Right now we have three goalies in rotation, Our best goalie Marc-Andre Fleury's contract is up and he's old, Fleury said he might come back one more year because he has, "rediscovered the joy of playing hockey." Next up, we have Filip Gustavsson. To be honest, there's nothing particularly special about Gustavsson. He's reliable enough for a few games, but in my opinion, he doesn't cut it as a playoff goalie. Then there's the rookie from Russia Jesper Wallstedt who showed potential in the few games he has played. If Flurey decides to stay he would be a great influence for Wall.
Should we trade Guss away to try and get higher in the draft? Would he even get us anything? What is the Wilds's best move for the goalie? Will Fleury come back for another season? Would Fleury take a pay cut to help with the Wild's salary cap?
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12 comments
Jesper is from Sweden.
Well if Fleury does come back, gotta trade Gus then. I believe it’s time for wally to get full NHL time. I’m not sure if it’s the new baby or not that made for Gus’s pretty mediocre season.
Fleury is indeed our best goalie currently, but if all things were equal I don’t think the gap between him and Gus is enough to keep him over Gus, since MAF is almost assuredly a 1 year patch whereas Gus could (ideally) have 10 years of average/above average goalie play left in him, which would be great for a 1B/2 goalie behind Wallstedt
However, all things aren’t equal. The reality is if MAF wants to keep playing (which he seems to want to do), he will be welcomed back with open arms and thus either Wallstedt has to cook for another year or Gus gets traded.
If the idea is to have Wallstedt be our number 1 goalie in 2026 when we’re out of cap hell, I’d rather him take his lumps next year and develop his game through playtime in the big leagues.
So I guess Gus is the odd man out
Jesper is Swedish my guy
There aren’t big expectations for next season so I’d like to see Gus Wally as the tandem.
There’s 4 real options:
A) Let Fleury retire. Gus starter Wallstedt (Swedish) backup.
B) Re-sign Fleury, keep Gus, have Wallstedt (Swedish) in Iowa another year
C) Re-sign Fleury, keep Gus and Wallstedt (Swedish) in Minnesota and run 3 goalies in hopes that *one* of them figures out how to stop a puck. This is my preferred option.
D) Re-sign Fleury, trade Gus, have Wallstedt (Swedish) be the backup. This is the most likely and IMO worst option of the bunch.
resign fleury on the cheap. Gus deserves another chance. give wall AHL time until we are sure he’s ready. I suppose if he is though, and I don’t think he is but I’m not an expert, then sure, get rid of gus.
Fleury/Wallstedt does sound nice for next year, but honestly I don’t want Fleury or a new goalie for 2025/2026. I’d much rather have Gus for our first year back from poverty.
I dunno but the “he’s swedish” thing is weird AF.
Yeah, we know
We know. It’s not new and you sound like fucking idiots when you mention it.
Resign Fleury, see how Wallstedt plays in camp, if he’s ready trade Gus. If not ride Fluery/Gus and then trade Gus at deadline and bring up Wall for the rest if the year
You lost me at russia
I’d like to see Wallstedt and Gus personally.
I think Wallstedt is at a point where he needs to be getting some NHL games, and while I think it sounds good on paper to have Fleury mentor Wallstedt, I just don’t see how you can go into the season next year expecting Fleury at that age to carry the load while you ease the rookie in.
Unless they are considering going a bit unorthodox and carrying 3 goalies at times which I could be convinced of.