The Minnesota Wild’s path to contention last season was paved with having two good goaltenders in net. The duo of Jesper Wallstedt and Filip Gustavsson helped the Wild get to the playoffs and win their first series in a decade, but while both goalies are ready to return for the upcoming season, Gustavsson is a wild card after undergoing offseason hip surgery.
Gustavsson is expected to miss all of training camp and the start of next season due to the injury and it leaves the net to Wallstedt and backup goaltender Calvin Pickard. While Wallstedt showed he was capable of holding down the fort during last year’s playoff run, Gustavsson’s recovery not only could have a big impact on this season and the Wild’s future in net.
Filip Gustavsson’s hip surgery is a mystery for the Wild’s goaltending situation
A hip injury sounds as simple as an oil change in hockey where players routinely play through much worse. But it’s a significant development for a goaltender like Gustavsson that utilizes the butterfly style in net. With the lateral movement putting strain on the hips, surgery is a likely outcome at some point in their careers and there are several goalies that have gone under the knife with varying results.
One of the best case outcomes was former Nashville Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne. Renne was starting to hit his stride in the NHL, finishing second in Vezina Trophy voting during the 2010-11 season and finishing third for the 2011-12 season. But that momentum was slowed down when his injury limited his mobility, forcing him to head to the operating room.
Rinne’s recovery didn’t go well at first, missing most of the 2013-14 season after his hip became infected the following fall. But the following year, Rinne returned to form, going 41-17-6 with a 2.18 goals against average and .923 save percentage during the 2014-15 campaign. He went on to help the Predators get to the Stanley Cup Final during the 2016-17 season and won the Vezina Trophy the following year before retiring after the 2020-21 season.
On the other end, there’s Robin Lehner. Lehner was a Vezina Trophy finalist during the 2018-19 season and signed a five-year, $25 million contract with the Vegas Golden Knights in October 2020. He went under the knife in 2022 and hasn’t returned to action since, missing each of the past four seasons and highly unlikely to play again.
While both goaltenders had surgery at age 30, getting it done at an earlier age can have its benefits. A 2025 study by the National Library of Medicine shows that 80 to 88 percent of goalies that have hip surgery return to the ice at some point and younger goalies that have the surgery proactively have a better chance of long-term recovery including Thatcher Demko of the Vancouver Canucks, who had the surgery while he was playing at Boston College.
This leads to two takeaways. First, Gustavsson should be able to return to the ice at some point. Also, he’s getting this surgery at a good time in his career after turning 28 last June. If the Wild don’t rush his recovery, there’s an even greater chance Gustavsson can return to his old self, where he went 15-6-4 with a 2.69 GAA and .903 save percentage.
The Wild’s two goalie solution could become a problem
For the present, the Wild should be fine with Wallstedt in net. In his first full season in the NHL, Wallstedt went 18-9-6 with a 2.61 GAA, .915 save percentage and four shutouts and at age 24, he appears to be on track to become a franchise goaltender. The problem is that the Wild signed Gustavsson to a five-year, $34 million contract extension ($6.8 million AAV) that begins this year and Wallstedt will be due for a raise as a restricted free agent last summer.
Leo Carlsson’s five-year, $90 million offer sheet with the Philadelphia Flyers shows that teams aren’t afraid of the compensation required to sign a high-level restricted free agent and if Wallstedt has another strong year, the Wild could cost themselves plenty of money by waiting to negotiate next summer.
It also doesn’t help that Gustavsson has a full no-trade clause in his new deal, making a potential trade difficult until his protection drops to 15 teams following the 2027-28 season per Puckpedia. If Gustavsson’s recovery doesn’t go well, it could be even harder to send him to another team without getting proper value in return, creating one giant mess in the crease.
A year ago, having two good goalies was a great problem to have. But with Gustavsson’s future uncertain, it now could be a puzzle that may revolve around his injured hip.
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