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Wild will just ‘deal with’ their ‘tricky’ three-goalie scenario

Minnesota Wild v Buffalo Sabres

Minnesota Wild v Buffalo Sabres

Bill Wippert

The Minnesota Wild -- like the Calgary Flames -- have three goalies on their active roster. And the St. Louis Blues soon may too, depending what Martin Brodeur decides.

While teams don’t generally like to carry three netminders, sometimes they just have to. In the Wild’s case, all they can do after Devan Dubnyk joined the team from Arizona is make the best of it.

“It’s an ongoing, day-by-day thing we’ll have to deal with,’’ coach Mike Yeo said, per the Star Tribune. “I think we were able to manage it fairly well [last season], and that’s going to be important again this year.

“It’s a little bit tricky in that you have to make sure the person who’s starting is getting the workload and preparation they need. And in a lot of ways, how you deal with the other two guys is going to be equally as important as far as their emotional state, making sure they’re ready in case they need to be called upon, and also making sure they’re getting the proper amount of work.”

As noted prior to the Dubnyk trade, the Wild’s two other goalies, Darcy Kuemper and Niklas Backstrom, would both require waivers in order to be sent to the AHL. The problem with the former is that he might get picked up. And while the latter would certainly not, he apparently has a no-move clause that makes it possible for him to block a demotion to Iowa.

Minnesota is a perfect 2-0-0 with Dubnyk between the pipes. While he admits, “I think you’d be lying if anybody said three goalies was good,” it sure beats losing with two goalies.