{"id":598345,"date":"2026-06-14T03:01:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T03:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/598345\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T03:01:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T03:01:25","slug":"filip-gustavsson-isnt-cam-talbot-but-he-is-swedish-minnesota-wild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/598345\/","title":{"rendered":"Filip Gustavsson Isn\u2019t Cam Talbot (But He Is Swedish) – Minnesota Wild"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWhile Minnesota Wild fans waited with bated breath for Game 4 of the playoffs, they apparently decided that there wasn\u2019t enough to complain about. Well, good thing The Athletic published<\/a> a bullet point in one of their articles that spurred on an entire morning\u2019s worth of idiotic discourse.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\"IMG_4947.jpg\"\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWait, What Happened?\n<\/p>\n

\n\tNothing happened, really. But Filip Gustavsson<\/a> was asked for an interview, and he \u201crespectfully declined, saying, \u2018Talk to the players who are playing.\u2019\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThat seems simple on the surface, right?\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBut no, Minnesota fans needed to try to read subtext into a sentence that didn\u2019t need any. Immediately, speculation ran rampant about how Gustavsson was bitter and should be traded.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWell, What Did He Mean Then?\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAlmost always, Gustavsson says what he means. He doesn\u2019t sugarcoat things, and he can be incredibly blunt. So when he said to \u201ctalk to the players who are playing,\u201d it\u2019s more likely that he meant \u201cthe story is on the ice, not the bench.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe reporter who asked the question even confirmed that he took the statement to mean just that. The important things are happening on the ice, and the focus should be there.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tFans also need to keep in mind that while Gustavsson speaks great English, it isn\u2019t his first language. He may not be as blunt in his natural Swedish, but that\u2019s just how he speaks in English. In fact, that\u2019s how almost all of our Swedish players speak.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tListen to Jonas Brodin<\/a>, Joel Eriksson Ek<\/a>, or Jesper Wallstedt<\/a> speak, and they are all just as blunt. Perhaps this is just how Swedish people communicate in English and isn\u2019t a big \u201cthere must be more behind the statement\u201d type of puzzle.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBut What About Cam Talbot<\/a>?\n<\/p>\n

\n\tListen, I understand why Cam Talbot earned a few strays in this whole thing. I was very present for the entire<\/a> \u201cBring in Marc-Andre Fleury<\/a>, Push Cam Talbot to the Back, Talbot Complains and Gets Traded\u201d saga. But Gustavsson is not Talbot, and these situations are not similar.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tGustavsson has always been very aware that his role as a starting goalie has been a fluke of his own making<\/a>. When Minnesota traded for him<\/a>, he came in with a bad record from a team that didn\u2019t invest in him as it should have. The Wild saw the potential, but even they were surprised at what came.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen he came to Minnesota, the Wild had already drafted Wallstedt. As a fellow Swedish goalie, there is no way that Gustavsson didn\u2019t know that Wallstedt had been drafted as the future franchise goalie<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThat’s why Minnesota chose him, and that has been his future from the moment it was announced. In fact, that seems to be part of why the Minnesota two-goalie solution works so well. Gustavsson knows that Wallstedt is the franchise’s future, while Wallstedt fully understands that Gustavsson is older and more experienced. They have both been able to depend on each other.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen the Cam Talbot situation went down, it seemed from the outside that he was a bit blindsided by the entire situation. Talbot went from starting goalie to backup with no warning, and he did not handle it well.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter the playoffs, when he was seemingly sacrificed on the altar of the St. Louis Blues, his wife was a bit snarky on social media toward the franchise, making it abundantly clear that the Talbot family was unhappy with the team. In return, the team decided to trade him for a then-unknown Gustavsson.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHe Could\u2019ve Just Answered\n<\/p>\n

\n\tSure, Gustavsson could\u2019ve. But he didn\u2019t want to, and he doesn\u2019t have to. He’s probably feeling a bit disappointed, as anyone would. But right now, he has to focus on keeping his mental health in check because, as the playoff run gets deeper, Gustavsson will need to get back into the net, and he will need to be able to put his slump behind him. Dredging up his feelings about it right this minute would not be helpful.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tA few people have chastised the reporter for asking Gustavsson the question, but there\u2019s nothing wrong with asking. And Gustavsson had every right to refuse.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tSo, Should We Be Worried?\n<\/p>\n

\n\tNo. Is it bad to have two goalies who can be trusted to carry this team? Is it bad to have goalies who can balance each other out through their slumps? Is it bad to have players who understand their mental health is important and take steps to maintain it? Is it bad to ride the hot goalie during the playoffs? Is it bad to have goalies who seem to truly care about each other and depend on each other?\n<\/p>\n

\n\tObviously, the answer to all of these questions is no.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tI can\u2019t see the future, but it seems unlikely that the Wild would trade Gustavsson for respectfully turning down an interview. It also seems unlikely that a goalie who has been through ups and downs, but always maintained a humble personality, would suddenly decide that he wants to be a diva about something that he\u2019s dealt with his entire career.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tSo instead of trying to read into a very surface-level statement by a beloved goalie, let\u2019s focus on how good the Wild played during that series-tying game on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While Minnesota Wild fans waited with bated breath for Game 4 of the playoffs, they apparently decided that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5118],"tags":[6675,535,5,161,38,5280,4,162],"class_list":["post-598345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-minnesota-wild","tag-cam-talbot","tag-filip-gustavsson","tag-hockey","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-wild","tag-minnesotawild","tag-nhl","tag-wild"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116746235814926244","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}