Filip Gustavsson Signs $34M Wild Contract After Kirill Kaprizov's Historic $136M Deal

The Minnesota Wild aren't playing around this week.

The team signed goaltender Filip Gustavsson to a five-year, $34 million extension on Saturday, per ESPN's Emily Kaplan, just days after inking star winger Kirill Kaprizov to an eight-year, $136 million deal that was both the most total money and highest AAV for a deal in NHL history.

Gustavsson, 27, was 31-19-6 last season in 58 games, posting a 2.56 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage. It was a career year for the Swedish goaltender, who finished sixth in the Vezina Trophy voting.

During his first two seasons he largely split net-minding duties with Marc-Andre Fleury but seized the role last season. Fleury retired after last season, with Jesper Wallstedt expected to take over as Gustavsson's backup.

"He's got a little more 'eff you' in his attitude right now," Minny's president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Guerin told The Athletic's Joe Smith in September regarding Gustavsson. "When we first got him and maybe the first year, year and a half, he was willing to share the net, a little more easygoing like that. Now you can see it's more like, 'Nah, nah, I'm going to compete for this thing, and I'm going to keep it. I want to play in the big games.' That's the big difference."

As Kaplan noted, the Wild now have their young core of Kaprizov, Gustavsson, Matt Boldy, Joel Eriksson Ek and Brock Faber locked into place for several years. That group reached the playoffs last season but was knocked out in the first round by the Vegas Golden Knights.

Gustavsson had made it plenty clear he wanted to remain in Minnesota if possible.

"My family likes it here. I like playing for this team," he told Smith in September. "Everyone around the team is great. If I had the opportunity to stay, I'd like to do that."

The Wild clearly felt the same.