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Minnesota Wild: 2018-19 Season Preview of Devan Dubnyk

By Cody Defoe

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA - APRIL 11: Devan Dubnyk #40 of the Minnesota Wild follows the puck as Andrew Copp #9 of the Winnipeg Jets screens him in Game One of the Western Conference First Round during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on April 11, 2018 at Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. (Photo by Jason Halstead /Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Devan Dubnyk; Andrew Copp
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA - APRIL 11: Devan Dubnyk #40 of the Minnesota Wild follows the puck as Andrew Copp #9 of the Winnipeg Jets screens him in Game One of the Western Conference First Round during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on April 11, 2018 at Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. (Photo by Jason Halstead /Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Devan Dubnyk; Andrew Copp /
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Nobody has been more important to the Minnesota Wild team success in recent years than goaltender Devan Dubnyk. Only 40 days left until preseason, get excited!

Devan Dubnyk is about to start his 10th season in the NHL, and 4th full season as the unquestioned Minnesota Wild starting goalie. Dubnyk had a hard road to get where he is, as the starting goalie of a consistent playoff contending team, but he has adapted better than most to being the most important member of an NHL roster.

History

Whether you can believe it or not, Devan Dubnyk was not always what he has now become for the Minnesota Wild. He started his career as a 1st Round Draft Pick of the Edmonton Oilers with extremely high expectations set on him.

Dubnyk spent 5 underwhelming seasons developing his game to the pro level in the minors before getting a taste of the NHL. By the time he eventually got that call to the NHL he was brought into a struggling Edmonton team with below average defense and a goalie timeshare with the aging Nikolai Khabibulin.

Dubnyk split games with Khabibulin for 4 seasons, getting chance after chance to cement himself as the starter, but never succeeding in gaining the trust of the Oilers coaching staff. Eventually, the Oilers brought in Ben Scrivens and Viktor Fasth to be their starting goalies, which spelled the end of Dubnyk’s time in Edmonton.

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Devan was shipped off to Nashville, where he played in 2 games before being sent to the AHL and subsequently shipped to Montreal where he finished the season as a minor league player for the Canadiens.

That offseason, Dubnyk took some time to do some soul searching and reinvigorate his love of the game. He spent time with goalie coaches, specifically Sean Burke in Arizona, who helped him find his confidence and skill to live up to the 1st round draft pick he had once been.

Since then, Dubnyk has been nothing but spectacular in the regular season for the Minnesota Wild. Dubnyk has a .923 Sv%, a 2.26 GAA, 20 Shutouts, has been in the Vezina discussion at points of every season spent in Minnesota, and has 134 regular season wins to go with all of that.

Season Preview

We know what Dubnyk brings to this team in the regular season. His career resurgence for the Minnesota Wild has been discussed ad nauseum for the past 3+ years, and it feels great to know our team has reaped the rewards of his skills.

Dubnyk only has one question mark left to answer to cement himself as the best goalie in Wild history. He needs to answer the biggest question and prove to his doubters that he can perform when the pressure is on in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

In contrast to his regular season stats, Dubnyk ‘s playoff stats read as follows: 26 games played, .904 Sv%, 2.72 GAA, 2 shutouts, and only 8 wins. Advancing to the second round of the playoffs only once, and being swept 4 straight in that solo 2nd round appearance.

At this point in his career, I suspect that Dubnyk’s job as the undisputed Wild starter is as safe as any player on the team so long as he continues to carry this team to the playoffs. Should he continue his playoff mediocrity, it could be a much different story next season.

Dubnyk will start 55-65 games this season, he will have at least 30 wins and likely 5 shutouts by the end of the year. I would like to see him get a little more rest through the regular season, to stay playoff fresh, but Dubnyk is a streaky goaltender and plays his best when he is in net every night and can find his rhythm.

At 33 years old, Dubnyk is nearing the back end of his career. The key here, though, is goalies are known to develop later in their careers than other positions, and that doesn’t seem to be any more true than for Dubnyk who really took off in his 30 year old season.

With the defense that the Minnesota Wild put on the ice every night, there is no reason to doubt that Dubnyk can keep up this pace as long as the team asks him to do so. It would be nice if the backup situation could get sorted to give a reliable replacement on those nights Doobie does need a rest.

That’s a story for another day though (keep that eye out next week when Andrew Hammond and Alex Stalock will get their individual looks), as far as Devan Dubnyk goes we have a stud goalie on a winning franchise. Yes, that winning hasn’t translated to a deep playoff run, but it’s resulted in consistent playoff appearances.

Next. Top 5 Trades in Minnesota Wild History. dark

As the saying goes, once your in the playoffs anything can happen. As Minnesota Wild fans, we are left to wait for the day that happens, but I’m not about to question the piece that gets us there. Would you rather we have Ilya Bryzgalov or Darcy Kuemper back?

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