The Minnesota Wild spent last season leaning on a luxury that can change everything for a team: two capable goaltenders. Jesper Wallstedt and Filip Gustavsson gave them enough stability to reach the playoffs and win their first series in a decade. Now, though, the picture in net looks far murkier because Gustavsson is coming off offseason hip surgery and is expected to miss all of training camp and the start of next season.
That leaves Wallstedt and backup Calvin Pickard to handle the early load. Wallstedt proved during last year’s playoff run that he can hold the fort, but Gustavsson’s recovery may wind up shaping more than just the opening stretch of this season. It could influence the Wild’s longer-term plans in goal, too.
A hip operation might sound minor in hockey terms, where players routinely battle through all kinds of pain. For a butterfly goaltender, it’s a different story. The lateral movement that defines the style puts real stress on the hips, and surgery is often part of the territory at some point in a goalie’s career.
There are examples on both ends of the spectrum. Pekka Rinne became one of the success stories.
The former Nashville Predators goalie was climbing fast, finishing second in Vezina Trophy voting in 2010-11 and third the next season, before his mobility issues pushed him toward surgery. Recovery was rough at first - he missed most of the 2013-14 season after his hip became infected the following fall - but he bounced back in a big way.
In 2014-15, Rinne went 41-17-6 with a 2.18 goals against average and .923 save percentage, later helping the Predators reach the Stanley Cup Final in 2016-17 and winning the Vezina the next season before retiring after 2020-21.
Robin Lehner is the cautionary tale. He was a Vezina Trophy finalist in 2018-19, then signed a five-year, $25 million deal with the Vegas Golden Knights in October 2020. After hip surgery in 2022, he never made it back, missing each of the past four seasons and looking highly unlikely to play again.
Age matters, too. Both Rinne and Lehner were 30 when they had their procedures, and there’s reason to believe earlier surgery can work out better.
A 2025 study by the National Library of Medicine found that 80 to 88 percent of goalies who undergo hip surgery return to the ice at some point, and younger goalies who have the operation proactively have a better shot at long-term recovery. Thatcher Demko of the Vancouver Canucks is one of the examples cited, having had the surgery while playing at Boston College.
For Gustavsson, that points to two clear takeaways: he should have a real chance to get back on the ice, and he’s undergoing the procedure at a workable point in his career after turning 28 last June. If Minnesota lets him recover on the proper timeline, the Wild have a better shot at getting the version of Gustavsson that went 15-6-4 with a 2.69 GAA and .903 save percentage.
Wallstedt gives the Wild a decent bridge for now. In his first full NHL season, he posted an 18-9-6 record with a 2.61 GAA, .915 save percentage and four shutouts, and at 24 he looks like a goalie the organization can build around.
The wrinkle is the money. Gustavsson is set to begin a five-year, $34 million extension with a $6.8 million annual average value, 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 is a reminder that teams will pay up - and pay the compensation price - to land a high-end restricted free agent. If Wallstedt keeps trending up, waiting until next summer could get expensive for Minnesota.
There’s also the contract protection to think about. Gustavsson has a full no-trade clause in his new deal, and according to Puckpedia, that restriction doesn’t drop to a 15-team list until after the 2027-28 season. If his recovery goes sideways, moving him could become a lot more complicated, especially if the Wild can’t get fair value back.
A year ago, two good goalies looked like a strength. Now the Wild’s crease is tied to a much more uncertain question, and it all comes back to Gustavsson’s hip.
In Other News...
Quinn Hughes Contract Standoff Puts Wild On Edge
Quinn Hughes is still in that awkward NHL limbo where the future feels close enough to talk about, but not close enough to settle. While he is away at the NHL Media Tour, the Minnesota Wild continue to work with the reality that he is unsigned beyond the 2026-27 season, even as team brass projects confidence that a deal will eventually get done. The broad framework is already clear: the Wild want to lock in a long-term commitment, while Hughes appears more comfortable with a shorter runway.
The divide comes down to both years and dollars, with Minnesota preferring an eight-year contract worth $160 million and Hughes leaning toward a three-year arrangement. Those conversations are expected to pick up once he returns to St. Paul, where the next round of talks should bring the issue into sharper focus. For the Wild, the hope is simple enough, but the path to getting there still runs through the kind of negotiation that can linger until it suddenly does not. [Read more 🡒]