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.

[mnfaninnc]

2 hours 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.

Guus has an anchor next to his name on Puckpedia. That means he's an NMC for the next 3 years. After that, a 15 team M-NTC. Since he got 2 NMC years with his extension, the NMC moved into this year also. 

I believe The Wall will be a true #1 goalie, but the only times this franchise has been truly dangerous is with 2 very good goalies. The Wall will, at best, be a 1A for the next 2 years past this one. We will not need to trade one out until then. This season our goalie cost is $5.75m, next year it is $9m. Those are very nice Kap numbers to have. 

 

[mnfaninnc]

2 hours ago, raithis said:

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

This would be the wrong move. This is where the eye test comes in. If you watch The Wall, he is bigger in the net than Guus, he's got a better glove hand, and, probably the most important thing, his rebound control is much better. He also finds pucks and anticipates better than Guus. 

Guus works fine in this system, but he is really an average to above average goalie. Our defensive system really helps him out. The Wall, however, is an average goalie now with franchise goalie potential. You don't trade those guys out. I don't think that The Wall will end up commanding a giant raise after next season, so the numbers should be reasonable again. It's the next contract after that where we'll really have to pay him, and that's about when Guus' contract expires. 

At that point, or a year ahead of that, we should have Vaj ready to back up, or we go and get one.

[mnfaninnc]

To begin the season, The Wall was heavily sheltered. He started picking up games against better shooting teams. This is a very positive outcome. He has been fooled on the speed of the game an accuracy of N shooters, but he learns his lesson. I think watching him shut guys down in the shootouts is what I've liked best. He tracks these guys very well.

But one thing that cannot be overstated is his excitement about a win. You don't see that often in the goalies, but he really loves winning. It's hard to compare him to baseball players, but he seems to have a bit of Jack Morris in him. Regardless of how many he let in it doesn't really matter as long as his team scored at least 1 more. That's a guy who can dual with the top goalies in the league. 

[mnfaninnc]

6 hours ago, MrCheatachu said:

Deja Vu...I remember commenters on this board suggested the Calder candidate the wild had was KK.

I was glad when Kahkonen was ready to come up. He had done well in Iowa and had learned to close to 5 hole which was gaping on him. But, he had some technical issues besides this, like a glove which tended to droop. He also had confidence that waned as soon as Talbot was healthy. 

This does not seem to be The Wall's issue. Kahkonen spit out rebounds hard, just about everything that touches The Wall deadens and is easy to cover, or you have nowhere to go with a rebound chance. His confidence, I think, is much higher than Big Kahk's. The Wall's foundation is much stronger. It appears that we got a steal of a pick in '21 even with the trials he had last season. 

Confidence will be the key to his run.

[NoJoSux]

Big Kahk softened and shriveled much to the dismay of schidt-posters and nick-namers on this board. 

At least we got the Sturmacidal-lube back. Kinda weird seeing a #78 out there though. Coming in from South Florida the powerful tropical Sturm effect with Moose and a Russian Yak is gonna be fun to watch. Like to see that line stay together. Foligno is the glue guy that enables Germans and Rooskies to blossom beautifully into a shut-down line for the Dallas and Colorado games coming up. Maybe... 

[Citizen Strife]

5 hours ago, FredJohnson said:

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

It took the team until the last 20 seconds of the season to clinch...so I won't hear of any playoff talk until they clinch or eliminated.  I said this before, but being "built for the playoffs" doesn't matter if the team forgets to win in the regular season first.

[Pewterschmidt]

26 minutes ago, NoJoSux said:

Big Kahk softened and shriveled

He was the three pump chump of ice hockey goalies.