Minnesota is a land of hockey and Scandinavians, but Wednesday saw some friendly fire when a top Wild prospect helped take down Finland in an Olympic upset.
Slovakia opened its Olympic schedule against Finland, a team heavily favored to be in the mix for a medal when all is said and done in Italy. That's a road that got slightly more complicated thanks to the Slovak's herculean effort to not only beat the Finns but blow them out 4-1.
Despite going up against a roster full of NHL stars, Slovakia goalie Samuel Hlavaj allowed just a single goal on 39 shots. Wild fans will care about this because Hlavaj is in the team's farm system, having signed with Minnesota in 2024 after one season with HC Škoda Plzeň.
It's one of those cases, like in baseball, where an international prospect nobody has ever heard of before -- except the smart scouts who found him -- starts to tear it up. Hlavaj hasn't played a single minute in the NHL, but he's been cutting his teeth down in Iowa, and his performance against Finland is certainly something that now puts a spotlight on him in Minnesota.
Samuel Hlavaj's epic performance against Finland should have Wild fans excited
It's only the first game of the Olympics -- and the first since 2014 that NHL players were allowed to participate -- but Hlavaj's tremendous game is coming at a perfect time for Wild fans.
Rosters are frozen until the Olympics are over, but when they unfreeze, there is expected to be a frenzy of activity ahead of the March 6th trade deadline. One of the names slowly gaining steam as a potential trade chip is Wild rookie Jesper Wallstedt, something that is splitting fans down the middle.
Wallstedt is in the midst of a stellar rookie season that has the Wild in a position where they have two outstanding netminders to choose from. It's also put them in a position where they might be able to flip one of them for a top player on the market, notably a center to help complete what a Stanley Cup-caliber roster.
Minnesota already traded a haul to land Quinn Hughes, and as much as Wallstedt makes the team good the idea is that whoever he can net in a return would make the team better. What good is it to have two great goalies in the playoffs if the team can't score?
That's the argument behind trading Wallstedt, but this nice little gem that Samuel Hlavaj turned in against an impressive Finnish team -- on an Olympic stage, no less -- might soothe some worries about moving Wallstedt.
It's a pretty big stretch to say that one good game means that he's a 1-for-1 replacement for Wallstedt, but it's not unfair to say it's encouraging to see. Minnesota has long struggled to find consistently elite goaltending and seeing Hlavaj's big game suggests that there's a nice line of succession behind Filip Gustavsson in terms of having a solid No. 2 option.
We'll see how the rest of the Olympics play out, but at the very least the big upset by Slovakia is a nice little unexpected win for the Wild fans looking for a rooting interest in the Games.