Filip Gustavsson

On October 15, 2024, Filip Gustavsson became the 15th goaltender in NHL history to score a goaltender goal, doing so in the Minnesota Wild's 4–1 victory over the St. Louis Blues. It was the kind of moment that punctuated a rise that began a long way from the NHL: Gustavsson was born in Skelleftea, Sweden, and was selected 55th overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round of the 2016 NHL Draft before eventually arriving in Minnesota via Ottawa and a stint with Luleå HF of the Swedish Hockey League.

The Wild acquired Gustavsson in 2022, and he has since logged 219 career regular-season games, going 111–74–26 with a 2.67 goals-against average, a .911 save percentage, and 15 shutouts. Through 50 games of the 2025–26 season, he carries a 28–15–6 record, a 2.69 goals-against average, a .904 save percentage, and 4 shutouts across 2,967:55 of ice time.

InGoal Magazine has covered Filip Gustavsson in one podcast appearance and one Pro Read.

The Pro Read ^[1], conducted by Kevin Woodley earlier in the 2025–26 season during a Wild visit to Vancouver, offered a detailed look at how Gustavsson processes play from behind the net. Reviewing a sequence against the Calgary Flames in which forward Conor Zary carried the puck behind the net to Gustavsson's left, Gustavsson explained his approach to managing post position and head tracking. "First thing I do is always, you don't move your body as much, just move your eyes and your head," he said. "You see I'm still connected on the right post because now I see (and) it's easy for me if he's going to pass on the left side, and if he goes back where I'm not looking, towards my blocker side, I know it's covered, and I can just go into a blocking position there. … You see a few goals like this where goalies push over and they just go back, and you don't know the puck is behind you, and they score on an open net. You know you've got it covered if it goes back and (if it doesn't) you've got time because you see the puck and know where it's going."

Woodley noted that Gustavsson's technical approach to post play drew attention from Marc-Andre Fleury, who, after retiring, lauded Gustavsson's work in that area and attempted to learn from it ^[1].

On InGoal Radio episode 294 ^[2], recorded around the March 2025 trade deadline, Woodley cited Gustavsson among the goalies performing at the top of the league in adjusted save percentage at that point in the season, grouping him alongside Igor Shesterkin and Connor Hellebuyck in what he described as a cluster of high-workload goalies in the top ten.