One of the big goalie storylines this offseason was the future of St. Louis goalie Ville Husso. He had largely outplayed Jordan Binnington all season but with the latter's large contract, Husso was likely to move on. That's exactly what happened as he was traded to the Detroit Red Wings:

Husso turned around and signed a three-year deal for $4.75M a season. Detroit now has their goalie for the near-term. Let's break it down.

What Detroit gets

This is where scouting and personal opinion probably reigns over stats. Husso has just 53 career starts in the NHL, which isn't even a full season for a top-end starter. He was also very bad in the COVID 2021 season, posting an .893 save percentage with a Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAx), in line with David Rittich and Jonas Johansson. Not great!

Of course, the reason he gets this contract from Detroit is because of his turnaround in 2021-22. He posted a .919 save percentage, was top-10 by GSAx across the league – ahead of names like Connor Hellebuyck and Juuse Saros – while finishing tied – tied! – with Igor Shesterkin in 5-on-5 high-danger save percentage. If he keeps up that play for 50-55 starts, he's probably a Vezina finalist. That is what had so many people across a couple dozen fanbases salivating at the idea of either signing him in free agency or doing what Detroit did by acquiring his rights to sign him.

This is where personal opinion, as mentioned, has to take precedence. There is just too much of a varied performance in too small a sample to make any sort of determination based on stats alone. One thing I did find was a piece on him from The Athletic back in April where he talked about his tough start to the 2021 COVID season. He had an .879 save percentage in his first 7 games before improving considerably to .903 over his last 10 contests. Not great, obviously, but that is at least backup-worthy. He discussed how he hadn't played hockey in nearly a year, which is true. His 2019-20 AHL season finished in mid-March when the world shutdown for the pandemic in 2020. He wouldn't get a start in net, his first NHL start, for over 10 months. While every goalie had to go through that, there is surely a difference between a veteran starter with 200 games under his belt and a guy making his NHL debut. That is something that's easy to buy.

If Detroit gets the goalie from 2021-22 for the next three years, this is an absolute home run. In tandem with Alex Nedeljkovic, the cage should be well-guarded for at least next season. It does hurt Goalie Ned's fantasy value, however, now that he has firm competition, possibly being relegated to true backup status.

There is also the quality of the team to discuss. This wasn't a good franchise in 2021-22 and they have yet to make upgrades to the skaters. They have tons of cap space so they could acquire good players from cap-crunched teams or make a splash in free agency. This could be an upgrade for Husso in terms of starts, but a downgrade in team quality. It's a balance.

St. Louis has loads of young goalies on the way, so this clears the way for whomever steps up to grab a backup role in 2022-23. Could it be time for Joel Hofer?

Who This Helps

Jordan Binnington

Joel Hofer

Who This Hurts

Alex Nedeljkovic

Sebastian Cossa