This is a week old, but I think that you might be interested in it, so: new Red Wings goaltender Ville Husso spoke with Ilta-Sanomat’s Tommi Koivunen on August 1st, and here’s a rough translation of the article from Finnish:
Ville Husso signed a huge NHL contract–and he has difficult goals with a legendary team
Ville Husso signed a contract with the Detroit Red Wings, who finally want to return to the top.
The Detroit Red Wings. Their name is one of the most legendary in the NHL. The classic team was a perennial success of the NHL during the childhood and youth of many children of the 90’s, like Ville Husso.
Detroit played in the playoffs for a whopping 25 straight seasons between 1991 and 2016, went to the finals 6 times and won 4 Stanley Cups.
Since then, the Red Wings have not made the playoffs, but this summer, the GM, former captain Steve Yzerman, has made some big moves. The team should now credibly fight for a playoff spot. One of the new acquisitions is Ville Husso, 27.
He also knows his history.
“It’s a really historic team, and 11 Stanley Cups says a lot about the team’s success. Now when I go there, I just have to strive for more of them. That’s the biggest thing. I want to win,” says Husso.
In addition to Husso, Detroit signed Olli Maatta, Andrew Copp, Ben Chiarot and David Perron on the free agent marketplace.
Perron, who played most of his career in St. Louis, was Husso’s teammate for the recent seasons. The 34-year-old Quebecois’ contract is attractive.
“For me, David Perron was one of the biggest figures in St. Louis. He helped with everything,” Husso said.
“He was always a shooter during goalie practice in St. Louis. Anyway, we’ve discussed scoring goals and playing as a goalie a lot. It’s really nice for me that he’ll be on the same team.”
Husso flew to Finland on the same day, July 13th, that Perron signed with the Wings.
“We also had a quick phone call.”
Husso’s contract with the Red Wings is for 3 years and will bring him an average aggregate salary of $4.75 million. The team’s other goaltender is Alex Nedeljkovic, who has a contract of $3 million covering this season, which has yet to begin.
“We sent a few text messages when I signed my contract. He’s a good guy. We have to push each other forward for the team to succeed.”
Jussi Olkinuora also signed a contract with the Detroit organization.
Husso’s former team, the St. Louis Blues, are an old divisional enemy of the Red Wings. However, the Red Wings moved to the Eastern Conference in 2013, and the old set-up is history.
“I haven’t been involved in it myself, but we had hard battles back in the day.. Now we only play twice a season, so the games aren’t such a big rivalry. However, they will probably be the biggest games of the season for me.”
Another old enemy of Detroit is the Colorado Avalanche, which is also no longer in the same conference. At the turn of the 2000’s, the hatred that flared up became history, but it’s recently become known [again] through an ESPN documentary. Husso has also seen the clips.
“It’s a tough game versus today. The mental side was pretty rough, too. Interesting things to see.”
Husso, who returned to Finland a few weeks ago, will leave for Michigan at the end of August.
This summer, he trains under goaltending guru Marko Torenius, and Husso started practicing immediately after returning to Finland.
“There’s a good mood there. Kevin Lankinen [of Chicago] also trains there, last summer Joonas Korpisalo and Miko Koskinen were also there. It’s nice to work with them. You can learn a little about what guys are doing and you talk about different things.”
The beginning of the season is already tempting him.
“Especially now when some players in Finland are leaving to join their league teams and others are leaving for Sweden in early August, it always feels a little bit like it’s going to start for you [soon].”
Although he has the biggest contract of his career in his pocket, and his position in Detroit should be quite strong, even with his contract, Husso insists that he won’t be lulled into anything now.
“It’s about more and harder work every day. You have to play at the highest level every night,” Husso says.
“I believe that I can still improve a lot.”
