Minnesota Wild Upgrade Contract of AHL Goalie Due to Quiet Jesper Wallstedt Injury
The Minnesota Wild announced on Tuesday that they were signing AHL goalie Dylan Ferguson to a one-year, two-way contract that is good for the remainder of the 2024-25 season.
What a turn of fortune for Ferguson, whose contract now calls for $750,000 if in the NHL and $130,000 if in the AHL, quite the increase in salary for the 26-year-old who has just 3 total games of National Hockey League experience under his breezers. Even if he never steps foot on the NHL ice, Dylan Ferguson is the real winner today.
Why did the Minnesota Wild upgrade Dylan Ferguson’s contract?
But why did the Minnesota Wild make this roster move? Why upgrade the contract of a backup AHL goalie? Both Filip Gustavsson and Marc-Andre Fleury are healthy. But according to Michael Russo (The Athletic), 2021 1st round pick Jesper Wallstedt is not.
And with their supposed “goalie of the future” sidelined, the Wild need an emergency goalie on roster. Dylan Ferguson is now that emergency goalie. After signing his new deal, he was immediately sent back down to Iowa.
The Wild lost Grosenick before the season at a 775K cap hit. There's a cap for emergency replacements, and neither of the #mnwild minor-league goalies fit that. With Wallstedt hurt, they needed a 775K goalie in case of an emergency. And they've loved Ferguson down there, so… https://t.co/6n1XOJLApE
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) January 7, 2025
Goaltender Dylan Ferguson has been placed on waivers for purpose of assignment to the @IowaWild.
— Minnesota Wild PR (@mnwildPR) January 7, 2025
Originally a 7th round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft, Ferguson has a .929 save percentage and 2.81 goals against average, in his three career appearances. The British Columbia native made his NHL debut came way back in 2017-18, when he was just 19 years old. That night, he entered the game as a substitute.
Dylan Ferguson played just over nine minutes and allowed one goal on two shots. He never saw the NHL ice again until five years later (2022-23), when he got two appearances for the Ottawa Senators, one of which was a start. Ferguson has never played a minute for the Minnesota Wild.
Jesper Wallsted’s surprise injury
Unless you are paying very close attention to the Iowa Wild happenings, on a game-in, game-out basis, you probably did not know Jesper Wallstedt had missed the last four games down in the AHL. Obviously, this signing is a sign that the 22-year-old’s absence is expected to be of the extended variety…
So far this season, Wallstedt has been horrible down in Iowa. He wanted to be up with the Minnesota Wild this year, and seems to have mentally collapsed, when it didn’t happen. In seven AHL games since November 7, Jesper allowed four or more goals in four of them, including an 8 goals allowed performance on November 16 vs the Texas Stars. Now, it looks like he’ll get a break to get mentally and physically right.
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