Player Discussion Filip Gustavsson

[BagHead]

If the team elects arbitration, the player picks the years. Gus could go with 2 and never pick up the phone again, same as Fiala could’ve.

Ah yes, I forgot that's how it works. Is the opposite also true, that if the player elects for arbitration the team selects the term?

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Ah yes, I forgot that's how it works. Is the opposite also true, that if the player elects for arbitration the team selects the term?

That would make sense.

 

[vorky]

 

[Wasted Talent]

Apparently AK Bars held Gus' rights as they drafted him in the 4th round of the KHL draft in 2015 and he's likely a throw-in in this KHL trade.

I would be surprised if Gus even knows this is happening.

 

[vorky]

Just been confirmed by the league

 

[TaLoN]

Just been confirmed by the league

Which still has zero impact on Gus.

 

[BagHead]

Just been confirmed by the league

I don't know enough about SKA's situation to know why they would trade a good player for the rights to two players playing in North America, but I doubt it's because they expect to be able to sign the one who just broke out in the NHL. My bet would be that it's money or salary cap related.

 

[AKL]

Uh oh. I wouldn't expect Kazan to lure away a foreigner, but St Petersburg is a nice city. Hopefully Gus doesn't bolt.

 

[TaLoN]

'It's just a matter of when': The latest on Wild, Filip Gustavsson contract talks

After a breakout season, Gustavsson — a restricted free agent with arbitration rights — is due a hefty raise. How much will he get? When?

theathletic.com

If there’s no progress made, the Wild could eventually take Gustavsson to arbitration and accept an award on a one-year deal.

“We’ll see what the timing is for Gus. There’s no rush,” Guerin said. “We’re going to get it done like this (an extension) or through arbitration. I’m fine with whatever.”

What makes it complicated? Gustavsson is an interesting case. He ranked second in the league in goals-against average and save percentage this season, but he played in less than half of the Wild’s games (39), which was double the total of his career high from the previous season.

So Gustavsson’s season was special, but his track record isn’t very large. And he admitted he was “average” in the playoffs after a historic Game 1 performance in the Wild’s double overtime victory. The Wild want to re-sign him but won’t want to give up too much term as they’ve got prized goalie prospect Jesper Wallstedt seasoning in AHL Iowa. The club has only about $8 million of cap space available, and after Gustavsson, they’ll still need to sign other players like Brandon Duhaime, Mason Shaw and, perhaps, Ryan Reaves.

So why doesn’t either side seem concerned? The key is that the Wild want Gustavsson and the goaltender loves it in Minnesota.

We broke down what Gustavsson’s contract could look like in a story last month. New contracts for goalies coming off a season in which they broke out to take over an 1A role have tended to be midrange recently. It’s a position teams seem to still know less about than others, so how they value it varies. The overall trend is to not invest a huge chunk of the cap in a goalie unless he’s proven over time that he’s a bona fide 1A, as you can see in the chart below. A contract in the three-year, $3 million-plus range fits with the comps and the situation.

 

[Wild11MN]

2 x $3M or 3 x $3.5M. Seems straightforward to me.

 

[Saga of the Elk]

Good conversation with Gus here (w/ Friedman and Marek)

32 Thoughts: The Podcast

Hockey fans already know the name, but this is not the blog. From Sportsnet, 32 Thoughts: The Podcast with NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman & Kyle Bukauskas is a weekly deep dive into the biggest news and interviews from the hockey world.

www.sportsnet.ca

 

[Sweetnut]

Good to see Gus Bus getting back on track.
Starting to transform from a minibus to a greyhound again.
He is riding a career high 4 consecutive starts as of now, will he get another start tomorrow?

How will the history of the bus continue going forward?

 

[chchelseII]

Would you trade Gus right now for a late first round draft pick? Bring up Wallstedt and look to the future?

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Would you trade Gus right now for a late first round draft pick? Bring up Wallstedt and look to the future?

I very much would not.

 

[Wasted Talent]

Would you trade Gus right now for a late first round draft pick? Bring up Wallstedt and look to the future?

Rather just let Wallstedt cook in AHL and give him a chance in a 1A/1B situation with Gus next year.

 

[chchelseII]

Kind of a luxury to have two #1 goalies. Nobody does that.

 

[Obvious Fabertism]

Kind of a luxury to have two #1 goalies. Nobody does that.

Gus has yet to complete a season with a #1 workload, Wallstedt has yet to complete an NHL game. When your statement becomes true or imminently true is when a move would likely occur.

 

[BagHead]

Kind of a luxury to have two #1 goalies. Nobody does that.

Boston does. As long as you're not paying either of them #1 goalie money, it doesn't hurt your team to do so.

My personal view on it is that it's better to wait and make sure your goalie of the future will pan out than to trade your goalie of the right now and find out he won't the hard way.

 

[AKL]

Would you trade Gus right now for a late first round draft pick? Bring up Wallstedt and look to the future?

No

 

[chchelseII]

All right. Consensus says no. I’m not convinced he's a long term starter and it seems like a number of teams are looking for a starter. Was thinking it might be a sell high opportunity. We’ll see how it plays out.

 

[Obvious Fabertism]

All right. Consensus says no. I’m not convinced he's a long term starter and it seems like a number of teams are looking for a starter. Was thinking it might be a sell high opportunity. We’ll see how it plays out.

I am actually not fully opposed to it, but I would really need to be wowed by the return. I think its a needless risk when you could just hold him for another year and not have him lose any value while we assess what we have in Wallstedt. We also just straight up don't have a 3rd goalie option future wise so keeping the two young and (hopefully) effective players would seem quite strong for a team trying to become a contender.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Don't really need to be convinced that Gus is a long-term starter if you're also convinced that Wallstedt is a future star.

His role just shifts to allowing Wallstedt to play however many games you think it takes to properly develop at the NHL level.

 

[57special]

Gus is pretty bad right now, and hasn't really been good all year. Sad.

Minnesota Wild	NHL	39	2.10	.931	3	22-9-7	Playoffs	5	2.33	.921	0	2-3-0
2023-24	Minnesota Wild	NHL	33	3.27	.894	2	15-13-3

Massive drop off in stats from last year, and it is not a small sample size.

 

[DANOZ28]

a lot of players have 2nd year slumps or he could have a nagging injury we are unaware of. all this means is we can resign him cheaper!

 

[57special]

a lot of players have 2nd year slumps or he could have a nagging injury we are unaware of. all this means is we can resign him cheaper!

We already did re-sign him for two more years after this one, and this is his 4th year in the NHL. I would've been fine with a slight drop off from last year, but this year he has been borderline terrible, and not even close to what he was last year. I think that he is the greatest reason that we are not in playoff position this year.