The Anaheim Ducks are in a bit of goalie trouble, but fortunately, management thought ahead and signed Ville Husso to a two-year, $2.2 million AAV deal to be the third string goalie because they had more than enough money to spend.
That has paid off already as it’s never a bad idea to have a third string goalie with NHL experience or who can play in the NHL if something were to happen. Well, Lukas Dostal has already been out of action, and now Petr Mrazek was announced to be sidelined for 2-3 weeks with an injury as well. It’s Husso’s net and he has played well recently to settle the nerves in Anaheim.
The Ducks are first in the Pacific Division and don’t want to start losing ground because of injuries in net. Fortunately, Husso has won three of his past four games and is 4-2-0 on the season. While his 2.82 GAA is decent, his .875 SV% needs to be raised, but that’s just the effect of one bad start. He doesn’t have the volume of games to recover from that yet.
It’s Husso’s net for the time being, as Vyacheslav Buteyets may get a game or two at most over the next few weeks. Husso was once thought of as the future in net for the St. Louis Blues, and then fell off fairly quickly after getting the starter title for the Detroit Red Wings. This is his redemption opportunity and while he isn’t the starter for the Ducks by a long shot, he is in that role right now. There may not be a better opportunity where the net is all his in his career again if he squanders this chance to show teams he is an NHL goalie again.
If Husso can play well and both Dostal and Mrazek return, it opens the door for a team to either claim him on waivers if he’s sent back down to the AHL, or a team to look to acquire him before the trade deadline for some goalie help. The goalie market is thin and some that are available have higher cap hits, too high for certain teams to get a deal done. He has a 78-45-19 record in his career with a 3.04 GAA and .901 SV%. If he can play somewhere around there or better, the Ducks will be fine and he should get another look in the NHL.
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