Did the Minnesota Native play his last NHL game with the Wild or even his last ever NHL game?
The Wild were officially eliminated from playoff contention after their 5-2 loss to Colorado on April 9th. With four games left in the NHL season, the Wild had still many things to play for.
Their youth got to play big minutes and show what they are made of and what the future may hold for them. But also their veteran players or guys on one-year deals had something to prove.
One in particular was Alex Goligoski. The 38-year-old defenseman started the season by playing the first two games. He then missed a month with a lower body injury but came back and played 28 games and then was scratched for the next 24.
He played in the final six games for the season and even wore the assistant captain's patch on his jersey for the last game of the year.
"Absolutely. Respect for him as a player," Wild head coach John Hynes said on giving Goligoski the 'A' for the last game of the year. "What he’s been able to do throughout his career, and as a person. You don’t play as long as he’s played if you don't have the type of character. Team guy. Great pro. And it’s something we felt, it’d be nice for him tonight."
Since Hynes took over as the head coach he would start the same forward line and defensive pairing for every single game. Either Jonas Brodin or Jake Middleton would start with Brock Faber and it felt like maybe two games all season that he didn't start that pair.
In the final game of the season, Hynes started Goligoski. In what could've been his final game with the Wild and possibly his final game in the NHL, Hynes did a nice gesture by starting Goligoski. This allowed the arena announcer Adam Abrams to announced Goligoski's name as a starter. The Wild fans gave Goligoski a nice cheer.
"We’ll see. Yeah, it could be," Goligoski said on if that was his final game. "I don't know. I'm not gonna close any doors or anything. Yeah, I'll take some time, keep thinking about stuff and just kind of go from there."
As someone who grew up in Minnesota and played for the Minnesota Golden Gophers in college, playing for the Wild had to be pretty special. With lots of family and friends at that April 18th game at home, Goligoski got to put on the Wild jersey for what might have been the final time.
Was it bittersweet to leave the ice and wear the Wild uniform one last time?
"Uhhh, I mean, I don’t know. Not really," Goligoski said. "I think I'll look back on it, if this is it, it'll feel different. But I don't know. It feels fine right now. If this is it, this is it. I don’t know. I don't really get too deep into stuff like that. So, I’m good if that’s it. If it’s not, then I’ll keep going. So we’ll see."
Goligoski wasn't going to make a decision on if he is retiring or not, especially after the final game of the season. He will take some time and leave the doors open if a team wants to sign Goligoski.
What will go into the decision of playing or retiring?
"Just how I'm feeling," Goligoski said. "What potentially any fit would be. I mean, I have no idea, so I don’t know. I honestly really haven't thought about it. I think I'm just kind of a person that just stays in the moment, and we'll see how it goes. So it's possible, but, yeah, I’m not going to close any doors."
