Lukas Dostal Might Be Minnesota's Perfect Bridge Goalie

As the 2025-26 season wraps up, the Minnesota Wild must start making big decisions and take advantage of their increased cap space. Marc-Andre Fleury's retirement leaves a void behind Philip Gustavsson, but they have options. 

Gustavsson started 58 games for the Wild and will likely be their primary goalie in 2025-26. However, Fleury started the other 22 and played a crucial role for Minnesota. Fleury had a .899 save percentage (SV%) and cost $2.5 million in cap space. Gustavsson will complete the final year of his three-year, $11.25M contract after maintaining a .914 SV% this season. Ideally, the Wild can find a backup with slightly better stats than Fleury and not spend significantly more cap space than $2.5 million.

Minnesota’s in-house option is to elevate Jesper Wallstedt. The Wild signed 22-year-old Wallstedt to a two-year, $4.4M contract starting in the 2025-26 season, but he’s mostly played in the AHL since signing the extension. 

In the 2023-24 season, Wallstedt maintained a .910 SV% in Iowa, earning an extension. However, he only played two games in Minnesota last year. Wallstedt spent most of his time in Iowa, finishing the season with a .879 SV%. While he has potential, Wallstedt has not been performing, and the Wild shouldn’t rush his development by forcing him to back up Gustavsson in the NHL. 

Minnesota doesn’t need a starting goalie because they already have Gustavsson, but they want someone young for longevity. The Wild also need a potential starter for the 2026-27 season in case they can no longer afford Gustavsson, since they will likely have to re-sign him for double his current AAV. Lukas Dostal could be the solution.

The Anaheim Ducks selected Dostal in the third round, 85th overall, in the 2018 draft. After his first season with the Ducks in 2018-2019, Dostal signed a three-year $2.47M extension, making him a restricted free agent (RFA) this offseason. 

Dostal started 38 and 49 games for the Ducks in the 2023-2024 and 2024-25 seasons, respectively. He finished last season with a .903 SV% overall, near his .902 career average. 

In 2024, he represented the Czech Republic at the IIHF World Championship and helped his team bring home gold. He earned the title of Best Goaltender for the tournament by shutting out Switzerland in the Championship game, his third shutout of the tournament and sixth win.

Dostal is a consistently great goaltender. Even if his save percentage isn’t above .910 yet, he hasn’t gone below .901. At only 24, Dostal is just entering his prime and will likely get better in the coming years. 

He previously earned $812,500 AVV on his contract but is due for a raise. Goalies with similar SV% and years of experience include Kevin Lankinen and Karel Vejmelka.

Lankinen finished the season playing 51 games for the Vancouver Canucks with a .902 SV%. He jumped from a $875,000 one-year contract to a five-year, $22.5M contract. Lankinen likely leveraged his recent success with the Nashville Predators to earn the raise. He had a .916 SV% with Nashville in 2022-23. 

Vejmelka wrapped up the 2024-25 season with a .904 SV% for the Utah Hockey Club, his best performance throughout his four-year career. His AAV jumped from $2.725M on a three-year contract to $4.75M on a five-year contract. 

Kankinen and Vejmelka have several years of full-time experience, while Dostal only has 2 seasons of consistent ice time. They also signed their extensions knowing that the NHL cap is increasing. Based on Kankinen and Vejmelka's pay bumps, the Wild can expect to pay $2 to $4M AAV, depending on the contract length.

One caveat is that Dostal is currently an RFA, meaning Minnesota must trade or create an offer sheet. If they choose an offer sheet, the Wild can offer up to $1,544,424 with no compensation, up to $2,340,037 for a third-round pick, or up to $4,680,076 for a second-round pick. Higher compensation requires multiple picks.

Additionally, Minnesota must own the draft pick to trade it for an RFA, and they only own the second and sixth-round picks for the 2025 draft. The Wild can expect to trade a second-round pick since Dostal is likely in that $2.3-$4.6 range.

For the Wild to sign Dostal, he must first accept their offer. Then Anaheim can either decline the offer and match the Wild’s compensation for him, or accept it and receive the draft pick. 

The Wild could also wait and see if Anaheim allows him to go to free agency. However, Anaheim is unlikely to let him hit free agency, given how he played last year. 

Minnesota must also consider other player contracts and their $15,786,835 in cap space. However, retaining Marco Rossi will likely cost $7 million per year, meaning he’ll cost half that cap space unless they trade him. 

If they extend Rossi, the Wild will have 2 active roster spots and $8M remaining, with Gustav Nyquist, Justin Brazeau, Jonathon Merrill, and Declan Chisholm as RFAs and UFAs. Assuming they give a goalie a maximum of $4M and a spot, they still have at least $4M for a roster spot and 4 players, none of whom will cost that much individually. 

Minnesota might also prioritize adding another goal scorer instead of a bridge goaltender. The Wild are ranked 15th with 2.88 goals against per game (GA/G), making them middle of the pack for goals against. However, they only have 2.74 GF/G and are ranked 25th in goals for in the regular 2024-25 season. 

If they use Wallstedt to back up Gustavsson, the Wild could spend about $6M on a new forward and re-sign one of the other players for no more than $2M to fill out their roster. However, Minnesota would be relying on Wallstedt to step up after a down year.

Minnesota needs to fill a spot in its goalie lineup during the off-season. Dostal would be a dependable and cost-effective player with the potential to become a top-tier goalie in future seasons.