The St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Tom Timmerman offers the following take on the Red Wings’ acquisition of Ville Husso from the St. Louis Blues:
When Ville Husso signed with the Detroit Red Wings after the Blues had traded the impending free agent’s rights to them, the first person the goalie heard from was ex-teammate Robby Fabbri. Another ex-Blue, defenseman Jake Walman soon followed, as well as forward Oskar Sundqvist.
“It was nice to chat with them for a little bit,” Husso said on a conference call with Detroit writers.
Even though Husso won’t be the clear-cut No. 1 goalie in Detroit — he’ll be in a job share with Alex Nedeljkovic — he got some stability that he was unlikely to get in St. Louis.
“I wanted to sign for three years, settle things down,” he said. “I knew that I would not stay with St. Louis. The signing happened quick.”
The money won’t be bad either. Husso’s deal has an average annual value of $4.75 million, a big jump up from the $750,000 he made in 2021-22 with the Blues and also far more than the Blues, who are already paying Jordan Binnington an average of $6 million over the next five seasons, would have realistically been able to offer him.
Blues general manager Doug Armstrong was able to take advantage of a complicated market for goalies by allowing the Red Wings to negotiate with Husso before free agency began, thereby getting an asset, the 73rd pick in the NHL draft, which became Finnish defenseman Aleksanteri Kaskimaki. (Kaskimaki won’t be on the ice during this week’s prospects camp because of an injury.)
“It’s always nice to have a goalie partner with you,” Husso said. “Me and Binnington were pushing each other every day. I think that’s one thing I learned from him. With Alex, I want do the same thing and push each other every day, get better every day.”
Continued with Blues notes…
