As expected, Matt Dumba is set to hit the free agent market come July 1st, with the news that the Tampa Bay Lightning will not be re-signing him.
NHL insider David Pagnotta confirmed on Tuesday that the Lightning will not be re-signing Dumba. This makes sense considering the Lightning traded for defenseman Ryan McDonagh from the Nashville Predators not long ago.
McDonagh carries a $6.75 Million cap hit for the 2024-25 season and the 2025-26 season. They also have just a hair over five million in cap space left with their captain Steven Stamkos still unsigned.
What a difference a year can make. This time last year, Filip Gustavsson was coming off finishing second in the NHL in GAA (2.10) and SV% (.931), albeit in just 39 games. Still, he did well enough to earn a three-year, $11.25MM contract after filing for salary arbitration and it looked like their goalie situation was relatively settled, at least for the short term.
This season, it was a different story. The 25-year-old saw his GAA jump by nearly a full goal per game, going to 3.06 while losing 32 points off his save percentage. He still picked up a few extra starts but simply failed to lock down the number one job as they were hoping for. That likely played a role in their decision to give Marc-Andre Fleury a one-year, $2.5MM extension last month for his 21st and final NHL campaign.
By all accounts, it appears that they feel Jesper Wallstedt, long viewed as their goalie of the future, is ready for full-time NHL duty. Clearly, they’re not trading Fleury (who has a no-move clause) after just signing him. Accordingly, unless they plan to carry three goalies (or shuttle Wallstedt) back and forth between Minnesota and AHL Iowa, it appears that Gustavsson may be the odd man out.
Early indications are that this could be a summer where there is more activity than usual on the trade front when it comes to goaltenders which is good news and bad news for the Wild. It’s good in that there will be more teams looking for options but with a larger supply of netminders potentially available, they’ll be hard-pressed to command a return of some significance, especially with Gustavsson coming off a down season. Guerin will need to determine what the best offer will be in the coming weeks and if that’s worth making a move now or potentially carrying three goalies into next season and see what the market looks like as the year goes on.
