Devan Dubnyk never doubted his ability. He simply doubted his situation.

And who could blame him?

Less than two years ago, Dubnyk was a 28-year-old backup goaltender for the Arizona Coyotes, fighting for time with established starter Mike Smith. Before that, he had played parts of five good, but not great, seasons with the Edmonton Oilers and Nashville Predators, which led to him finishing the 2013-14 season in the minors.

“I was realistic with the way things were going, and my age, that that starting goaltender opportunity might not present itself again,” Dubnyk said last week. “That’s the only thing that I had accepted.”

Then came what Dubnyk called “the perfect storm,” from which he emerged as the Wild’s No. 1 goaltender with a six-year contract.

“That’s the crazy thing about this game, and it’ll be something to look back on when I’m finished playing,” he said. “It’s been that way from the start of my career to now. There were a lot of things that needed to fall in place for things to happen. I’m grateful for it.”

The Wild open their 2016-17 season Thursday against the Blues in St. Louis. With a new head coach in Bruce Boudreau and three straight playoff berths behind them, the Wild have Stanley Cup aspirations.

“You always get excited at this point,” Dubnyk said. “I’m looking forward to getting this thing rolling again.”

The hard part, getting here, is over.

THE TRADE

Dubnyk was trying to find his way as the Coyotes’ backup midway through the 2014-15 season when, more than 1,500 miles away, the Wild were having through their own issues between the pipes despite having three goaltenders on the roster. Veteran Niklas Backstrom was struggling, Darcy Kuemper was wildly inconsistent and Josh Harding was battling a broken foot and multiple sclerosis symptoms.

After a 7-2 loss at Pittsburgh on Jan. 13, the Wild had lost six straight and seven of eight. The next day, general manager Chuck Fletcher acquired Dubnyk for a third-round pick. “This was an opportunity to get a proven guy,” Fletcher said at the time. “He’s played well this year. … He’s a veteran guy. It’ll be up to the coaches, but I assume he’ll be given an opportunity to compete for ice time.” Related Articles Wild roster appears set after placing Zac Dalpe placed on waivers

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Dubnyk, who had a 9-5-2 record with a .916 save percentage and 2.72 goals-against average in Arizona, was given the start in Minnesota’s next game, at Buffalo — the start of one of the most improbable runs in NHL history.

Longtime Wild goalie coach Bob Mason remembers the day of the trade.

“It was magical,” he said. “He took the red-eye from Phoenix to Newark, and then flew Newark to Buffalo to meet us and he comes in the room and (Mike Yeo) goes, ‘You ready to play tonight?’ ”

The Wild rolled the Sabres 7-0.

“We were good in front of him,” Mason said. “He only saw 17 shots or something.”

It was actually 18 shots.

Still, the win seemed to ignite something in the team, and in Dubnyk. He started 39 of the final 40 games as the Wild finished 27-9-2 to earn a playoff berth. Counting his final game with Arizona, Dubnyk started 40 straight games.

“His number was 40. He wanted to play 40 in a row,” Mason recalled. “It was kind of like, ‘What’s one more game?’ That’s not going to happen too much anymore.”

Dubnyk still struggles to put the run into words.

“That was obviously the best run of my career,” he said. “It was really special. That doesn’t happen every year, and I don’t think we want to be in a situation where that has to happen. I’d certainly like it to happen by choice and not by necessity.

“It was a special time for everyone that was a part of it. I’m never going to forget that.”

The Wild beat Central Division winner St. Louis in six games to advance to the second round for a second straight year but were swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks in Round 2.

“That run obviously saved our season,” Mason said. “No doubt about that.”

It also saved Dubnyk’s career. His play earned him a six-year, $26 million contract in after that season. In his first full year in Minnesota, Dubnyk was solid across 67 regular-season games, but the Wild fell victim to the Dallas Stars in the first round of the playoffs.

“As good as he was the year we traded for him, he was also pretty good last year,” Mason said. “He played a lot, and we needed him because we were almost on life support there trying to get into the playoffs. You’ve got to play the top guy, and he came through for us again. It’s a good attribute to have.”

CUP CALIBER?

Still, with five years remaining on a deal that keeps Dubnyk under team control until after the 2020-21 season, it raises the question of whether he can carry a team to a Stanley Cup.

Dubnyk has watched goalies get hot in the playoffs — such as Tim Thomas in Boston and Jonathan Quick in Los Angeles Kings — and knows how heavily a team counts on its goalie in the postseason. In a sport dominated by team play throughout the regular season, a hot goaltender still can almost single-handedly carry a team to the Finals.

Having been that hot before, Dubnyk knows he has the ability, but it’s not something he necessarily thinks about.

“You don’t perform in those situations by thinking about it that way,” he said. “I learned that in that stretch, that the best way to perform and be able to block that stuff out is to concentrate on the things I needed to do to play well, and not worry about the fact that, ‘Oh. I have to steal this game.’ That is where guys get in trouble.

“If I’m going out thinking I have to steal a game, I can almost guarantee it’s not going to happen.”

Dubnyk hasn’t really changed anything tactically since coming to the Wild. Instead, he has changed his mental approach.

“I was just trying to enjoy it, not let my mind wander away from the small things,” he said. “I tried to enjoy the (2014-15) run, and that allowed me to grasp it and understand what I was doing that was allowing me to play well. I’ll continue to do that for the rest of my career.”

“His valleys have disappeared,” Mason added. “We want to almost flat-line through the season. He has been more consistent, and that’s what we want moving forward.”

Boudreau’s history suggests Dubnyk will play around 55 games this season with backup Darcy Kuemper, or maybe Alex Stalock, taking the rest. And while he’s been tough on Dubnyk throughout camp, Boudreau clearly has full confidence in him as the team’s starter.

“I told him, ‘You’re our No. 1 goalie. You’ve got to play every practice like a game, not revert to bad habits,’ ” Boudreau said last week.

Dubnyk said he feels as good as he ever has entering a season. Aside from Boudreau’s new system, Dubnyk cites not having to worry about his contract as a reason he has been better for what lies ahead.

“It’s not a bad thing to have to think about a contract; it just comes with the territory of getting a new deal,” he said. “I always have very high expectations of myself, and it’s a tough situation that I had to experience. It’s nice to come in this year and feel good about the group and my game and just worry about playing hockey, and not have to worry about answering those other types of questions.”

“I love it here,” he added. “I’m really hoping to finish out this contract here. And hopefully I play well enough to continue on after that.”