The Minnesota Wild placed goaltender Filip Gustavsson on LTIR on Friday in a move that many had expected after the netminder had hip surgery during the offseason.
The team recalled defenceman Matt Kiersted from the AHL’s Iowa Wild in a corresponding move.
Wild general manager Bill Guerin said in May that Gustavsson was scheduled to have the surgery “as soon as possible” to address overall wear and tear, not to correct any specific injury that the goaltender had suffered during last year’s regular season or playoffs.
Since joining the Wild ahead of the 2022-23 season in the deal that sent Cam Talbot to the Ottawa Senators, Gustavsson has made at least 37 starts in every season.
Gustavsson’s best season came in the 2024-25 campaign, where he finished sixth in Vezina Trophy voting after tallying a .914 save percentage and a 2.56 goals-against average in a career-high 58 starts.
Gustavsson slumped down the stretch of the regular season last year though, and was benched for the start of the playoffs when rookie Jesper Wallstedt took over as the No. 1 goalie. Gustavsson made one postseason start, a 5-2 loss at Colorado in Game 2 of the second-round NHL playoff series. The Avalanche ousted the Wild in five games.
Gustavsson signed a five-year, $34 million contract extension last October that kicks in this season and carries a full no-trade clause for the first two years. He went 28-15-6 in 49 starts during the regular season last year with a 2.69 GAA, a .903 save percentage and four shutouts in his fourth year with the Wild.
Wallstedt was 18-9-6 in 33 starts with a 2.61 goals-against average, a .915 save percentage and four shutouts. During the playoffs, he won five of 10 starts, gave up three or fewer goals seven times, and made 30-plus saves in half of his appearances.
Given the commitment the Wild made to Gustavsson after the retirement of Marc-Andre Fleury and the performance by Wallstedt during his debut season, the 2021 first-round draft pick would be one of the club’s most valuable trade chips to use in the long-running quest to find a true No. 1 center.
That path, though, would come with considerable risk.
“I like our goaltending situation, to be quite honest with you,” Guerin said at his season-ending news conference in May. “Both of our goalies are No. 1 goalies, you know? The luxury of it is being able to put a fresh rested goalie in the net every night, and you know both guys are signed. They’re both very good. They work well in a tandem. They support each other. I’m very comfortable with where it is.”
Wallstedt has started in all four games for the Wild so far this season, with Calvin Pickard serving as the backup on the depth chart. The team has not provided a time frame for a possible return to action for Gustavsson.