Petersen Gone, Gustavsson Still Out, Camp Around the Corner

Cal Petersen signed a PTO with Washington on Monday, which closes the book on Minnesota's veteran goaltending insurance and leaves the position in a genuinely uncomfortable place heading into training camp. Petersen served as the organizational safety net behind Filip Gustavsson last season. Now Gustavsson is still out — nine weeks into an offseason with no public timeline — and the backup depth that existed a month ago no longer does.

What remains is Jesper Wallstedt, who earned a spot on NHL Network's top-10 goalies list last week and deserves the recognition. But a prospect on a list and a prospect ready to carry a full NHL workload if Gustavsson isn't right for October are two different things. I wrote after the Wallstedt news that the five guys still sidelined were the real story. Petersen's departure just made the goaltending piece of that story sharper.

Charlie Stramel is the one name still showing as out in recent injury reports, which suggests some of the others may be progressing — though Minnesota hasn't said much publicly. If Gustavsson gets to camp healthy, the math works. If he doesn't, the Wild are leaning on an unproven starter with thin cover behind him, and that is a real problem, not a theoretical one.