Wilderness Walk: Wallstedt Named AHL Player Of The Week

Just a quick look around the league and we see the surprising Vancouver Canucks in 2nd place in the Pacific. The Atlantic division has quite the battle going and the Pens and Sens take up last place in the East.

In the West, Calgary and Edmonton are leaking oil badly leaving a wide strip behind them. The Wild are still with the pack, though, in the back. At this point, I think just staying with the pack is a good sign.

And then a quick look around the prospects:

1. Heidt is still leading the way 15gp 9-17-26
2. Firstov with a decent week 27gp 8-9-17.....and 40 PIMs
3. Haight has 13gp 5-11-16
4. Kampulainen and Petrovsky each have 14 pts. in 15 gp
5. Beckman is not off to a strong start 10gp 3-2-5
6. Stramel looks like he's healthy again, but 5gp with goose eggs is concerning

And then, mentioned above is The Wall. His sv% is .58 better than McIntyre's. It looks like he is thriving on a poor defensive team at this point. It wouldn't surprise me if he's called up for the Sweden trip and we take a few extra bodies. I'm sure the NHL has some sort of contingency plan for that since it's 2 games, but calling up someone for injuries would be extra hard.

I sure wish we would have brought Wallstedt up to the MN and not signed Gustavsson.  Would have given us 3.75M additional cap space to use somewhere else.  That is looking like a bad signing right now.... and we could have used that money on D.

30 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

I sure wish we would have brought Wallstedt up to the MN and not signed Gustavsson.  Would have given us 3.75M additional cap space to use somewhere else.  That is looking like a bad signing right now.... and we could have used that money on D.

I'm actually glad they didn't, I think it's worth playing the long game with him. He's talented, no doubt about that but getting used to playing in the NHL/AHL on N.A ice takes time. He's even said that there was a big learning curve playing on N.A ice. Plus getting into the grind of playing a full season with the scheduling, practice, training, travel etc.

If Flower hangs it up after this year he'll be up next season. IMO it's worth it to take a lump this year instead of rushing him up and throwing him to the wolves with a terrible d-corps even though Gus' money could've been used. Gus Bus will pull out of his slump, whether he can get back to 1G form is yet to be seen but a tandem of Wall & Gus could be formidable for the future. Looking to nearsighted with Gus at the moment, after his performance last season it was touted as a good signing at the time. 

46 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

I sure wish we would have brought Wallstedt up to the MN and not signed Gustavsson.  Would have given us 3.75M additional cap space to use somewhere else.  That is looking like a bad signing right now.... and we could have used that money on D.

It's been really confusing and frustrating to watch. While Gus deserves some of his own blame, as does any goaltender, it's hard to ignore the insane amount of high danger chances that are being allowed by the wilds defense. 

2 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

Kampulainen and Petrovsky each have 14 pts. in 15 gp

Big body Rumple-stil-skin could become a player someday for the big club

Put a little Rum in the Yoo-hoo! 😁

Probably good not to put the pressure on Wallstedt to save the Wild, especially with newly signed Gus and Fleury.

Fleury has had some nice games. Gus got screwed against NYR with two bad goals coming off screens and bounces. Only the third goal can be criticized, but it was post and in. A pretty nice shot. Sure he got pulled, but that wasn't really because he sucked so bad.

Wallstedt is doing well and I think the Wild are good to let him be until an injury or call up is totally necessary. Let him continue to be good and build confidence getting experience and games on the smaller stage. Plus he's able to bail out and help MN's young IA defense improve without too much pressure either. That's a good back end in Des Moines when you look at the group. Building some chemistry there.

6 hours ago, MNCountryLife said:

That is looking like a bad signing right now.... and we could have used that money on D.

Well, all right. It's a "Jump to Conclusions" mat. You see, it's this mat that you would put on the floor, and it would have different conclusions written on it that you could jump to.  Get it?

It's all about ROY'S RECORD...Jesper needs to start seeing NHL shots..Not #1 minutes..but second night of back to backs... MAF (Billy's boy) knows this..If it was about the "team" he should step away...BUT THE RECORD??

Looks like Merrill is healthy scratch in lieu of Huntsy, and it appears that Nic Petan got the call-up.

So who did Beckman piss off?  

11 minutes ago, Stillwaitingforacuprun said:

It's all about ROY'S RECORD...Jesper needs to start seeing NHL shots..Not #1 minutes..but second night of back to backs... MAF (Billy's boy) knows this..If it was about the "team" he should step away...BUT THE RECORD??

Oh and for all the guys that say he shouldn't come up yet.

MAF 21 games played at 19 years old

50 games at 22 years old

Jesper is 20

53 minutes ago, MrCheatachu said:

Well, all right. It's a "Jump to Conclusions" mat

I suppose it sounds like that.  I wasn't against signing Gustavsson.  But I did feel that they overpaid for him.  I liked him a lot more at $2M/AAV.   Missing Spurgeon and Dumba has had a big impact on our D efficiency.  Gustavsson will look better when Spurge returns.  Doesn't change my opinion though.  Bringing up the Wall to play beside MAF would have been a fantastic learning experience for Wallstedt.  I understand why most disagree with it as the leap from Europe is a big one, especially with the ice sheet.  I don't feel that was reason enough to prevent The Wall from playing up.   But then what do I know... just an arm-chair fan. Certainly would like to have seen what they could have gotten with that extra 3.75M.

Can't go backwards now.  Gus has the tools to be a solid goalie.  He proved as much last year.  He needs to quiet his game down this year.  We'll see the wall next year and get 3.5M from MAF's expiring contract.  

8 hours ago, MNCountryLife said:

I sure wish we would have brought Wallstedt up to the MN and not signed Gustavsson.  Would have given us 3.75M additional cap space to use somewhere else.  That is looking like a bad signing right now.... and we could have used that money on D.

Remember Gus started this way last year also and had to have a big coaching correction to get him going. It sounded like he basically pulled himself in his last game so not sure what was going on there. As others have said, the players in front of him have not helped him out much either. Let's see how things go.

26 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

I suppose it sounds like that.  I wasn't against signing Gustavsson.  But I did feel that they overpaid for him.  I liked him a lot more at $2M/AAV.   Missing Spurgeon and Dumba has had a big impact on our D efficiency.  Gustavsson will look better when Spurge returns.  Doesn't change my opinion though.  Bringing up the Wall to play beside MAF would have been a fantastic learning experience for Wallstedt.  I understand why most disagree with it as the leap from Europe is a big one, especially with the ice sheet.  I don't feel that was reason enough to prevent The Wall from playing up.   But then what do I know... just an arm-chair fan. Certainly would like to have seen what they could have gotten with that extra 3.75M.

Can't go backwards now.  Gus has the tools to be a solid goalie.  He proved as much last year.  He needs to quiet his game down this year.  We'll see the wall next year and get 3.5M from MAF's expiring contract.  

I guess my point was that after opening night where he singlehandedly got us a point on a 52 save game to getting pulled 4 games later letting in 3 goals on 4 shots is a small sample size.  After game 1 there were plenty of people around here (myself included) who were tipping their caps to the savvy of trading Cambot for Gusbus as one of the good Guerin moves.

I'm not making excuses for GusBus, but it sure seems like we need to pump the brakes on evaluating contracts after such a small sample size.

2 minutes ago, MrCheatachu said:

I guess my point was that after opening night where he singlehandedly got us a point on a 52 save game to getting pulled 4 games later letting in 3 goals on 4 shots is a small sample size.  After game 1 there were plenty of people around here (myself included) who were tipping their caps to the savvy of trading Cambot for Gusbus as one of the good Guerin moves.

I'm not making excuses for GusBus, but it sure seems like we need to pump the brakes on evaluating contracts after such a small sample size.

Can't argue with you on that first game.  Gus was spectacular.  Stood on his head that night.  

13 hours ago, M_Nels said:

I'm actually glad they didn't, I think it's worth playing the long game with him. He's talented, no doubt about that but getting used to playing in the NHL/AHL on N.A ice takes time. He's even said that there was a big learning curve playing on N.A ice. Plus getting into the grind of playing a full season with the scheduling, practice, training, travel etc.

If Flower hangs it up after this year he'll be up next season. IMO it's worth it to take a lump this year instead of rushing him up and throwing him to the wolves with a terrible d-corps even though Gus' money could've been used. Gus Bus will pull out of his slump, whether he can get back to 1G form is yet to be seen but a tandem of Wall & Gus could be formidable for the future. Looking to nearsighted with Gus at the moment, after his performance last season it was touted as a good signing at the time. 

Some would think ice is ice, but it's not that easy. 

Outside of the angles and difference in rink size, there is the systems that are very different and I think The Wall struggled with that for a few months. You could see he wasn't always ready for shots being flung at him from all angles.

But, one more interesting part is that many of the NA games are played well south of Sweden. What difference does that make? A big difference. Southern ice is typically softer. Pushing and sliding is a little different too. A little different to me is a lot for a professional goalie. You have to know how hard to push and not under push or over push. I'm not a goalie, but I found the southern ice to be a little stickier too. I've always thought the puck bounces a little more also.

7 hours ago, MrCheatachu said:

So who did Beckman piss off? 

10 gp, 3-2-5. That doesn't sound like a player on top of his game right now.

Goose2 will be alright. He is slumping and so much of a goalie's success is determined by confidence. He's lacking confidence. It also looks like when he lacks confidence he backs up into his crease more. I would hope that the goalie coach has picked up on that. 

As for The Wall, I think it is best to have him in the A for this season, with callups to get him about 5 games to start. You'd think that the Wild will be taking 3 goalies to Sweden with them, and you'd think The Wall would be one of them. 

I warned in the offseason that Goose2 should have been signed to something in the $1.5m range. The main reason would be so that he could prove he was a #1 and not have the pressure of a large contract on him. He had only started 39 games for us. That is still a small sample size. 

Now that he isn't playing well, he has pressure at $3.75m. He, as well as all the teammates, know that they have steep cap penalties and need to overperform. A bridge deal would have been much better than borderline starter money. 

He'll be alright in the long run. Somehow we just need to give him a reset.

On 11/7/2023 at 8:29 AM, MNCountryLife said:

I sure wish we would have brought Wallstedt up to the MN and not signed Gustavsson.  Would have given us 3.75M additional cap space to use somewhere else.  That is looking like a bad signing right now.... and we could have used that money on D.

That wouldn’t have been smart in my opinion.

how many games are you going to play walstedt?

flower has no business being our number 1 goalie and you don’t want to rush walstedt because you risk messing with his development.

I think a lot of our struggles have been on defense. If our D was better, it would make it a lot easier on Gus.

Spurg being out is a huge factor.

they did the right thing signing Gus.

17 hours ago, Stillwaitingforacuprun said:

Oh and for all the guys that say he shouldn't come up yet.

MAF 21 games played at 19 years old

50 games at 22 years old

Jesper is 20

So what?

he was an outlier. You don’t rush a prospect like that. It’s not smart. Flowers development is not how most goalies are developed.

1 hour ago, Mateo3xm said:

That wouldn’t have been smart in my opinion.

how many games are you going to play walstedt?

flower has no business being our number 1 goalie and you don’t want to rush walstedt because you risk messing with his development.

I think a lot of our struggles have been on defense. If our D was better, it would make it a lot easier on Gus.

Spurg being out is a huge factor.

they did the right thing signing Gus.

 

I am pretty sure Walstedt will be the taxi squad goalie on the trip to Sweden. They don't have emergency goalies in place in Sweden so NHL teams need to bring one along. He won't be a "call-up" so nothing changes there unless they need to use him.

On 11/8/2023 at 9:22 AM, Mateo3xm said:

So what?

he was an outlier. You don’t rush a prospect like that. It’s not smart. Flowers development is not how most goalies are developed.

You should probably do some research on past NHL goalies before you say that MAF was an outlier...I'll just give one more...of many...the guys record MAF is chasing won a cup before the age of 20.  

On 11/9/2023 at 7:26 PM, Stillwaitingforacuprun said:

You should probably do some research on past NHL goalies before you say that MAF was an outlier...I'll just give one more...of many...the guys record MAF is chasing won a cup before the age of 20.  

I have done plenty of research.

“Most age-curve research pegs NHL goalies peaks as in their mid-late 20s - later than skaters, earlier than conventional wisdom. As well, it's possible yet that the lack of trust afforded to non-blue chip young goalies might be artificially pushing those curves further back.”

just because you can name a few doesn’t mean that happens the majority of the time. For every goalie that has started at 20, there’s probably hundreds that haven’t.

the guys you can name, are famous because they were doing things at 20 years that nobody was doing.

the percentage of goalies who are starters or even backups at 20 years old is astronomically small.

theres no point in rushing Wallstedt, he was a very highly touted goalie but not so much that he was drafted first overall in one of the deepest drafts in NHL history.

theres are levels.

I can add more than a few..He needs NHL experience...We can agree to disagree on his talent potential...Goalies are athletes just like forwards and defenseman..I'm friends and played with some big time goalies...They don't want to be treated any different...I'm not going to butcher the spelling of the russian goaltender for the Lightning...played before twenty...