The Ducks announced Sunday they’ve signed depth netminder Ville Husso to a two-year extension. PuckPedia reports the deal is worth $4.4MM with a $2.2MM cap hit.
It’s a peculiar contract for Anaheim to dole out, given they already acquired young starter Lukáš Dostál’s presumed backup for next season. They recouped fellow Czech netminder Petr Mrázek in yesterday’s trade that sent veteran netminder John Gibson to the Red Wings, and he’s signed through next year at a $4.25MM cap hit. General manager Pat Verbeek indicated he fully intended on keeping Mrázek next season after the deal went through yesterday, per Zach Cavanagh of The Sporting Tribune.
That turns Husso into an extremely expensive third-string option who still will cost the Ducks $1.05MM against the cap if he’s buried with AHL San Diego. The two-year term does at least ensure the backup position behind Dostál for another year past 2025-26, and Anaheim is still far off from needing to worry about running into the salary cap’s Upper Limit, but it still far exceeds what Husso likely would have commanded on the open market. AFP Analytics projected Husso to receive a one-year, league minimum contract.
Husso, 30, is finishing up his three-year, $14.25MM contract he signed with the Red Wings in 2022 following a breakout season with the Blues. Husso’s spectacular platform year saw him finish seventh in Vezina Trophy voting after posting a .919 SV% with a 25-7-6 record in 40 games for St. Louis, but they were reluctant to bet on him as their future starter over Cup champion Jordan Binnington.
That was a prudent move on the Blues’ part. Husso has gone on to post a .894 SV% and 3.25 GAA in 88 appearances in the three years since, spending portions of the last two years in the AHL after starting 56 games for Detroit in the first year of the deal. He was especially underwhelming in his brief NHL action with Detroit this past year, posting a .866 SV% and 1-5-2 record in nine games before being traded to the Ducks for future considerations in February as Anaheim craved goaltending depth amid a rash of injuries.
Husso had a strong finish to the year, posting a .925 SV% in three starts and one relief appearance, but that’s not a large enough sample size to warrant such a lucrative contract after falling out of a regular NHL role entirely. Barring an injury to Mrázek or a contract holdout on Dostál’s part (he’s an RFA this summer), Husso will likely spend most of 2025-26 in San Diego, where he had a .907 SV% in nine games with a 7-2-0 record after the trade.
Weird one
Yikes!
A penny above league minimum would be an overpay.
Every player in the league should hire Husso’s agent.
People forget at one point Ville Husso outplayed Jordan Binnington in STL and was almost the next big thing goaltender.
A one year wonder 4-5 years ago. Doesn’t mean he should still be getting paid to play now
Agreed, but I don’t think that’s how he meant it. Just that the NHL is a weird league, especially when it comes to goalies. Once upon a time, Husso almost usurped the Blues’ crease from Binnington, Sergei Bobrovsky was backing up Alex Lyon in Game 1 of the playoffs for the Panthers, and Jack Campbell was the netminder for the Leafs in a Game 7.
and because of that, he’s probably worth a low offer from a team that needs goaltenders, not a contract like this from a team that already has two
Makes no sense. He’s worth half that if that and they just acquired Mrazek… I’m guessing this means they’re buying Mrazek out? He’s better than Husso and a pending UFA so this is a weird one for sure. Dostal is the clear cut #1 so a three man rotation makes no sense.
Yzerman and Verbeek love moving goalies between the two teams. Pretty strange indeed!
Astounding. Even if they are buying out Mrazek (which would be stupid, as he’s the better goaltender of the two), this is a ridiculously unnecessary overpay. Inexplicable.
I think this is some 4D chess nonsense. The league has something of a goalie shortage; why not hoard goalies? Not the dumbest idea.
I honestly forgot Husso was with the Ducks and not the Grand Rapids Griffins
It is a conspiracy to keep available goalies unavailable to Edmonton! LOL!
Dostal is headed to Philly for Deslauriers