't too talented. They would probably pay top dollar.

[raithis]

On 9/26/2025 at 3:08 PM, mnfaninnc said:

It is important to remember that Goose is good behind a good defense, but he's really an average goalie that has elevated stats do to the structure. 

Nowhere is this more evident than on the PK.  The Wild's defense is best when everyone is playing their role and covering their assignment and gaps.  It works well as long as all 5 skaters are out there.  As soon as there isn't, the extra gaps cause the system to fail.

Any goalie is going to have worse stats on the PK, but an elite goalie still looks like one of the best in the league in those situations.  Gus starts to look like a really good backup.