Nevertheless, Wings GM Steve Yzerman had to improve on his team’s abominable goaltending performance last season, and he clearly saw Husso as the best option available to him this summer. He paid the price of a third-round draft pick to St. Louis to get ahead of his competitors and sign Husso before he hit the free agent market. And then he gave Husso a hell of a raise from the relatively paltry $750,000 he made in 2021-22. A $4-million raise, in fact.
So, now. Husso is “The Man” in Detroit, but that comes with highly-raised expectations. He has only 57 regular-season games of NHL experience, and he’s not going to be playing in front of the most stingy defensive team, even with the addition of new head coach Derek Lalonde. The Red Wings have a different defense corps with Chiarot and veterans Mark Pysyk and Olli Maata joining rising stars Morris Seider and Filip Hronek. But that may not be good enough to push the Wings into a playoff berth in the Atlantic Division. They’ll need Husso to step up and steal some games.
Husso’s understudy in 2022-23 will be 26-year-old Alex Nedellkjovic, who only last season was seen to be Detroit’s goalie-of-the-future. Nedeljkovich completely cratered in his first year as a Red Wing, posting a 3.31 GAA and .901 SP. In his defense, he did play under a totally hapless Wings defense, but there was no way Yzerman could’ve come back this season with Nedeljkovic as his No. 1. Nedeljkovic can now still push for playing time, and perhaps that’s a better position for him to be in.
But Husso? Well, Husso simply has to deliver what’s being asked of him. At nearly $5 million per year, he’s been heavily invested in by Yzerman, and he’s now in a market in which frustrated fans and media will put his every move under the microscope. He and the team cannot afford for him to wobble. Another season of misery and letdown will start to mar belief in Yzerman, and while that’s another story altogether, suffice it to say Detroit hockey fans deserve better than what they’ve been given of late. If Husso can come through and assert himself as a keeper, the Red Wings’ fortunes will finally rise.