Wild 2025-26 Report Cards: Filip Gustavsson

It was never stated that the injury bothered him in the season, but if the injury requires surgery, chances are it did bother him. Regardless, after looking over his stats, he earned a B+. It’s hard to ignore his improvement from beginning to end, but there’s also room for more improvement, which is why the grade wasn’t higher. 

Gustavsson’s One-Game Postseason

This is a little bit harder to grade given the circumstances, as Gustavsson only had one game in the postseason, and it was a struggle. However, it’s important to look at what he came into first and go from there. Wallstedt started the postseason due to the struggles Gustavsson had at the end of the regular season. Wallstedt did well, but then hit a speed bump when it came to his first game against the Colorado Avalanche, which was a 9-6 loss. The Wild felt they had to switch goaltenders at least for Game 2, and that’s where Gustavsson came in after not playing for nearly three weeks. 

The game was a bit of a struggle, as the first shot he faced got by him, but as time went on, he appeared to settle in. The Avalanche did go on to win that game 5-2, but the loss can not be put just on Gustavsson’s shoulders. He did struggle, yes, but the circumstances were against him, and his defense had issues in front of him. Most would probably believe he deserves a lower grade for the loss, but it’s not fair on just one game; of course, it was the postseason, but still difficult. 

Looking at that game, he earned a C, an average grade for an average game. That may seem high, but it was his first game after being off for three weeks. He was potentially and likely dealing with an injury, plus it was against the Avalanche, who were playing a very strong game at that point. Yes, he could’ve been better, but he did what he could, and he improved as time went on. Unfortunately, his team couldn’t do the same on their end. 

“I thought mentally, it probably was one of my better games coming into. You know, sometimes you’re more stressed or nervous going into the game, and you know, that game, it felt like I could control my emotions pretty good. You know, maybe I didn’t have the best game ever. I didn’t have my worst game ever, but you know, I thought I handle it in a good way. Do I want a better result, yeah. Sometimes it happens, sometimes you don’t win all them,” said Gustavsson to the media in his end-of-season interview about coming into Game 2. 

Gustavsson’s Overall Grade

Now that the season is over and there’s been time to look over Gustavsson’s stats, it’s time to reveal his overall grade. He earned a B+ for the regular season and a C for his postseason, which means his overall grade is a B-. It could be lower, but it doesn’t feel fair to weigh more of his grade for one game of the postseason versus 50 games of the regular season. 

Once again, some may think B- is too high given his struggles on and off throughout the regular season and playoffs. However, as pointed out before, he had an impressive improvement from the start to the end, and that was crucial in the Wild making it to the postseason. On the flip side, for those who think B- isn’t high enough, the issues Gustavsson had during the season can’t be overlooked either. 

Trying to weigh his mistakes versus his improvement and being fair when it came to his grade. Again, as mentioned above, knowing that Gustavsson had to have surgery had to be factored in as well because he likely played while dealing with this injury. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with the Wild’s goaltenders this offseason and if Gustavsson will be able to improve his grade next season.