10 Most Important Wild Players: #5 Devan Dubnyk
By Brennen Rupp
The Minnesota Wild play their season opener in 13 days. Until that time we will be counting down the 10 most important Wild players for the upcoming season. Thus far, Kevin Fiala came in at number 10. Ryan Donato checked in at number nine. Eric Staal was number eight on the list and Jared Spurgeon came in at number seven and Ryan Suter checked in at number six.
Devan Dubnyk was traded to the Minnesota Wild from the Arizona Coyotes on Jan. 15, 2015. Since that time the 33 year old goalie has quietly been one of the better goalies in the National Hockey League.
Since the day of the trade the veteran goalie leads the NHL in games played. He’s one of three goalies to win 30 or more games in each of the past five seasons.
The question is how long can the veteran goalie continue to carry on at this rate? Last season he led NHL goalies in games played and all that ice time could be starting to catch up with him.
The 2018-2019 season was by far the poorest of Dubnyk’s Wild career. His save percentage slipped to .913, the lowest mark during his Wild tenure. His goals against average was 2.54, the highest mark of his Wild career.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for Dubnyk last season. He tied for first in the NHL with 19 road wins and is now the franchise leader in road wins. He recorded a career-high 1,714 saves and made his third all-star game appearance. His three all-star game appearances are the most in Wild history.
"“There’s so much talk about how good the Wild’s defensive core is, especially the top four,” Brett Blakemore, the host of the View from the Wild podcast said. “But it wouldn’t matter if Dubnyk wasn’t in the net. Even the biggest Wild critics in the national media believe Dubnyk gives the Wild a chance to win every night. He can be streak and sometimes flat inconsistent.”"
Dubnyk enters this season 29 wins shy of tying Niklas Backstrom for team’s all-time wins leader. It’s a number that Dubnyk has eclipsed in each of his seasons with the Wild. It should be a number he has no problem reaching if he stays healthy.
If the Wild are going to get back to the postseason they don’t need Dubnyk to be elite, they just need him to be better than he was last season. Was Dubnyk’s slight decline a blip on the radar? Or is it a sign that all that ice-time is finally starting to catch up to the veteran goalie? We will get an answer to those questions soon enough.