Goaltender Alex Stalock finished last season as the Wild’s backup, but there’s no guarantee he will resume that role when the team embarks on 2018-19.

Stalock will vie with recent signee Andrew Hammond for the No. 2 spot, a challenge he’s embracing.

“I think you look around every organization has that, whether it’s three, four, five goalies that are pushing each other,” he said. “I think it’s awesome. Any time you have competition pushing you, it makes you better. It should make the others better, too, that are pushing, and I look forward to it. I know he’s played awesome hockey in this league. I think it’s only great for the organization to have depth in that position.”

Last season was the first Stalock spent exclusively in the NHL, earning understudy duties after signing a two-year extension in February 2017. He made 28 appearances, with nine of those coming in succession while No. 1 Devan Dubnyk nursed an injury, and Stalock went 10-10-4 overall with a .910 save percentage and 2.85 goals-against average.

“I think there were maybe one or two games where it got away from me,” said the South St. Paul and Minnesota Duluth product. “but other than that, every night I felt like we were in there every game.”

That experience equipped Stalock with confidence, which he will carry over into training camp, when he wants to show new General Manager Paul Fenton he belongs.

“Every year you’ve got to go in and prove that you can play,” he said, “and it’s not only out of camp. It’s November, December, January still playing strong games all the way late into the year.”

Job change

Eric Fehr was drafted in the first round by the Capitals in 2003 as a scoring winger, but that’s not the role the Wild acquired him to fulfill when he signed a one-year contract July 1.

“I kind of morphed into a checking centerman which specializes in the penalty kill,” Fehr said. “It’s a complete 180.”

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