ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Devan Dubnyk decided in recent years to make a concentrated effort to enjoy whatever opportunity was presented to him in the NHL.
Dubnyk, 29, planned last season to take that approach regardless of the situation. If he was going to be someone's backup, he was going to enjoy that.
What actually unfolded last season was something he could never have dreamed of.
From being dealt by the Arizona Coyotes to the Minnesota Wild at midseason, to going 27-9-2 with a 1.78 goals-against average and .936 save percentage for the Wild in the regular season, to helping them into the playoffs, he didn't have to try too hard to enjoy himself.
Dubnyk was rewarded for that play by the Wild with a six-year, $25 million contract in the offseason. Expectations are attached, of course, to such a long-term deal, and he's already taken some criticism from fans early this season for not matching last season's numbers.
Dubnyk took time after a recent practice to talk about last season's play, whether he believes he can duplicate that going forward, what it is like to make Minnesota his home and how advanced statistics should be used to judge goalies:
Scott Powers: What has the stability of having a long-term contract and knowing you are going to be in one place meant to you?
Devan Dubnyk: From the summer and coming in and being a little bit at home and knowing that I get to be a part of this group for a long time has been great. Right from the beginning, I've been able to concentrate strictly on getting wins. Obviously, the stats aren't quite where I expect them to be, but it doesn't matter. The simple fact is, at the end of the day if you make the saves that you need to make to be on the right side of the score, everything else will come along. So kind of being able to have that has allowed me to strictly worry about being on the right side of the scoreboard at the end of the game.
Powers: You've had so much happen so quickly last season -- from maybe not knowing where your career was headed, to being traded to the Wild, to your instant success in Minnesota, to the contract this offseason. How do you process all that?
Dubnyk: Just don't change anything. Be happy about it, enjoy it. I think the biggest thing I said last year was I really enjoyed the process and soaked it all in. Don't try to separate myself from it or not take it in. When you do that, it's not surreal, and you feel like this is like it should be and this is how you're capable of playing. When you do that, you soak it in like that, nothing needs to change. It's all important and it's all big for life and going forward and stability for the family, but nothing needs to change as far as playing and how I approach the game.
Powers: You mentioned family. How important was settling in somewhere after moving around a bit the past few years?
Dubnyk: I hadn't moved too much. I was with Edmonton for a long time and obviously starting in the minors. We had been in Edmonton for five years and hadn't moved. All of a sudden, we have a baby, and it was just like the suitcases were packed and we were bouncing a little bit, which makes it a little bit more difficult when there's more than just two of you. It's just so much nicer just to know that we can settle into a place and not just any team either. This is a great group to be a part of.
Powers: What have you made of Minnesota now that you have had more time here?
Dubnyk: We love it. Being from Canada, it's similar to living up there, obviously, climate-wise. People here are extremely friendly. Just the way people have treated me from the time I showed up here, the friends and everything and everybody in the city, it's just been very special to me. I've really enjoyed it, and so has my family.
Powers: Did you have to take your winter clothing out of storage after last playing in Arizona?
Dubnyk: They were back home. Yeah, they were in storage. Yeah, they made the move here and they'll stay here.
Powers: You set a very high bar last season, possibly unrealistic expectations for the future. Were you mindful of that entering this season?
Dubnyk: I was very aware of it and I was prepared ... . I was laughing after four games and I got my first loss and my save percentage wasn't great. It was instantly questions of how I was feeling and whatnot. I don't think that bar is unrealistic. I think it's a good thing to go for, but you don't get there by thinking about the save percentage and how many shots you get and whatnot. You think about the things you have to do to build your game. I'm trying to do that as I go here. Like I said, the most important thing is to get the wins, and we've been able to do that. Find a way to make saves when you need to and when the guys have worked for you to get up on the scoreboard. We'll sharpen up as we go. I think there's been some unfortunate bounces to start the year, but those don't matter besides stats-wise. I'm just going to play and not to worry if somebody else thinks my save percentage should be higher.
Powers: What do you feel is a fair way to evaluate a goaltender as advanced statistics in hockey continue to evolve? Even with something new, like 3-on-3 overtime, that seems to skew the numbers.
Dubnyk: Bringing the 3-on-3 into it, my suggestion for next year would be to have a separate category. I mean, you look at the goalies starting to get a little sensitive on the 3-on-3 subject because you look at how many games end in 3-on-3. That turns a .930 [save percentage] on two [goals] on 29 [shots] into a .900 situation. If that somebody doesn't go to overtime very often, he doesn't face that. If you're comparing two guys, all of a sudden your 3-on-3 [matters]. If you get four shots on 3-on-3, they're probably all Grade-A scoring chances. You can get four shots in the third period, they could all be from the wall, but they're measured the exact same.
I think soon you might start to see different groupings of shots, I guess, maybe, if they're going to change the way it's looked at -- A, B and C, different quality of chances, where it came from, how the play developed. Obviously with the capabilities they have with the computers and the replays and stuff now, you can easily generate how goals are scored.
I talked with [retired goalie] Steve Valiquette. He is actually in the process of gathering research in regards to that. What's actually a good shot? And what's a good difficult play and what's not? Visually, I think certain plays might look difficult that really aren't. Other plays might not look like much, but really are. I think that's the only way if you want to go advanced that you can start comparing.
I really think the 3-on-3 thing should be separate. It should be like a shootout. It should be a separate category. It's different when it's 4-on-4. You don't need a separate category for 4-on-4, because 4-on-4 happens all the time in games anyway. I think that 3-on-3, if somebody ends up in 10 3-on-3 situations during the year, it's a lot different than somebody who has two.
Powers: Most people probably don't realize last season was your first time in the playoffs. What did you learn from that experience?
Dubnyk: It felt like playoffs the entire run, just with the importance of the games. I was really focused on just simple things I was doing entering each game and really concentrating on that, and it kind of allowed me to forget about how important each game was or what the situation was. I got to play so many games in a row and so many important games. I just realize if I think of a couple simple things and really concentrate on those things, it doesn't matter if it's Game 7 or a game that doesn't matter. I just need to approach it the same way and really focus on those things I need to.
That kind of allowed me to shrink the picture and not build up the playoffs as something different than what was going on in the regular season. Because at the end of the day as a goalie, I need to stop the puck, whether it's a preseason game or it's playoffs. That mentality kind of allowed me to shed the nerves and have a little bit of success in the first round and feel the disappointment of what it's like to lose a series that I thought we had a team that was capable of continuing on.
Powers: Do you feel like individual success depends on opportunity and being on the right team? I'm sure you believed in your ability before you arrived in Minnesota.
Dubnyk: There's a reason it's so difficult to make the NHL and become a starter in the NHL. It doesn't necessarily mean that there's not goalies out there that are capable of doing it, but it's when you get your opportunity and what you do with it. We've talked ... about how things went down in Edmonton, and you get bounced around. It was a roundabout way and not very graceful way to make it here. The simple fact is, I was able to get an opportunity to play with a great group and make the most of it.
That's really [true] if you look at just about every starting goalie in the NHL. At some point, they were given an opportunity to play, and they had to make the most of it. If they didn't do it, that's when you see guys aren't around. At some point, you're going to have to make the most of an opportunity. Fortunately, I have a great group in here that allowed me to play at a very high level.
Powers: Did you ever doubt it would happen?
Dubnyk: Honestly, you don't want to think about it not happening. You try to be realistic. I wasn't old, but I wasn't a prospect either. I made sure I didn't give up on feeling like I could be starting. And going to Arizona and starting there and kind of getting a few good games under my belt really sparked that fire again. I felt like I was capable of being a starter and I wanted to be. But I kind of wanted to keep those expectations in check and understand what the situation was.
If I got an opportunity, I was going to work as hard as I could to get it and try to make the best of it. But either way, I was going to enjoy every minute I had in the league. If I had to be a backup for the next six or seven years, then that's just the way it works because of opportunity. I was going to make the best of it and really try to enjoy my time, but I'm very fortunate how things turned out.
Powers: Coming to Minnesota, you moved into that No. 1 spot and hung on to it. How do you make it work with the other goaltenders who were here before you?
Dubnyk: It's been great. I spoke with them right when I got here. They understand what it's like. They've had opportunities and they've had opportunities taken away. I've been in the exact same spot. I know exactly how it feels to have someone else come in and take away an opportunity. It happened to me in Edmonton. It's not a fun situation. There's three of us here, where usually it's two. That relationship is extremely important, because you're the only guys in the dressing room that know what it's like to be a goalie, know the pressures, know how things happen in front of you. You got to be there for each other, because nobody else really knows what actually goes on, so it's important to be close with those guys. These guys have been great here.