By Eric Forga -
It feels like the Minnesota Wild’s goaltending duo of Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt is extremely special. The anchor of a team that looks poised to turn regular-season promise into a deep spring run reminiscent of the franchise’s magical 2003 run backstopped by Dwayne Roloson and Manny Fernandez.
In both eras, the Wild have relied on a steady duo in the crease to stabilize a roster built on structure, depth, and opportunistic scoring. Two decades apart, the scripts feel similar in that they feature two goaltenders playing at an elite level. The significant difference between these two teams is that the Wild now have a few elite goal scorers and a defense that can drive the offensive play while still maintaining defensive responsibility. If this team is going to break through the Western Conference in the playoffs, it's going to start in the blue paint.
Gustavsson has emerged as a workhorse for Minnesota, logging starter minutes while playing with a calm, economical style that allows the Wild’s defense to stay aggressive in front of him. His recent seasons show a pattern the fans can trust.
He has a goals against average in the mid-two’s and a save percentage in the low .910. Gustavsson also has a knack for keeping games within reach even on nights when the team hasn’t been its sharpest offensively. His play perfectly complements the Wild’s identity, built on patience, tight checking, and grinding opponents down over 60 minutes.
Meanwhile, Wallstedt offers both security and intrigue as the highly touted first-round pick waiting in the wings. When he gets the net, he looks the part: technically sound, composed through traffic, and unbothered by chaos around the crease.
He can track the puck through traffic as well as anyone in the league currently. He has a mature ability you would often associate with a veteran goaltender: the ability to shake off an unlucky bounce or defensive breakdown.
Together, the duo gives something every other team in the NHL craves. A tandem that can win different ways without the drop off that usually comes when the starting netminder has the night off.
For die-hard Wild fans, it's hard not to think back to Roloson and Fernandez when watching this duo settle into their roles. In 2003, Jacques Lemaire turned to each goalie at different moments. He leaned on Roloson’s steady positional style and Fernandez’s more explosive athletic presence to match the rhythm of a series or spark the group when it needed a jolt. That flexibility created a safety net that allowed the rest of the lineup to play on its toes, knowing there was always one more layer of trust behind them.
Gustavsson and Wallstedt bring a similar vibe with a modern twist. Gustavsson’s quiet efficiency mirrors Roloson in many ways. At the same time, Wallstedt’s dynamic reads and confidence on big stages echo the swagger Fernandez brought when he jumped into the crease and took over a game. For opponents, especially in the playoffs, there is no easy adjustment. No “backup night” where the shooters can exhale. Matched with the Wild’s stellar defensive core, this is going to be a nightmare for opponents to play against at all times.
This version of the Wild is not just fighting to squeeze into the tournament; the numbers and projections hint at a team positioned to make real noise once it gets there. Minnesota sits firmly in the playoff picture with strong underlying results and postseason odds that place them among the more secure teams in the Western Conference.
What elevates their ceiling is how cleanly their defensive structure and goaltending fit together. The Wild limit high-danger looks, clear bodies from the front of the net, and rely on a mobile blue line to move pucks quickly, all of which play perfectly into Gustavsson’s rebound control and Wallstedt’s ability to track lateral plays, and even play the puck as a third defender. In tight one-goal playoff games, those small edges often decide who advances and who is shaking hands too early.
That 2003 run still serves as a blueprint for what this group can achieve, or perhaps even more. The 2003 team was not the most talented on paper. Still, they were connected, stubborn, and backed by a tandem that made everyone a little taller on the bench, erasing series deficits and toppling favored opponents along the way. The Xcel Energy Center turned into a cauldron that spring, and every big save from Roloson or Fernandez felt like a turning point waiting to happen.
This year’s roster has more top-end offensive talent than that early-era team, but the emotional core can be the same if the goaltending continues to hold up the way it has so far this season. Gustavsson’s recent playoff experience and Wallstedt’s big-game pedigree, winning bronze at the 2022 World Juniors on the international stage, give Minnesota a sense of inevitability in net. No matter how the bracket breaks, the Wild don’t walk into any series outgunned at the most important position.
Recent seasons have been marked by early exits and “what ifs,” but the mix of a maturing core and this emerging tandem has shifted the tone around the franchise. In a conference loaded with high-octane offenses, few teams can confidently say they have two goalies capable of carrying them through a series. That’s exactly the kind of edge that turned 2003 from a nice story into a real threat.
Twenty-two years after that first magical run, the Wild again have a team that defends hard, scores by committee, and trusts its goaltenders to hold the line when the margins get razor thin in April and May. If Gustavsson and Wallstedt can tap into the same resilience and shared load that defined Roloson and Fernandez, this duo might be remembered as the backbone of the deepest playoff push Minnesota has seen since that unforgettable spring.
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