Wild sign Peter Thome as emergency backup goalie

The news comes as the NHL turns the page to its new collective bargaining agreement. Along with aspects such as a playoff salary cap and looser dress code, teams are now required to have full-time emergency backups on their staff, rather than have a person waiting in the stands on game nights, in case either team in action needed someone to strap on the pads on a whim.

It isn’t as if Thome is some guy off the streets. The 29-year-old has an extensive hockey pedigree with some high-end experience, both on and off the ice. He played five seasons of NCAA D-I hockey. After serving as a backup at the University of North Dakota, he joined the newly promoted squad at the University of St. Thomas in 2021-22. After that, he joined the ECHL’s Idaho Steelheads for the remainder of the 2021-22 season, before playing a pair of games with the Maine Mariners the following year.

Thome was a sixth-round pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2016 NHL Draft. He also spent time in the United States Hockey League, making stops with the Omaha Lancers, Chicago Steel and Waterloo Black Hawks.

After his playing career wrapped up, the Minneapolis, Minn. native stayed in the game. He worked with the Steel for two seasons, both as an analyst and director of hockey operations. He was last with the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the Seattle Kraken‘s American Hockey League affiliate, as a video coach during the 2024-25 season.