Rumor: Wild prospect and playoff hero may bolt for Europe

The young goaltender is apparently fielding offers from Europe

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 6 years ago
Rumor: Wild prospect and playoff hero may bolt for Europe
Keystone Press

There’s no denying that Devan Dubnyk has provided the Minnesota Wild with a level of goaltending that they haven’t had in recent years. And with a six year, $26 million contract in his back pocket, he’ll likely be the man between the pipes in Minnesota for awhile. But, here’s a newsflash: Dubnyk is 31 years old. While that’s not particularly old for an NHL goaltender, it’s also not particularly young, so the Wild would do right by trying to acquire and develop some young goaltenders in their system in the hopes that they can provide some relief in the near future.

Which leads us to the case of 2015 Wild draft choice Aleš Stezka. The 20 year-old goaltender recently won the USHL’s Clark Cup with the Chicago Steel and starred along the way. His stellar 2.04 and .936 Sv% in 13 playoff games was amongst the best in the league. In short, the 6’4, 192 lb native of Liberec, Czech Republic looks ready to take the next step. But whether or not that next step will be pro hockey in North America or pro hockey in Europe, remains to be seen.

Hockey Wilderness, a Minnesota Wild blog operated by SBNation, reports that the clock is ticking on Stezka and that the team must decide either to sign him to a contract before June 1st or risk losing him to the Czech Extraliga or another NHL team as he’d be required to re-enter the NHL Entry Draft pool. With only Dubnyk, Alex Stalock and Adam Vay under contract for 2017-18, the situation seems to be perfect for Stezka to enter the fold and play meaningful games in the AHL for the club.