Gustavsson signs 3-year contract with Wild, avoids arbitration

Filip Gustavsson signed a three-year, $11.25 million contract with the Minnesota Wild on Monday. It has an average annual value of $3.75 million.

The 25-year-old goalie was a restricted free agent and avoided a salary arbitration hearing scheduled for Friday.

"I'm really happy to have three years instead of just having one year and having all the pressure on my shoulders again to really perform this year to get another contract," Gustavsson said. "A three-year [contract] feels like a little more pressure off my shoulders to know that I have a job for the next three years, and I'm so excited to do it with Minnesota again. I was enjoying it so much last year and we had so much fun. …I'm very excited to doing that again."

Gustavsson was 22-9-7, establishing an NHL career high in wins, and had a 2.10 goals-against average, .931 save percentage and three shutouts in 39 games (37 starts) for the Wild last season. He was 2-3 with a 2.33 GAA and .921 save percentage in five Stanley Cup Playoff games.

"This is something we've been working on for a long time," general manager Bill Guerin said. "Filip had a career year last year. He's well deserving of this contract, and we're very happy with it. I think both sides worked to find a common ground, and like I said, he had a career year last year. He's still a young goalie that can improve on what he's done, and can continue to get better. So as a team, we're happy to make this investment in him. It will be nice to watch Filip grow over the next few years."

Selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round (No. 55) of the 2016 NHL Draft, Gustavsson is 32-22-10 with a 2.51 GAA, .920 save percentage and three shutouts in 66 games (60 starts) for the Wild and Ottawa Senators.

NHL.com independent correspondent Jessi Pierce contributed to this report