3 reasons the Red Wings must trade for Filip Gustavsson
The Detroit Red Wings must do all they can to improve their quality of play in the crease, and that means trading for Filip Gustavsson.
The Detroit Red Wings can and must make a big trade for a goaltender this offseason. Names like Juuse Saros would surely get hockey fans in the Motor City excited after the team just missed out on the top eight and the playoffs this past season. But there is also another name out there who is flying under the radar, and that name is Filip Gustavsson.
You may vaguely remember Gustavsson as being part of the Atlantic Division in the past, as he was once a member of the Ottawa Senators. But after 27 games in Canada’s capital, the Sens moved him to the Minneapolis-St. Paul region in a trade for Cam Talbot before he ultimately signed on for another three seasons with the Wild.
Overall, Gustavsson’s time in Minnesota has been up and down, but he’s played well enough to where if he were traded this summer, a goaltender-needy team like Detroit should hesitate little to bring him over if they can work out a deal.
Red Wings could break back into the playoffs with Filip Gustavsson
While it’s unclear whether Filip Gustavsson is a true 1A or if he factors better as a 1B, it is clear that he could give the Wings more hope than James Reimer or Ville Husso. He would have a great tag team partner in Alex Lyon, while Reimer would walk in free agency, and Husso can also go elsewhere via trade.
Sure, Husso was supposed to be the star heading into the 2024 offseason, but after two years of struggles that saw him log just a 3.22 GAA and an 0.895 save percentage, reality should sink in: Husso isn’t the franchise goaltender capable of leading the Red Wings back to the playoffs for the first time in forever.
Filip Gustavsson played a major role in helping the Wild make an appearance in 2023, and that could easily become the case with the Wings if Steve Yzerman tried and managed to trade for him. But what makes Gustavsson an ideal addition to Detroit?
Gustavsson has a very reasonable contract
Filip Gustavsson may have the best contract of all the younger goaltenders in the NHL this season. He has two years remaining, giving him a pair of seasons to prove himself to an organization that ultimately trades for him, and his AAV is a modest $3.75 million per season.
For a team like the Red Wings, despite its current plethora of cap space, looking to re-sign and extend key players like Lucas Raymond, Patrick Kane, and Moritz Seider, taking on a salary like Gustavsson’s won’t break the bank. Their overall cap space will inevitably shrink this offseason, so it may leave them with limited options in the goaltending market, but Gustavsson is one of the few exceptions.
Since he has two seasons left on his contract, he also gives Detroit much-needed flexibility. They can sign him to an extension beginning in the 2025 offseason, or, as implied above, they can wait until 2026 should a trade occur.
The only downside here is that Gustavsson won’t be a restricted free agent, so if the Red Wings acquired him and took the longer road, they would need to work out a deal before he hit the open market. Overall, however, there are far more ups than downs regarding Gustavsson’s contract, and if he doesn’t work out, Sebastian Cossa should be ready at that point.
The Red Wings have trade assets to move
Anyone who follows the Red Wings and the Wild knows that both teams are looking to win in 2024-25. Detroit wants to finally claw its way back into the playoffs, while Minnesota recently signed Marc-Andre Fleury for one more season, and they’re hoping for nothing more than a playoff run at the absolute least.
But it doesn’t mean the Wild won’t take a draft pick, nor does it mean they won’t take a high-potential B-prospect. Sure, the Red Wings would need to give up more than that, but there’s still Justin Holl, whom they will inevitably move this offseason.
The Wild played well defensively this past year, especially at 5-on-5, but there could still be room for a player like Holl, especially with Alex Goligoski and Dakota Mermis hitting the free agent market.
Some may scoff at the possibility of Detroit trading a player like Holl for a potential franchise goaltender, but in actuality, he seemed to be nothing more than a bad fit with the Wings. While he was with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Holl logged top-four minutes, he was physical, and he was an over 50 percent player on the Corsi at even strength.
Holl, though older, could get his career back on track in Minnesota, while the same would go for Gustavsson in Detroit.
Gustavsson has shown potential to be an elite netminder
No, Filip Gustavsson did not enjoy a good season with the Wild, where he failed to improve on his 2022-23 performance. Overall, he started 43 games and won 20 of them, with a 3.06 GAA, an 0.899 save percentage, nine ‘really bad starts,’ and a meager 0.419 quality starts percentage.
But let’s not judge Gustavsson because he took a step back in 2023-24, as his 2022-23 numbers were epic. That season, he started 37 games, won 22, posted a 0.931 save percentage, a 2.10 GAA, four ‘really bad starts,’ and a 0.730 quality starts percentage. The only commonality he had between his 2022-23 and 2023-24 numbers was that he posted three shutouts in each season.
Yes, the 2022-23 Wild were a good team, but they also weren’t good offensively, finishing 22nd in the league with 246 goals for. At 5-on-5, they finished the year with a 7.3 shooting percentage, a 49.6 Corsi, 49.8 percent scoring chances for, an xGF of 163.6, and a modest 50.4 percent high-danger chances for.
That said, Gustavsson helped keep this team in games, serving in a true 1B role behind Marc-Andre Fleury. It shows that when the pressure isn’t fully on Gustavsson he can be a great goaltender, and luckily, the Red Wings have a player in Alex Lyon, with whom he can team up.
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(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)