Canucks should beware danger lurking in the Wild
Who is Alex Stalock?
He’s the most valuable player for the resurgent Minnesota Wild and a potential problem for the Vancouver Canucks.
The backup goaltender who supplanted struggling starter Devan Dubnyk, who left the NHL club in mid-November to care for his three young children as his wife faced a major health issue, has pulled off a major rescue mission.
Stalock stabilized the club as it recovered from a 7-11-2 start — and adjusted to a February coaching change when assistant Dean Evason replaced the fired Bruce Boudreau on an interim basis — to get the Wild to a qualifying-round matchup with the Canucks, should the NHL season resume in late July or August.
In Dubnyk’s absence, the 32-year-old Stalock went 6-2-2 with a .910 save percentage. And from Feb. 2 to March 12, when the season was paused because of the coronavirus outbreak, he posted a 9-3-1 record with two shutouts.
Long the lords of defensive discipline and opportunistic offence, the Wild went 8-4-0 with Evason at the helm and scored a leaguehigh 43 goals during that stretch. That’s not a typo.
With new direction and a new starter in goal, the Wild won’t be an easy out in the best-of-five matchup. Stalock should have a lot to say about the outcome as the Saint Paul, Minn. native faces off against Jacob Markstrom, arguably the Canucks’ MVP.
Stalock made 24 saves in a 4-2 home ice win over the Canucks on Feb. 6. The Wild won two of three matchups this season, but a fourth-ranked Canucks power play will test Minnesota’s 25th-rated penalty kill and Stalock’s resolve.
“He’s as athletic a goaltender as I have ever seen,” Evason said Thursday. “He’s always ready. Everybody always talks about him being a perfect No. 2 guy, but his skill set is really good and his compete level is super high.
“That’s what allowed him to have success, and he’s a huge part of why we got in. This guy is an undersized goalie (at six feet) who has battled his whole life. He got into a situation here and battled to get those starts and played more than at any time in his (NHL) career.”
While Stalock pulled the Wild out of the muck, they started climbing the standings on Kevin Fiala’s 26 points (14-12) in the last 19 games before the pause. He had just 26 points (9-17) in the first 45 games.
Training camp should be interesting. Does Stalock start in the Wild net based on merit? Does Dubnyk deserve another shot after going 12-15-2 with a bloated 3.35 GAA and .890 save percentage?
Or will it be an open competition when camps start some time around July 10?
“I told them that no one guy is our guy,” said Evason. “I don’t like that. The guy who’s in the net is our guy.”
Stalock has had his career moments. On Jan. 28, 2014, he passed San Jose Sharks veteran Evgeni Nabokov when he went a whopping 178:55 without allowing a goal.
As for Fiala, who has an AHL history with Evason, he has put the league on notice after transforming the Wild from sellers before the trade deadline into believers.
Jason Zucker was sent to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Feb. 11 for Alex Galchenyuk, a prospect and a conditional first-round pick. Still, the Wild didn’t have a player among the top 50 scorers and only Fiala (23) and Zach Parise (25) had cracked the 20-goal barrier, while Eric Staal had 19.
The Canucks counter with four 20-goal scorers, and Jake Virtanen with 18.
The Wild acquired Fiala from the Nashville Predators at the 2019 trade deadline and he’s only starting to hit stride.
“What Fiala did in the last 20 games was be a real good teammate,” said Evason, who’s big on communication and accountability. “He has the skill to be an individual dynamic player and take over a game, but the difference was, he played in the team structure and he had matured so much.”
Entering the qualifying series, the Wild could benefit from a break for their older players — Mikko Koivu (36), Parise (35), Staal (34) and Ryan Suter (34).