Gustavsson talks Olympics, scoring goal for Wild with NHL.com

Welcome to Goalie Week. NHL Social is celebrating goaltending with NHL Goalie Week from Sept. 2-7, reveling in the uniqueness and artistry of puck-stoppers through the decades. Today, in a special version of "Sitting Down with …" Minnesota Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson delves into his game, the upcoming Olympics and the impact Marc-Andre Fleury has had on his career.

MILAN -- Twenty years after Henrik Lundqvist helped Sweden to the men's ice hockey gold medal at the 2006 Torino Olympics, Filip Gustavsson would like to follow in King Henrik's footsteps.

The Minnesota Wild goaltender is a strong candidate to be back in these parts with Sweden at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 in February. To that end, the 27-year-old draws inspiration from his idol Lundqvist, the Hall of Fame goalie that Gustavsson first met as a kid.

"I never got the chance to play against him, because he had [heart] surgery in [2021], my first season," Gustavsson said. "But when I was younger, he had a goalie camp in Gothenburg and I went there twice in the summers. I got to talk to him for a little bit."

Gustavsson has authored an impressive career of his own, including last season when he was tied for seventh in wins (31), tied for fourth in shutouts (five) and sixth in minutes played (3,423:35) among NHL goalies. He also became the 15th goalie in NHL history to score a goal, accomplishing the feat against the St. Louis Blues on Oct. 15, 2024.

In a recent sit-down with NHL.com at the NHL/NHLPA European Player Media Tour in Italy, Gustavsson discussed the upcoming Olympics, his goal-scoring prowess and all other things goaltending.

First off, being here in one of the host cities of the upcoming Olympics, how excited are you about the Games and what memories does it spark?

"I mean, 2006. Sweden winning gold was a monumental moment for our country and the sport of hockey there. Lundqvist, [Peter] Forsberg, [Mats] Sundin, so many greats. They set the standard. It's an honor whenever you get the chance to represent Sweden like they did. NHL players haven't been able to play in the Olympics for a bit now, and having the chance, if I have a good fall, to be able to be on the roster would be very special. You never know if you ever get a chance like that again. And hopefully I can play very good this fall and get on that roster."

You had a chance to experience best-on-best competition like that while playing for Sweden at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February. At what point in your goaltending journey did you first realize you might be able to have a career in hockey, at the professional and international level?

"I would say I was around 14 or 15 years old. My dream was always to play in the NHL. It was my dream to play in the Swedish league when I was younger. Then I started having some success [in minor hockey]. And then you start dreaming more and more. And then it actually happens."

On your ascension to becoming an NHL goalie you've seen how the position has progressed. Goalies now seem to be better than ever and arguably are among the top athletes on their respective teams. To what do you attribute to the fact that goaltenders seem to be better than ever right now?

"I think a good reason for it was when you start having goalie coaches. Everyone started to learn from them. You know, if you're a forward or a defenseman, your [defensemen] coach, for example, has eight other players to look at. With your goalie coach you can be very, very tight with him. It's only you he's working with, and you can get more personal info on how you can improve your game. And then we get videos after every game, if you want to, and talk about stuff. And that's why you see so many places getting the skills coaches for players now. And now goal scoring is getting up a little bit too because they just started doing that. Meanwhile goalies have been doing that for quite some time."

In that regard, from a scouting standpoint, how would you break down yourself as a goalie?

"I would say I'm a little more defensively active. I would say I wouldn't chase the puck much. In my position, if I can play a blocking style, I would play a blocking style, but having the option to have active hands, to catch pucks and make those reactive saves. My skating allows me to be able to get to those positions very quick."

Having said that, have you always been a good puck handler?

"It's been OK most of my career. I would say the teams I played for always wanted the goalie to go out and play the puck and help the players out with transition so not to get stuck in their own zone. And some teams hate it, and sometimes some teams don't let the goalie do that. So, you know, just working on it over time, it gets better."

So much so that you joined exclusive company as one of the few goalies to ever score an NHL goal. Sure, goalies have scored before, but you are only the 10th to shoot the puck into the opposing net as opposed to it deflecting off a pad or being the last player to touch it before an own goal. Can you take us through what you remember about that historic play?

"It was pretty cool. We were up 3-1 and they took a timeout. When I skated to the bench, Marc-Andre Fleury was there and he said, 'Hey, if they dump the puck in, you should go for it.' It's not like we'd ever talked about that before that. So it was like a little random. [Fleury] plays the puck always, and he's a very good puck handler. And like he'd said, they come down, they try and get a whistle, so they dump it in perfectly for me, straight into my glove. And, you know, having that fresh in my mind, I told myself if I get it, I should shoot. You put it down, you just hope it doesn't wobble and just lays straight flat right before the shot. And I didn't even think I could shoot it that far. If I tried five more times I'd probably miss four of them at least. And you know, my teammates were very happy for me. I thought it was very cool. And you know, I don't think my mom and dad were watching the game live. They wake up and they see it. And friends back home in school too. I got a lot of texts from all of them. It was a very nice confidence boost for a few weeks."

You mentioned Fleury. How much did the future Hall of Famer influence you? And no, we're not referring to teaching you to be an expert practical joker like he is.

"You know, he's been through so much. He went to Pittsburgh when they were bad for his first three years. And then they became so good and won so many games and playoffs. I don't know, it was like 17 years in the playoffs in a row or something like that for him. And all the different situations he's been in, and that being the end of his career, he was sharing a lot of it. So you can ask him about more stuff and learn stuff like that. He's been to most of the cities a few times. He knows where to go, what we can do on off days and setting up stuff. And it was just very good for me to just have him there to learn from."