Article: Jesper Wallstedt Is Shutting Out the Doubters

[Tony Abbott]

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[Citizen Strife]

Goalie voodoo, good defense, and timely puck luck (two stick lunges and a crossbar) are in the Wild's favor right now.  They win not by overpowering opponents, but screwing with the opponent "just enough" to get the right goals when you least expect them.

Winnipeg "deserved" to win, until they didn't't funny how games work.

[MrCheatachu]

Deja Vu...I remember commenters on this board suggested the Calder candidate the wild had was KK.  Kappo Kahkonen not Kirill Kaprizov.

 

 

 

[Pewterschmidt]

Goalies are goofy. Doubting Wall & Oates after last season in Iowa was a rational reaction.  Title should read: Wall to the Balls justifying his first round selection. 

[Scalptrash]

Bravo! Should be some healthy competition between those two.

[B1GKappa97]

47 minutes ago, MrCheatachu said:

Deja Vu...I remember commenters on this board suggested the Calder candidate the wild had was KK.  Kappo Kahkonen not Kirill Kaprizov.

 

lol yeah the Kaapo hype was a little ridiculous. He did have that 8 game stretch where he was on fire too though. 

Of course he was also older than Wallstedt was at this point. It'll be interesting to compare/contrast the numbers at the end of the year. Right now Wallstedt is leading the league in save% and Shutouts though, which is not a feat I recall Kaapo ever performing. 

I mean the guy has only played 13 career NHL games and a quarter of those are shutouts!! 

[MNCountryLife]

Both goalies have played some great hockey in November.  The Wall seems to be seeing the puck through people right now.  Amazing play.

A shout out to the team D-zone structure as well.  The whole team seems to have bought into a style that limits high danger chances even when prolonged time in our own zone.  The Jets owned us in the first period but only got a couple high danger chances because of the structure.  We are doing something right that is frustrating opposing teams.

[MNCountryLife]

Zeev doesn't look as comfortable with Bogo as he did with Hunt.  That isn't a knock on Bogo either.  I thought he played pretty well.  

[FredJohnson]

3 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

Goalie voodoo, good defense, and timely puck luck (two stick lunges and a crossbar) are in the Wild's favor right now.  They win not by overpowering opponents, but screwing with the opponent "just enough" to get the right goals when you least expect them.

Winnipeg "deserved" to win, until they didn't't funny how games work.

We get this every playoff series…but we’re always on the losing side.

[FredJohnson]

Jesper Wallstedt Is Shutting Out the Doubters

To be fair…there were a lot of reasons to doubt him last season.

[Aimlessone]

Not to take anything away from the goalies as they deserve all the praise they are getting, but I really like how our defense has changed since the beginning of the season. 

We are no longer turning the puck over in our defensive zone. Single attackers have not muscled us off the puck in our own zone in several games. We have not allowed more than a few high-danger chances per game in this winning stretch. 

Makes the goalies job much easier. If we can keep this up, it should be an interested remainder of the season. 

[Dis-allowed display name]

I think the team would be wise to shop Gus Bus in the offseason (maybe this season) if someone dangles something spicy.  Gus is at his peak, Jesper has not hit his ceiling and is just a baby.  Find a number two behind Jesper in the offseason and sell high on Gus.

 

[raithis]

2 hours ago, B1GKappa97 said:

I mean the guy has only played 13 career NHL games and a quarter of those are shutouts!! 

Closer to a third of the games he has played are shutouts than a quarter.  4 out of 13 is 30.8%.

I don't expect him to continue at that rate, but it's nice to see him that confident and doing that well.  I've said a number of times that I thought he would do well in the Wild's defensive system, but this is certainly better than I thought he would do.  I'm hoping that when/if he comes back to earth, he doesn't fall victim to his confidence being shaken and take a while to bounce back.

[raithis]

14 minutes ago, Dis-allowed display name said:

I think the team would be wise to shop Gus Bus in the offseason (maybe this season) if someone dangles something spicy.  Gus is at his peak, Jesper has not hit his ceiling and is just a baby.  Find a number two behind Jesper in the offseason and sell high on Gus.

 

I wouldn't be against this as long as we have enough starts under Wallstedt to feel confident in that decision, but keep in mind that Gustavsson does have a NMC until 2028-29 when I becomes a M-NTC.

If one of them end up being moved, it may well end up being Wallstedt. 

I wouldn't feel good about that IF he continues to play well, but if it's a young star 1C, that would be hard to turn down (unless Rossi makes that conversation moot).  I don't see that happening though, and if it's anything else, I would seriously question the decision given that the Wild have a lot of good wingers and defenseman already.

[Dis-allowed display name]

48 minutes ago, raithis said:

I wouldn't be against this as long as we have enough starts under Wallstedt to feel confident in that decision, but keep in mind that Gustavsson does have a NMC until 2028-29 when I becomes a M-NTC.

If one of them end up being moved, it may well end up being Wallstedt. 

 

I forgot to look up the NMC.  There is no circumstance I would trade Wally as long as he is healthy and wants to be here.  This kid could be a legit star for a decade.