You’ll get no road rage from even-keeled Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson

Filip Gustavsson likes staying out of the spotlight.

The goaltender even knows how to use Wild teammate Kirill Kaprizov as a human shield from it.

“Every time you walk off the bus in a new city, walk behind him,” Gustavsson shared, “and everyone wants Kirill’s autograph. You can just walk into your room and lay down in your bed and relax.”

This is also how Gustavsson felt alongside Marc-Andre Fleury during Fleury’s final season, like he could “sneak by” while the future Hall of Famer absorbed the attention.

“I could just focus on playing goalie and be myself,” Gustavsson said.

He can still do that and will get the opportunity to do so beginning Thursday when the Wild kick off their season at St. Louis, now with a new five-year, $34 million contract extension in tow.

The Wild announced the new deal on Saturday morning.

Fleury is retired and although Gustavsson was already the starter last season, he’ll resume his post as the undisputed veteran on staff.

His easygoing personality suggests he’ll adjust just fine.

“I feel like this is the moment, like the first year of him actually feeling like this is my time pretty much,” Gustavsson’s wife, Rebecka, said. “He’s always been behind someone, and now he’s actually got nothing in front of him. He can just do his thing, and hopefully he’s going to feel good and have fun. I feel like he’s excited to get things going.”

Excited is exactly how Gustavsson, 27, described how he’s feeling.

While the summer is nice for seeing family and being outside, he isn’t playing hockey, and that’s the fun part. Why do you think he chose goaltending? Because he plays the entire game.

“I was kind of a fan beside him on the same team,” Gustavsson said, “just watching him for fun and enjoying the moments, too.”

Being atop the depth chart is what Gustavsson wants — “I’m not working out and practicing for just sitting on the bench,” he said — and he assumed that role a year ago after he and Fleury had comparable workloads for back-to-back seasons.

Fleury didn’t tell Gustavsson he wasn’t coming for his spot, but Gustavsson never sensed the pressure.

“I didn’t think he was going to let go being the No. 1 that easy his last year,” Gustavsson said. “But he just tried to enjoy the last year.”

Now, the dynamics have changed.

“I want to do well when I’m out there, when I play games,” Wallstedt said. “Then we’ll just see where that leads.”

“I have to respond to that,” said Gustavsson, who believes the competition is beneficial.

“Yeah, I think that’s good for everyone in every job situation,” he explained. “If you don’t have anyone that’s trying to push you forward, you get lazy and just get comfortable.”

But Gustavsson is very comfortable with his game.

He referred to last season when he went 31-19-6 as a return to basics after a lull in 2023-24. Gustavsson believed he was copying Fleury’s knack for flashy saves, which isn’t Gustavsson’s bread and butter, and that led to him letting in easy goals. After posting the second-best save percentage in the NHL in his first Wild season at .931, Gustavsson dipped to .899 before recalibrating at .914 last season.

What a treat that must be in such an unpredictable environment: Unlike the players in front of him, Gustavsson rarely has control of the puck. His position is mostly reactive, so he has to prepare as if the Wild are going to struggle.

“I’m out there expecting 40 shots and probably going to be three breakaway and probably going to have a few high-scoring chances,” Gustavsson said, “and that’s what I have to expect coming into the game to be mentally ready for it.”

But going with the flow is how Gustavsson leads his life.

Outside of work, Gustavsson is never on time.

Even with two sons, 2-year-old Vollrad and 6-month-old Lage, he anticipates only putting his shoes on and walking to the car.

Gustavsson doesn’t make a list before going to the grocery store.

“I go there, and I usually have to go back.”

Recently, he started his vehicle to find out he had only five miles left until his gas tank was empty. He also doesn’t lay on the horn when he gets cut off in traffic despite Rebecka’s insistence.

“He would rather crash than actually honk at someone,” said Rebecka, who met Gustavsson at school growing up in Sweden. “He’s like, ‘If they’re doing the wrong thing and they crash into me, that’s on them. I’m not going to give them another shot to realize they’re doing something wrong.’ It annoys me so much.”

It doesn’t take much to make Gustavsson happy, and he doesn’t get mad easily.

He’s also gotten good at leaving hockey at the rink, which wasn’t the case when he left Sweden to join Ottawa’s minor league team after Pittsburgh drafted him in the second round in 2016 then traded him.

“If he had a bad day at hockey, he came home and had a bad day,” Rebecka recalled. “Now, it’s more like he’d rather sit in the car in the driveway for 10 more minutes and then he comes inside and doesn’t talk about it.”

That’s what Fleury helped Gustavsson with, his perspective.

“Keep the pressure off you, try and just enjoy it, and then we’ll see what happens,” Gustavsson said, “because he would smash his stick … when he lost with a lot of goals. Then the next day he comes in smiling for practice. That says something. You just have to keep going and take it for what it is.”

Fleury’s legacy as a prankster will also live on through Gustavsson, who will keep his teammates on their toes.

Gustavsson gets along with Wallstedt, who took over Gustavsson’s apartment when he left Sweden since Wallstedt joined the team Gustavsson previously played for. The two also learned from the same goalie coach.

“If he plays good and I play good, we’re probably both going to be starters in the NHL somewhere,” Gustavsson said. “That’s how you have to see it. You can’t keep two very good goalies in the same organization usually. It’s always somewhere to play.”

Gustavsson’s future is set: He had a no-movement clause kick in immediately upon re-signing with the Wild, and that’ll last through the first two seasons of his new five-year contract before a 15-team no-trade list replaces it for the duration of the deal.

“I like it here,” Gustavsson said before the contract was announced Saturday. “Family likes it here. Teammates are great. The whole staff and everything around has been great.”

He’s entering the last season of a three-year, $11.25 million deal, and this contract made Gustavsson have fun again after hockey became a job.

After all, that’s what he relishes.