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Wild re-up with Stalock, a goalie to expose in expansion draft

San Jose Sharks v New York Islanders

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 17: Alex Stalock #32 of the San Jose Sharks skates against the New York Islanders at the Barclays Center on October 17, 2015 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. The Islanders defeated the Sharks 6-3. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

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Minnesota locked in some goaltending depth on Thursday, agreeing to a two-year, $1.3 million contract extension with Alex Stalock.

Stalock, 29, originally signed with the Wild last July, and was quickly slotted into No. 3 on the depth chart behind Devan Dubnyk and Darcy Kuemper. He’s spent all of the year with AHL Iowa, where he’s gone 14-10-4 with a 2.56 GAA and .916 save percentage.

The logic behind Stalock’s deal is worth mentioning. He essentially signed to be the goalie Minnesota leaves unprotected for the upcoming Las Vegas expansion draft (Devan Dubnyk, obviously, will be the one protected).

In a related development, the first year of Stalock’s extension is of the one-way variety.

Darcy Kuemper, currently the Wild’s No. 2, is an unrestricted free agent on July 1. If he signs elsewhere, Stalock would have a shot at either going to Vegas, or being Dubnyk’s backup in ’17-18.

Either way, it’s a chance at getting back to the NHL.

Stalock has been out of the picture for a while but, just three years ago, had a nice regular season in San Jose (12-5-2, .932 save percentage). That spring, he battled with Antti Niemi for playing time in the club’s opening-round playoff collapse to Los Angeles.

Since then, he’s struggled to reclaim that form and hasn’t played a big-league contest since February of ’16.