Wild have plenty of options at goalie for Qualifiers

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Dean Evason said each of the four goalies participating in Minnesota Wild training camp will be considered for the starter when they play the Vancouver Canucks in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers.

"Honestly, all four (have impressed me)," the Wild coach said Friday. "And I'm not saying that because I'm afraid to say one or the other, but all four have impressed us. … Everyone that's here is a possibility for us. … So to say one guy stands out or he's going to be our starter, we never know what's going to happen."

Minnesota (35-27-7, 558 points percentage) enters the Qualifiers as the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference. It will play the No. 7 seed, Vancouver (36-27-6, .565), in one of four best-of-5 series that will begin at Rogers Place in Edmonton, the Western hub city, on Aug. 2.

The winner will advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the loser will have a chance at the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft in the Second Phase of the NHL Draft Lottery.

Alex Stalock and Devan Dubnyk split time as Minnesota's starter this season, but Stalock emerged before the NHL season was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.

After Evason replaced Bruce Boudreau as Wild coach on Feb. 14, Stalock started nine of their final 12 games, going 6-3-0 with a 2.46 goals-against average and .918 save percentage. In an NHL career-high 38 games (36 starts) this season, he was 20-11-4 with a 2.67 GAA, .910 save percentage and four shutouts.

Dubnyk, who had been the Wild starting goalie since being acquired in a trade with the Arizona Coyotes on Jan. 14, 2015, was 12-15-2 with a 3.35 GAA in 30 games (28 starts), and among goalies to play at least 25 games, his .890 save percentage was second lowest in the League (Jimmy Howard, .882, last-place Detroit Red Wings). Dubnyk missed time in November and December while his wife, Jenn, dealt with a medical situation.

"[Stalock] was playing great at the end of the year," Dubnyk said last month. "I'm never going to be in a position where I'm just completely good with sitting back and not playing. I always expect to play, I always expect to be the guy that they want in the net when the time comes, and [I'm] certainly going to approach this the exact same way and just be prepared, be ready to play if I'm called upon to play."

Kaapo Kahkonen and Mat Robson are also in the mix.

Kahkonen started five games for the Wild this season, going 3-1-1 with a 2.96 GAA and .913 save percentage. He was voted the winner of the Aldege "Baz" Bastien Memorial Award as the American Hockey League's most outstanding goaltender after he led the league in wins (25-6-3), shutouts (seven), and was fourth in GAA (2.07) and save percentage (.927) for Iowa.

Robson is in his first professional season after signing with the Wild as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Minnesota on March 18, 2019. He played 26 games as the backup to Kahkonen with Iowa, going 11-10-5 with a 2.97 GAA, .901 save percentage and one shutout.

"I think as a whole, this group, the organization, with what we've had at camp, we have a very deep goaltending pool," Stalock said. "… Any time you have depth like that going into the playoffs, goaltending's so important. I know everybody's pushing hard to get back into shape, tracking pucks, and getting back into speed.

"Whoever it is (starting) that first night, I know their goal is to give this team the best chance to win."

Evason said he doesn't anticipate a resolution anytime soon, and he doesn't expect it to be easy, either.

"Like everybody, we're going to have a tough decision," Evason said. "We think they can all play. So it's going to be a difficult decision for us, so hopefully we make the right one."