A WILD THIRD PERIOD
Two quick goals end it for the Oilers
Minnesota Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk didn’t have anything scribbled on paper for a victory speech as one of the three finalists for the Vezina Trophy at the NHL awards gala in Las Vegas in June.
“Absolutely not. I was laughing with my buddies after I won the Masterton Trophy that I should have thanked Carey Price for not getting nominated for that one, too,” said Dubnyk. He knew the Montreal Canadiens goalie was a slam-dunk for the Vezina as the league’s best netminder.
Price won the Vezina, the Hart Trophy as league most valuable player, the Ted Lindsay Award as most outstanding player, as voted by his peers, and shared the Jennings Trophy with Chicago Blackhawks Corey Crawford as the mainstays of teams that allowed the fewest goals (189) in the league.
When it came time for the Vezina announcement Dubnyk, barely broke a sweat.
“I’m sure if people had looked at the big screen at the awards show, (Nashville Predator goalie) Pekka (Rinne) and I would have been really comfortable, leaning back in our seats,” said Dubnyk.
Dubnyk won the Masterton, the award for perseverance, sportsmanship and leadership, as voted on by the media. It is mainly awarded to the comeback player of the year, and few players have resurrected their careers like Dubnyk, who was out of work in the summer of 2014, got a backup job with Arizona, then was traded to Minnesota in January 2015.
He promptly played 38 straight games.
He had a 1.78 goals-against average and .936 save percentage, finished fourth in voting for the Hart Trophy, and got the Wild to the playoffs, helping them get to the second round.
Then he got a six-year, $26-million contract as a thank-you.
“Just being around all those guys at the awards was awesome,” said the former Oilers goalie. “It was nice to get the Vezina nomination and to get the other award … especially from where I was 365 days earlier. I was practising with six 21-year-olds on the D-squad in Montreal (the playoff black aces) and not even allowed to breathe the same air as (the regulars).”
“It seems like a different lifetime ago, talking about it doesn’t seem real. But that’s fine. It wasn’t a very fun time for me,” said Dubnyk.
His life has changed, obviously, but not drastically.
“I know my kids will be financially sound and that about wraps it up,” said Dubnyk.
“We bought a new house, too, and we (wife Jennifer) have another little boy on the way in early December. Other than that, the contract is a little bit of stress off my life. It has made it a lot easier to go and play.”
“Last year was such a bonus for me to be able to be in Minnesota and play so many games. Now, I can just worry about growing my game, and nothing else,” said Dubnyk.
At this time last year, he was veteran Mike Smith’s caddy. Smith struggled early and Dubnyk got more work than he expected (16 games) but it was always Smith’s net, and Dubnyk got traded to the Wild for a third-round draft pick. He was almost in a Martin Brodeur, play-until-you-drop role when he landed in Minnesota.
He might play 70 games this season.
“Well, he’s not going to play every night,” said Wild coach Mike Yeo. “We’ve already played (Darcy Kuemper) two games.”
“It is crazy when you put it that way,” Dubnyk said, of the Brodeur iron-man comparison. “It’s kind of ridiculous, but also fun.”
“I’m not going to be the same goalie (stats wise) I was last April, not starting out a new season … but I don’t have to worry about my contract or what (the media) are going to say about me,” he said.
Dubnyk loved the workload last year, even if it seemed onerous.
“If you’d asked me before then, I’d have said it’s insane. After 12 or 13 games (in a row), maybe I was thinking ‘Whoa, this is getting long,’ but once it was at 24 or 25 games, I was on autopilot. I enjoyed it. Does it make sense to do that now? No, especially when we have a very good backup in Kuemps,’ said Dubnyk.
Dubnyk greatly admires Price’s ability to play every night in Montreal.
“You never want to approach things that — just because you have a contract and did well the year before — that you’ll start every game from then on, no matter what. Price plays every game because he gives them an incredible chance to win every game. That’s why you keep going back to him,” said Dubnyk.
“He’s earned that, and I tried to earn that last year. I’d like to make sure that I give the same effort every single game so that I get the games over and over here and the back-to-backs because I’m giving them the opportunity to win,” said Dubnyk.