Devan Dubnyk has been remarkable (.939 save percentage, 1.70 GAA) since joining the Wild. (USATSI)
Devan Dubnyk has been remarkable (.939 save percentage, 1.70 GAA) since joining the Wild. (USATSI)

Like all sports, the MVP debate in hockey can spark an intense -- and often maddening -- debate that centers around any number of topics, including the arbitrary and subjective definition of "valuable," and whether players at a certain position should even be considered for the award.

When it comes to the latter point, goalies almost always draw the short straw in the MVP discussion because of the mindset that they already get their recognition with the Vezina Trophy, which goes to the NHL's best goalie every season. The league hasn't seen a goalie win the MVP award since Jose Theodore for the Montreal Canadiens during the 2001-02 season. Before him, it only happened six other teams in league history. Dominik Hasek in 1997 and '98, Jacques Plante during the 1961-62 season, then all the way back Al Rollins (1953-54), Chuck Rayner (1949-50) and Roy Worters (1928-29).

I've always hated that argument for two reasons.

First, the same thing can be said about defensemen and the Norris Trophy (though, to be fair, defensemen also rarely win the MVP), while the MVP award almost always goes to the forward that either wins the goal-scoring crown (which has its own award) or the points race (also has its own award), as it has in each of the past 11 seasons. Think about that. The last time a non-scoring champion won the MVP award was Theodore in 2002. There is very little imagination when it comes to the winner of this award.

Did you have the most goals or the most points? Yes? Check.

The other issue is that given how much of an impact a goalie can have on the success or failure of a team and their ability to make or break a season -- as well as a coach's reputation -- you can make the argument that the most valuable and important player in the league is a goalie pretty much every season. You just do not always know which goalie it is going to be at the start of the season, because these guys are nearly impossible to project and count on from year to year unless you are talking about one of the top four or five players at the position.

This season is no different, not only when it comes to the impact of a goalie, but also the unpredictability of which one is going to dominate.

It seems as if this is the year a goalie will actually be recognized for being the most valuable player in the league, especially without a clear-cut favorite at forward. Alex Ovechkin is running away with another goal-scoring crown, but he and teammate Nicklas Backstrom -- also having an incredible season -- could cancel each other out in the voting because there are arguments to be made for both of them. Sidney Crosby is probably going to win another scoring title even though he has missed six games and had to deal with mumps earlier this season, but the only thing anybody seems to say about his performance this season is that he is having a "down" year. So he is probably out.

There are no defenseman that really enter into the discussion. Maybe Calgary's Mark Giordano if he had not suffered a season-ending injury.

That leaves the goalies.

When it comes to the MVP debate and the possibility of a goalie actually winning it for the first time in more than a decade, the discussion almost always centers around Canadiens goalie Carey Price, and for good reason. He has lifted a Montreal team, whose style of play may not be a Stanley Cup-winning formula, to a level it probably has no business being at. He has been, quite simply, incredible. His season is one of the best goaltending performances in recent NHL history.

But he is not the only goalie that is making a huge impact on his team.

So let's talk about Minnesota Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk.

Should he also be in that MVP discussion? And how much consideration should he get for his play with the Wild and the way he has almost single-handedly turned their season around?

The argument against Dubnyk is that for as good as he has been, Price has simply been better and had a similar impact on Montreal. Everything you can say in favor of Dubnyk and the way he has played, you can also say for Price. And probably even more since he has been doing it for Montreal the entire season, and not just the past three months.

But those three months have been incredible for Dubnyk and the Wild. Game changing. Season saving. Mike Yeo saving. No matter what your definition of "value" is (importance to the team, best performance, best player, etc.) there is a reasonable argument to be made for Dubnyk.

Minnesota's season, which was never as bad as it looked before Dubnyk was acquired in a mid-January trade with the Arizona Coyotes, has done a complete 180 since he arrived. His numbers for the season are also among the best in the NHL at his position -- he enters Monday second in the league in total save percentage, second in goals against average, tied for fourth in shutouts and fifth in even-strength save percentage.

By every subjective and objective measure he has not only been one of the best goalies in the NHL, he has been one of the most important players, regardless of position. Especially when you consider the impact he has made on the Wild in his three months with the team. 

He has started every game since the trade and been one of the driving forces behind their 26-6-2 run that has seen them go from 12th place in the Western Conference (ahead of only the Coyotes and Oilers) and eight points out of a playoff spot on Jan. 12 to what will almost certainly be a playoff spot. Almost every time a team is as far behind in the playoff race as the Wild were in January they end up falling short of the postseason. Comebacks like this simply do not happen, and when they do, we need to marvel at just how impressive they are.

But not only did the Wild come back from such a deficit, and not only are they going to make the playoffs, they have an opportunity to actually finish ahead of the Chicago Blackhawks and play their way into one of the top three spots in the Central Division. Think about how crazy that sentence would have been in January.

Without better goaltending, which completely ruined the first half of their season and nearly kept them out of the playoffs entirely, none of it would be happening. If the Wild had the exact same goaltending over the past 34 games that they received before that (the worst in the league at .889) they would have given up an additional 47 goals. There is no way they win as many games as they have and there is no way they are in the playoffs with that level of goaltending. Honestly, they're probably in the Connor McDavid-Jack Eichel derby with that continued level of play from their netminders.

Even if you compare the past 34 games to league-average goaltending, Dubnyk has saved them nearly 23 goals, a number that only Price (who has saved his team 39 goals vs. what a league-average goalie would have given them over the entire season) can top. Those numbers alone are the argument for a goalie as the MVP -- there probably isn't another player in the league that can have that big of an impact from a goals perspective on his team.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Dubnyk's run is the durability.

Not only has he been in the crease for every game since the middle of January, but he has had to start both ends of five different back-to-backs, and he has defied the odds in almost every one of them to somehow play better on the second night. Most goalies struggle -- and struggle badly -- in the second game of back-to-backs, but Dubnyk has somehow managed to post a .945 save percentage in those games.

It's almost as if every number he has put on the board since joining the Wild is more impressive than the one that preceded it.

In the end, the award is still Price's to lose, and it should be. If you take him away from the Canadiens for the entire season and replace him with almost any other goaltender in the NHL I'm just not sure how good that team really is.

But Dubnyk should still be right there with him, maybe even next in line. If nothing else, he has at least turned it into a discussion worth having, and that alone is an incredible accomplishment.

Maybe in any other season, where a goalie like Price wasn't having an historically great season wire-to-wire, it would be Dubnyk's award.