Article: Jesper Wallstedt's Future Was Now -- Until It Wasn't

[Tony Abbott]

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[Pewterschmidt]

Agree.  I like the way Guerin is handling Jesper intro to the big leagues.

Best case scenario: GUS returns to the form he was in when he played post trade when he was playing for his next contract.  This GUS gets traded at this years deadline and return a solid middle 6 forward.

Worst case scenario: GUS again plays this season similar to last season (and reverts back to the young goalie prospect Ottawa was willing to cut bait on for journeyman goalie T-Bot)

Meanwhile, Wally gets this season to play in NHL with training wheels and Fleury there as his Emotional Support Animal.  

[Citizen Strife]

It also helps that the start of the season isn't bogged down by Addison, Merrill, Mermis, and Goligoski.  Instead, you get Spurgeon back with Middleton, Bogo, Chisholm, and Faber one year older.

I'd like to think many of Gus (and Fleury's) problems were a result of the defense being a mess last year.  They played better when Bogo and Chisholm were added, but you can't tell me Brodin/Faber and Middleton/Spurgeon doesn't settle things down quite a bit.  If Spurgeon gets anywhere close to his former self, you really only have Merrill at #7 that's "kinda" weak.  There's no excuse for Gus and Fleury to improve from 55-60 in both major categories.  You'd also assume Wallstedt would not surrender 7 to a Dallas team if the D is on their game.

This is a chance for a refresh for a lot of people on the team.  If the defense plays the way they always do, the goaltending trio has no one else to blame if they falter.

[MNCountryLife]

I see this in two ways.  I get why they are bringing him along slowly and they want him to have confidence.  We admit that the AHL team lacks defense yet he is still posting very good numbers.  Impressive.  At this point I kind of doubt the AHL is actually helping his confidence. He is getting it because he is just that good.

I don't like spending money on a player when you have so much confidence in the guy waiting in line.  That money could have been used to bring in needed help and potentially made it easier on whoever was playing goalie.

If we are depending on the D to help improve the goalie situation and believe it will be better because of the D, why not have the Wall step up and play.  At some point you must role the dice and take a chance with the cap space you have....playing it safe constantly is not getting us a cup.

[Jon]

Even the best goalies look mortal regardless of their teams. Vasilevskiy and Bobrovsky had underwhelming regular seasons last year for different reasons, but goes to show how connected their performances are to the team performance. Vegas probably has the best top to bottom d corps along with Carolina’s depth both taking serviceable tendies for good strong regular season records. 
 

I also believe the continuity and health of our defense will greatly impact the security we see in net. 

With how the last two years have gone, it is going to be a Wild season, good or bad, this year.

[Protec]

I think a three goalie rotation is good. Fleury with the two younger Swedes. Vaj holds down the fort in IA. 

 

[mnfaninnc]

I'm in favor of the 3 goalie situation. I think it can work out. If not, The Wall heads back to Des Moines without passing through waivers. The way I see it, we'll need all 3. Should Goose get hurt, I do not see Fleury starting a bunch of games in a row, I could see The Wall doing that, but probably more likely a shared net. Really, I like the tandem of Goose and The Wall going forward. 

This is the last year of an ELC for The Wall, I would anticipate a very team friendly bridge deal for The Wall coming out of this year regardless of how he plays. 

However, Tony missed a couple of things in his article that I'd like to point out. 1) While it looks like a mid season slump for The Wall last season, he also came up with an injury. If remembered, when Goose went down, The Wall had to still get healthy while Fleury started games until The Wall got called up for Dallas. McIntyre was on the club with the "in case of emergency, break glass" backup position. As soon as The Wall was healthy they switched. It is also likely that The Wall was not completely healed when he came back, or just before he went out, which likely led to his .871 play, which leads me to the 2nd point.

2) The difference between The Wall and all the other guys who played goalie for Des Moines was unbelievable. For the better part of the season, McIntyre played at an .87 sv%, 40 points behind The Wall. For a few previous seasons, McIntyre looked like a decent 3rd goalie option in case of disaster in St. Paul. But, looking at last season, did he just forget to pack his game? I would probably say no and blame the young Des Moines defenders. The Wall was quick enough to cover for the defense and get his fair share of rebounds, McIntyre was not. To me, this was the stat that made the biggest difference. 

For a long part of the season, The Wall was hovering around .500 for Des Moines. However, McIntyre was way below that mark. Des Moines was considerably better with The Wall in net.

The Wall's debut came with an exhausted team in front of him. Highly injured at the time with the flu bug heading through the team, his debut was set up to be a disaster. Fleury was even wiped out, so The Wall had to eat minutes even though he gave up a bunch. I didn't watch the 3rd period of that game, but from what I could remember, The Wall was on his angles pretty well, but was not used to the velocity and corner picking shooters in the N can give you. He seemed surprised on a shot that got through but was called back in the 1st, and then he slid with Pavelski opening up a far corner that Pavelski hit no problem. The 3rd period was just a goalie whose team had simply forgotten to come out for the 3rd period. He showed us in 2 other performances the type of goalie he was. 

When will Fleury get his turns? That would be the question. His value right now is as the goalie whisperer. I'm not sure how many starts he gets. I also don't think we really know what kind of trigger finger Heinzy has in pulling goalies. This could add to opportunities if he has a Baldelli type of philosophy.

I was hoping for The Wall to get 5 starts last year. He got 3. It's in his best interest to play. I could see him starting out on the big squad, but should we run in to minor injury trouble, he'll get sent down due to cap space as we look for callups. Doing this would mean that we carry 23 instead of our normal 22. 

[Pewterschmidt]

29 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

last year of an ELC for The Wall, I would anticipate a very team friendly bridge deal for The Wall coming out of this year regardless of how he plays. 

A savvy GM restricts Wall's starts so that he doesn't get the chance to pop off during this team-going-nowhere season, so that Wall's agent has no leg to stand on asking for nothing more than a bridge deal

But P-Gravel that doesn't seem very nice.  It's called making a good business decision.

[Willy the poor boy]

I'm against the 3 goalie approach. Wally needs to play, play, play... It does him little good to be sitting on the bench watching at this stage of his career..

[mnfaninnc]

5 minutes ago, Willy the poor boy said:

I'm against the 3 goalie approach. Wally needs to play, play, play... It does him little good to be sitting on the bench watching at this stage of his career..

With 3 goalies, it is not a given that he will be sitting on the bench. He may be up with Merrill and Johansson eating nachos.

[FredJohnson]

On 9/19/2024 at 3:58 PM, Citizen Strife said:

Addison, Merrill, Mermis, and Goligoski.

[raithis]

On 9/20/2024 at 10:47 AM, mnfaninnc said:

I'm in favor of the 3 goalie situation. I think it can work out. If not, The Wall heads back to Des Moines without passing through waivers. The way I see it, we'll need all 3. Should Goose get hurt, I do not see Fleury starting a bunch of games in a row, I could see The Wall doing that, but probably more likely a shared net. Really, I like the tandem of Goose and The Wall going forward. 

This is the last year of an ELC for The Wall, I would anticipate a very team friendly bridge deal for The Wall coming out of this year regardless of how he plays. 

However, Tony missed a couple of things in his article that I'd like to point out. 1) While it looks like a mid season slump for The Wall last season, he also came up with an injury. If remembered, when Goose went down, The Wall had to still get healthy while Fleury started games until The Wall got called up for Dallas. McIntyre was on the club with the "in case of emergency, break glass" backup position. As soon as The Wall was healthy they switched. It is also likely that The Wall was not completely healed when he came back, or just before he went out, which likely led to his .871 play, which leads me to the 2nd point.

2) The difference between The Wall and all the other guys who played goalie for Des Moines was unbelievable. For the better part of the season, McIntyre played at an .87 sv%, 40 points behind The Wall. For a few previous seasons, McIntyre looked like a decent 3rd goalie option in case of disaster in St. Paul. But, looking at last season, did he just forget to pack his game? I would probably say no and blame the young Des Moines defenders. The Wall was quick enough to cover for the defense and get his fair share of rebounds, McIntyre was not. To me, this was the stat that made the biggest difference. 

For a long part of the season, The Wall was hovering around .500 for Des Moines. However, McIntyre was way below that mark. Des Moines was considerably better with The Wall in net.

The Wall's debut came with an exhausted team in front of him. Highly injured at the time with the flu bug heading through the team, his debut was set up to be a disaster. Fleury was even wiped out, so The Wall had to eat minutes even though he gave up a bunch. I didn't watch the 3rd period of that game, but from what I could remember, The Wall was on his angles pretty well, but was not used to the velocity and corner picking shooters in the N can give you. He seemed surprised on a shot that got through but was called back in the 1st, and then he slid with Pavelski opening up a far corner that Pavelski hit no problem. The 3rd period was just a goalie whose team had simply forgotten to come out for the 3rd period. He showed us in 2 other performances the type of goalie he was. 

When will Fleury get his turns? That would be the question. His value right now is as the goalie whisperer. I'm not sure how many starts he gets. I also don't think we really know what kind of trigger finger Heinzy has in pulling goalies. This could add to opportunities if he has a Baldelli type of philosophy.

I was hoping for The Wall to get 5 starts last year. He got 3. It's in his best interest to play. I could see him starting out on the big squad, but should we run in to minor injury trouble, he'll get sent down due to cap space as we look for callups. Doing this would mean that we carry 23 instead of our normal 22. 

Also keep in mind that during the middle of the season Hunt was called up for a while as well as other forwards because of injuries.  If the defense in the AHL was poor, it got worse in that span.  It's no surprise his numbers sagged a bit as a result.

[Enforceror]

Iowa just signed a new KHL goalie. Indication of a Wally move full time?

[Up North Guy]

13 hours ago, Enforceror said:

Iowa just signed a new KHL goalie. Indication of a Wally move full time?

curious

[Pablo]

Wally will be better off long term playing alongside Gus and Flower. This will be a great season when they feed off each other. 

[Protec]

He'll get the puck-handling and pad-stacks experience with goalie-gaffes from MAF. Then absorb the boring Swedish positional style of Gus. 

If everything works out, Wallstedt has pushed Gus down the lineup and GMBG can trade Gus at the deadline. Wallstedt and MAF take the Wild deep into the playoffs. 😀