Minnesota Wild G
Filip Gustavsson was traded for Cam Talbot - 1 for 1.
That is absolutely outrageous and eight months later looks like the worst trade ever. For starters Gustavsson makes $787,500 and Talbot makes $3.7 million. For another, the former is 24 and the latter 35. And lastly Gustavsson is actually
good. Like really, really good.
Per
MoneyPuck.com, Gustavsson ranks 5th in goals-saved above expected behind only
Linus Ullmark (BOS),
Ilya Sorokin (NYI),
Juuse Saros (NSH), and
Connor Hellebuyck (WPG). In 31 starts, Gustavsson has an 18-9-5 record for the Wild with a 2.04 GAA and .932 SV%.
He resides in the '1B' role behind
Marc-Andre Fleury, but he has been simply sensational this season. Considering he was basically a throw-in on the Cam Talbot deal, that is phenomenal business by GM Bill Guerin. Gustavsson was unconscious in Tuesday night's 2-1 OT win over the New Jersey Devils.
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This was an excellent game. Hot take: I prefer low-scoring games to high-scoring games all day
He was beat only once when
Timo Meier beat him on a wrap-around which could be described as a lucky bounce. Gustavsson was absolutely
dialed in this one and is pretty much the only reason the Wild took the two points, stopping 47 of 48. He got a little help from his posts, but that's hockey baby.
If Minnesota can sign this guy to longer-term contract to a relatively low annual average value, Gustavsson could be the best value goalie the NHL.
And it's time that we talk about it.
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