Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Wild Acquire Ilya Bryzgalov

Ilya Bryzgalov will be coming to Minnesota.
Literally not even an hour after head coach Mike Yeo responded to trade rumors about the team getting another goalie, the Wild ended up trading for another goalie. That goalie was Ilya Bryzgalov.

The team announced that they sent a 2014 fourth round pick (the one acquired in the Jason Pominville trade) to Edmonton in exchange for the 33 year old goaltender. In 20 games this year, Bryzgalov has a 3.01 GAA, .908 save percentage, and a .925 even strength save percentage. He is a unrestricted free agent at season's end.

Minnesota had been rumored all morning to be in on goalies Jaroslav Halak and Martin Brodeur, before ending those with the announcement of the Bryzgalov trade.

Honestly, don't be too upset about the acquisition of Bryzgalov. He will only start 3-5 games and will serve as the backup/third string to Darcy Kuemper/Niklas Backstrom.

As noted earlier today, he is a decent goalie in a more defensively sound system than the ones he has been playing in the past few seasons. His .925 even strength save percentage is a pretty impressive stat considering he played for Edmonton, home of one of the league's worst defensive squads.

For more on Bryzgalov, here are his thoughts on the solar system:



Follow Giles on Twitter @gilesferrell

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