Minnesota Wild: Most Likely Award Candidates

Will Dubnyk Be At Vezina Level This Year For Minnesota Wild?

This is always a big question for Minnesota Wild fans. Will Devan Dubnyk be elite or will he be a middling goaltender that steals one or two games but not much more?

The day he drops off is a day that the team are probably fearing. There are young options in the system, but they’re a little time away from being ready.

Alex Stalock and Andrew Hammond are backing him up, but the likelihod of one of them stealing his job and then performing at a level worthy of the Vezina is unlikely. Not to say it can’t be done; look at Hammond’s original Ottawa Senators break-out run!

Back to Dubnyk though; can he be elite?

Last season, he dropped back to a 0.918 as his save percentage; a drop from his 0.923 year the year prior, and a definite decline from his 2014-15 campaign, where he posted a truly elite 0.936 after being traded from the Arizona Coyotes.

The issue here is that Dubnyk isn’t getting younger; he enters the season as a 32 year old goaltender. He does however have the advantage of a very able defense in front of him.

His challenge may be to self-motivate with limited competition behind him, there’s no additional motivator of this season being a contract year or any of the like.

I’d like to think that season-on-season Dubnyk has a good year and a bad year. Luckily his bad years are represented by a very safe and steady 0.918 save percentage.

Based on the trend of his previous seasons, this should be a good year. Hopefully that means a save percentage upwards of the 92% range, because if he can do that the Minnesota Wild should be flying.

And he should put himself very much into the Vezina conversation.