Ville Husso (born 6 February 1995) is a Finnish professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

for the Detroit Red Wings of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL). He has also played for the

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the ...

Playing career

Husso started his career in the youth setup at

HIFK HIFK, the Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, Helsingfors (IFK, Helsingfors) rf (officially abbreviated IFK Helsingfors, colloquially often Helsingfors IFK or Helsingin IFK ) is a multi-sport association based in Helsinki, Finland. Formed in 1897 on ...

in his hometown of

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

. He made his debut with the club's men's team during the

2013–14 Liiga season The 2013–14 Liiga season is the 39th season of the Liiga (formerly SM-liiga), the top level of ice hockey in Finland, since the league's formation in 1975. The title was won by Kärpät who defeated Tappara in the finals. This was the first sea ...

. He reached the

Liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding lea ...

finals with HIFK in the 2015–16 season, where they fell short to

Tappara Tappara (; Finnish for "Battle axe") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team playing in the Liiga. They play at ''Tampere Deck Arena'' in Tampere, Finland. The team has won 18 Finnish league championships (1959, 1961, 1964, 1975, 1977, 1979, ...

. Husso excelled with a SVS% of .927 and a GAA of 1.91 that season, while receiving the Urpo Ylönen Award as the Goaltender of the Year. He also competed in the

Champions Hockey League The Champions Hockey League is a European first-level ice hockey tournament. Launched in the 2014–15 season by 26 clubs, 6 leagues and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), the tournament features top teams across Europe. Backgrou ...

with HIFK.

St. Louis Blues

On 10 May 2016, he signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the

of the

(NHL). After attending the Blues 2016 training camp, he was reassigned to AHL affiliate, the

Chicago Wolves The Chicago Wolves are a professional ice hockey team playing in the American Hockey League and are the top minor-league affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League. The Wolves play home games at the Allstate Arena in the C ...

, on 29 September 2016. Husso made his North American debut with the Wolves against the

Grand Rapids Griffins The Grand Rapids Griffins are a professional hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and play home games at Van Andel Arena. They are the AHL affiliate to the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey Leag ...

on 15 October 2016 to begin the 2016–17 season. It was the first of two games he started in with the

of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

(AHL). Through the two AHL games, he posted a save percentage of .914 and a goals against of 2.53. He was reassigned to the

Missouri Mavericks The Kansas City Mavericks are an ice hockey team in the ECHL. Founded in 2009 as the Missouri Mavericks of the Central Hockey League, CHL, the team plays in Independence, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, at the Cable Dahmer Arena. H ...

of the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

on 26 October 2016. Husso thrived in net for the Mavericks, where he was fifth on the St. Louis Blues’ organizational goalie depth chart. On 23 December 2016, Husso earned his first pro shutout with 33 saves in a 4–0 victory over the

Wichita Thunder The Wichita Thunder are a minor league hockey team based in Wichita, Kansas. The team played in the Central Hockey League from 1992 until 2014, and then in the ECHL since the 2014–15 season. From 1992 until December 2009, the Thunder played in ...

. Husso returned to the Chicago Wolves in late December 2016, where he had continued success, posting a save percentage of .925 and goals against of 2.21 through five games played for the Wolves. On 20 July 2019, the Blues re-signed Husso to a one-year, two-way contract extension. In the pandemic shortened season, on 31 January 2021, Husso recorded his first win in the NHL, in a 4–1 game over the Anaheim Ducks. On 12 May 2021, Husso recorded his first NHL shutout in a 4–0 win over the

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and play their home games at the Xcel Ener ...

. The season was a breakout for Husso, who began it as the backup goaltender to

Jordan Binnington Jordan Binnington (born July 11, 1993) is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender for the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League (NHL). Binnington was raised in Richmond Hill and Toronto. He was drafted by the Blues in the third ...

, but then saw his role expand as Binnington struggled. By the end of the regular season he had taken over the starting position, which in turn raised questions about the future of the team's goaltending, as Binnington was signed to a lengthy and expensive contract while Husso was to become a free agent. He finished the regular season with a 25–7–6 record and a .919

save percentage Save percentage (often known by such symbols as SV%, SVS%, SVP, PCT) is a statistic in various goal-scoring sports that track saves as a statistic. In ice hockey and lacrosse, it is a statistic that represents the percentage of shots on goal ...

. The Blues qualified for the

2022 Stanley Cup playoffs The 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs was the playoff tournament of the National Hockey League (NHL). The playoffs began on May 2, 2022, one day after the 2021–22 NHL regular season, and concluded on June 26, 2022, with the Colorado Avalanche winnin ...

, entering the first round as underdogs against the

, with Husso starting in net. However, Husso did not perform well in the early games, and with the Blues down 2–1 in the series Binnington reclaimed the net and led the team on a three-game winning streak to clinch the series. Husso served as backup until Binnington was injured during the second round series against the

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The Avalanche play thei ...

, at which point he reclaimed the net. The Blues were defeated by the Avalanche in six games, while Husso recorded a .890 save percentage in the postseason.

Detroit Red Wings

On 8 July 2022, Husso was traded at the

2022 NHL Entry Draft The 2022 NHL Entry Draft was the 60th NHL Entry Draft. The draft was held on July 7–8, 2022, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. Montreal were originally scheduled to host the 2020 draft but were unable to do so due to the COVID-19 pandem ...

to the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for a third-round draft pick. He was immediately signed by the Red Wings to a three-year, $14.25 million contract. He would make 29 saves in his regular season debut with Detroit on October 14, 2022, earning a shutout in a 3–0 victory over the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

International play

Husso was a member gold-winning of Team Finland at the 2014 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, serving as a back-up goalie to

Juuse Saros Juuse Saros (born 19 April 1995) is a Finnish professional ice hockey goaltender for the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League (NHL). Saros was selected by the Predators in the fourth round (99th overall) of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. ...

. He made two appearances in the tournament.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Husso, Ville 1995 births Living people Chicago Wolves players Detroit Red Wings players Finnish ice hockey goaltenders HC Keski-Uusimaa players HIFK (ice hockey) players Missouri Mavericks players St. Louis Blues draft picks St. Louis Blues players San Antonio Rampage players Ice hockey people from Helsinki