As the cap penalties the Minnesota Wild will be paying due to the Zach Parise/Ryan Suter buyouts are set to hit a combined $14.7MM, Wild general manager Bill Guerin has quite the task ahead of him as he looks to build a team that can take the next step after back-to-back impressive regular seasons and first-round playoff exits. Perhaps the most important piece of business for him to address is a new contract for netminder Filip Gustavsson, who is set to become an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent. Complicating Gustavsson’s case is his extremely impressive performance this past season, where he posted a .931 save percentage in 39 games. With those sorts of numbers, is it possible Gustavsson has priced himself out of Minnesota?
That seems unlikely, as The Athletic’s Joe Smith relays positive word from Gustavsson’s agent about the ongoing contract negotiations: “we’ve started a dialogue and everything is really positive,” says agent Kurt Overhardt, “I don’t think it’s a matter of getting something done. It’s just a matter of when it’s done.” (subscription link) Smith notes that a three-year, $3MM AAV pact would fit with the comparables to Gustavsson’s current situation, and that would likely be a palatable number for the team. In any case, it seems the talented 24-year-old netminder is set to remain in Minnesota after a breakout campaign, despite some cap-related challenges on the team’s side.
More notes from across the NHL:
- Benoit Groulx, the longtime head coach of the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, is ending his tenure in the Salt City according to a report from JF Plante of Le Droit. Groulx has spent the last seven years as the Crunch’s bench boss and has led the team on multiple playoff runs, including a run to the Calder Cup Final in 2016-17. A respected player developer, Groulx’s Crunch teams have produced numerous difference-making NHLers, including Carter Verhaeghe, Yanni Gourde, Taylor Raddysh, Ross Colton, and Anthony Cirelli. Plante cites Arizona Coyotes head coach Andre Tourigny’s current assistant coach opening as a possible landing spot for Groulx, and should such a move materialize that would be a significant and highly valuable addition to the Coyotes organization.
- Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in his 32 Thoughts blog that the Boston Bruins are “exploring what it needs to do to keep Tyler Bertuzzi,” a player set to hit unrestricted free agency later this summer. The Bruins traded their 2024 first-round pick to the Detroit Red Wings to acquire Bertuzzi, and the 28-year-old subsequently impressed in the black and gold, scoring 16 points in 21 regular-season games and 10 points in the team’s seven-game first-round playoff series. Bertuzzi is likely to have wide-ranging interest this summer in what is considered a thinner free agent class, so it’s unclear whether Boston will be able to get his signature on a contract extension. But given Friedman’s report, we at least now know that the Bruins are actively looking for an avenue to retain the former 30-goal scorer.
Based on Bertuzzi’s NHL resume thus far Sweeney would be a fool to sign him for anything more than 1 year at 3 mil. and he’d be a bigger fool to even entertain the idea of resigning Krejci and Bergeron.
I think it’s you who’s the fool for posting such an uneducated comment
It’s not uneducated at all, It’s quite accurate in fact.
Ya he’s rumoured to be closer to 7×7
You’re have no idea what youre talking about
I predicted the Bruins downfall this past year so maybe I’ll be way off again, but that pick could be extremely valuable to Detroit. That Bruins team will get old fast, i wouldn’t be surprised if it’s one that turns into a lottery pick for the Red Wings.
It’s a top 10 protected pick for 2024 so if the Bruins have a bad year it may not convey
Groulx should be a head coach in the NHL not a assistant..but he has to start somewhere..
I think Bert wants to settle at $6.5M x 6, that is a good # if he could stay healthy….but…..he has not done that so far.
It’s an obscene number because he CAN’T stay healthy but some unqualified GM will give it to him.
So Guerin gets his first crack at GM, I’m guessing that he understood the importance of the position and that in the entire world there are only 32 GM positions so based on that fact they are hard to come by and not to very long after he was hired he dug himself a sizable hole, It’s really funny to me and adorable even on some level. I compare it to maybe meeting your biological family for the first time in 30 years and as opposed to greeting them and getting to know them you ask them for money.
Bertuzzi is nearly 30, Still under 100 career goals, Under 300 career games, And I believe he only averages 43 games a season thus far, Nothing in these stats garners 4 5 or even 6 million annually unless you are a GM that is fixated on name recognition, I understand that Bertuzzi was darn good in the playoffs but It’s a very small sample size and he was playing with the best players he has ever played with in his career. I guarantee that who ever his agent fleeces this summer Bertuzzi will end up injured and miss alot of games. Your welcome.
You been saying he is nearly 30 for over a year, and in that time he has gotten closer to 30 as he is now 28.
2 years is still a ways from 30……..
His resume speaks for itself, His value is really inflated, And of course he will miss at least 30 games this coming season regardless of where he lands. Your welcome!!!!!!!!!
92 career goals and Bertuzzi wants something at 6 or North of that annually? That’s a felony. Lol.
Some dumb GM will give him a ton of money and term and get maybe 1-2 seasons out of Bert. He is the last guy I would throw a long termer at. 3 years absolute maximum.
All aboard “The Gus Bus”!!