The Greatest Minnesota Wild Goaltenders of All Time, a Complete List

[CreaseAndAssist]

A complete list of the Greatest Minnesota Wild goaltenders of all time

 

@MNSOTA and I wrote up this article evaluating all of the players that have manned the crease for the Minnesota Wild in its history.  It is amazing to see how close some of the statistics (goals against average, save percentage) are for the various goalies even if they spanned different eras in the franchise's history.  Enjoy and discuss...

[IllaZilla]

Good article! I still remember all the goalie controversy threads on the old Wild boards about Fernandez and Roloson. Almost like a Miller Lite commercial: Manny! Rolli! Manny! Rolli! And Kuemper’s ability to give up five goals and then state “I felt I played pretty good!”

[4Check]

That was a nice walk down memory lane.   The Rolli/Manny playoff run remains one of my favorite all time NHL memories. 

 

[CreaseAndAssist]

Thanks.  Yea, those were combative times where people seemed to be in one of 3 tribes.  Manny, Roli or they didn't care at all.  Remember all of the posts about Brent Burns' hair and the other puckbunnies?  Blech...

Edited April 5, 2020 by CreaseAndAssist

[Alexandron]

LIG. Who do you think showed the most stable play among our goaltenders with a large sized sample group( at least 90 starts) in the Wild  20 years history?Completely agree that Stalock started to show a pretty decent source of stability this season, as well as agree regarding Khudobin who was traded suddenly and practically for nothing. Just imaging, if he would be our Wild very solid backup goaltender at least in the last 6-7 years, then the Wild team will look differently too(will look probably more stable too). It was interesting also to know for me that Curry was a first Minnesotan goaltender for the Wild team, who was born in Shoreview,MN and where I am living for the last 22 years. It seems the most promising prospect goaltender is our current prospect Kaapo Kahkonen,(who is having already a lot of achievements in the Iowa Wild team) and possibly two other goaltender prospects Mat Robson and Hunter Jones providing an interest so far.

[ClusterChuck]

Great article !!

I too liked the Manny/Roli combo but like you said the biggest "What if" with Harding.

Things were looking pretty good in the goalie dept at the time. Something we really haven't seen since.

[CreaseAndAssist]

On 3/30/2020 at 4:12 PM, Alexandron said:

LIG. Who do you think showed the most stable play among our goaltenders with a large sized sample group( at least 90 starts) in the Wild  20 years history?Completely agree that Stalock started to show a pretty decent source of stability this season, as well as agree regarding Khudobin who was traded suddenly and practically for nothing. Just imaging, if he would be our Wild very solid backup goaltender at least in the last 6-7 years, then the Wild team will look differently too(will look probably more stable too). It was interesting also to know for me that Curry was a first Minnesotan goaltender for the Wild team, who was born in Shoreview,MN and where I am living for the last 22 years. It seems the most promising prospect goaltender is our current prospect Kaapo Kahkonen,(who is having already a lot of achievements in the Iowa Wild team) and possibly two other goaltender prospects Mat Robson and Hunter Jones providing an interest so far.

 

If you look at Manny and Roloson, they did pretty well considering they played on teams that chronically were some of the worst offensive clubs in the organization's history.  Yes, they also benefited from Lemaire's defensive style of hockey, but I still think their goaltending held up pretty well.  When Dubnyk first arrived, he was much better but its been a steady decline ever since that first season when his numbers were among the league's best.  And even a slip in Dubnyk's game usually was a big part of the team going on a losing streak.  

 

I still think the most interesting fact is how close those big sample numbers are when you look at save percentage or win percentage.  It kind of proves the team has been stuck at a certain level of above average-ness for an extended period of time.  

 

I didn't have this in the article, but Harding also was a rare right-catching goaltender.  He had a few solid seasons in Houston before he really got any significant chance to show what he could do in Minnesota.  

[Alexandron]

On 4/5/2020 at 12:53 PM, CreaseAndAssist said:

 

If you look at Manny and Roloson, they did pretty well considering they played on teams that chronically were some of the worst offensive clubs in the organization's history.  Yes, they also benefited from Lemaire's defensive style of hockey, but I still think their goaltending held up pretty well.  When Dubnyk first arrived, he was much better but its been a steady decline ever since that first season when his numbers were among the league's best.  And even a slip in Dubnyk's game usually was a big part of the team going on a losing streak.  

 

I still think the most interesting fact is how close those big sample numbers are when you look at save percentage or win percentage.  It kind of proves the team has been stuck at a certain level of above average-ness for an extended period of time.  

 

I didn't have this in the article, but Harding also was a rare right-catching goaltender.  He had a few solid seasons in Houston before he really got any significant chance to show what he could do in Minnesota.  

Completely agree with that. The most recent symbiosis example was our pleasant surprise of the last year Stanley Cup winner -  a St.Louis team with their goaltender Binnington. Goaltending and the team's win are very dependable in their solid results and in building entire team's confidence(a firm trust).

[CreaseAndAssist]

Goaltending is probably the only thing the Wild has ever had (at times) that approached elite in status.  Yet not as much from one individual as it was from a tandem.  But eventually the organization went to a more traditional...starter and back up kind of deployment.