Jesper Wallstedt Has Lept Out Of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire

The future of Minnesota Wild goaltending has experienced a few rough years of North American hockey under his belt now. The Wild selected Jesper Wallstedt 20th overall in the 2021 draft, and he has been touted as a future face of the team -- a goaltender who can lead the team to the Stanley Cup. Still, despite three seasons in the Midwest that may not have lived up to fans' lofty expectations, Wallstedt is still capable of being a legitimate NHL-caliber goalie.

Minnesota's goaltending situation for the Wild has been an interesting study for the past few seasons. After picking up Marc-Andre Fleury in a surprise trade deadline move, the Wild ended up moving Cam Talbot, who was understandably annoyed by the lack of ice time during the playoffs that year.

Trading Talbot to the Ottawa Senators in a one-for-one trade for Filip Gustavsson appeared risky at the time. Gustavsson was mostly unproven, but was assumed to be a placeholder until Wallstedt was ready to enter the NHL. Instead, he found a home in Minnesota and rocketed into one of the best goalies in the league. Suddenly, Wallstedt had competition in net.

Wallstedt played 38 games during his first year with the Iowa Wild, ending the season with a 2.68 GAA and .908 save percentage. Considering the change from an Olympic-sized rink to an NHL-standard rink, his stats indicated that he could adjust his game as necessary. Wallstedt relies on his ability to read the game and set up properly because he doesn’t have the speed needed to tweak on the fly. He was an AHL All-Star and was named Goaltender of the Month in January 2023. He seemed to be adjusting to the North American game.

There were high hopes for the 2023-24 season, and it looked like Wallstedt would finally make his NHL debut. But any sort of Wild fan, Iowa or Minnesota, knows the dark stain that this season left behind. Minnesota spent most of the season with one or two top players, a handful of fourth-line guys, and three-quarters of the AHL team battling it out every night. That led to Iowa’s lineup being filled in with newly signed midseason and ECHL players, who were desperately plugged into the holes left behind. Wallstedt’s stats weren’t terrible, but they weren’t great either.

The worst part was that Wallstedt was given his long-awaited NHL debut, but it was not only against a great team, but that team happened to be the Dallas Stars. And they were playing in Texas. It was a recipe for disaster from the start. That season, Wallstedt played 3 games with a GAA of 3.01 and a .897 save percentage. 

Last season was also a bit of a letdown, marked by an off year with a struggling AHL team, poor statistics in his two NHL games, and lingering injury issues that were evident even when he was back in the net.

Looking at all of this, it’s easy to throw in the towel and decide that the Wild were wrong about Wallstedt and to cut their losses. But there’s more here than meets the eye.

For one thing, Wallstedt is only 22 years old and will soon turn 23. In terms of goalie development, he is essentially an infant. The Wild’s other beloved Swedish goalie, Gustavsson, didn’t get his breakout year until he was 24, and his stats were also mostly subpar up until that point. It is well-known that developing an NHL goalie takes time and patience. No longer can an 18-year-old show up in the league and play for 20+ seasons like Fleury did.

Speaking of Fleury, having him around is a godsend. Gustavsson has spoken about looking up to Fleury and his childlike love of the game as a grounding inspiration during tough times in the season. Having a future HOF goalie around, especially one who played as long as he did because he continued to have fun going to the rink every day, is something most teams would kill for. Being able to shadow him on game days last season and having him as an off-ice presence could prove to be the defining factor in Wallstedt’s future success. 

But the biggest issue facing any hockey goalie is the mental aspect of the game. Gustavsson has discussed it after his disastrous sophomore season with Minnesota, and Wallstedt admitted that was his issue at the beginning of his AHL season last year. It didn’t help that every time he started to get into the old groove, another injury would hit him. 

This year, Wallstedt came back to Minnesota in early August. It’s no secret that this year is his defining hockey moment. While Gustavsson will continue to handle most of the starts just like he did last year, they will hand the other chunk of games to Wallstedt. Last year, there was the possibility of a three-goalie rotation for at least part of the season. That doesn’t exist this year. The Wild currently does not have another immediately viable NHL goalie in its farm system. 

Many hockey players play amazingly when they’re in a contract year because they’re essentially playing for their lives. Wallstedt is doing the same thing this season, and that could prove to be the element that will push him over the top to become the goalie that we all think he can be. What he needs from fans is a little bit of grace and a whole lot of encouragement as he finds his footing in the NHL.