The Minnesota Wild’s goaltending picture has gone from reassuring to potentially complicated in a hurry.
Jesper Wallstedt and Filip Gustavsson have given the Wild one of the NHL’s strongest two-goalie setups when both are healthy, and that arrangement has helped keep Minnesota in strong shape while Gustavsson works back from offseason hip surgery. Right now, Wallstedt’s rise is exactly what the Wild needed. The bigger question is what happens if he keeps looking this good.
That’s not just a hot streak conversation anymore. Wallstedt has made the leap fans were waiting for after last season, when plenty of people were still wondering about the former first-round pick after his struggles in the AHL and before he began his first full NHL season. He answered those doubts with an 18-9-6 record, a .916 save percentage and a 2.61 goals-against average.
Once the playoffs arrived, Wallstedt took control of the net and became the No. 1 goalie after Gustavsson’s hip surgery last offseason.
This season, Minnesota has leaned hard on Wallstedt while Gustavsson remains out. He has already played an NHL-high six games in the opening weeks, and the numbers have been loud: a .933 save percentage and a 1.82 GAA. His underlying work has been just as strong, with Wallstedt sitting in the 89th percentile with a .915 save percentage on high-danger chances, according to NHL Edge.
There is an obvious short-term concern here. A heavy workload could start to wear him down as the season moves along.
That risk could disappear if Gustavsson returns in November or December and quickly settles back in without missing a beat. That’s not guaranteed given the injury, but if it happens, the Wild could be in a very good spot as they push toward the playoffs.
The trouble starts if Wallstedt keeps playing like a franchise goalie.
Minnesota already protected itself once by giving Gustavsson a five-year, $34 million extension after Wallstedt’s questions last season. But if Wallstedt proves he is the real long-term answer, the easiest path might be moving Gustavsson. That’s easier said than done, though, because his deal carries a no-trade clause for the next two seasons.
Gustavsson could decide the appeal of being a clear No. 1 goalie is enough to waive it. Then again, he could do what plenty of players on longer-term Minnesota deals have done and use that control to steer himself somewhere specific, with teams like the Vegas Golden Knights or Florida Panthers mentioned as possible landing spots.
The Wild could handle a Gustavsson trade in either case. The tougher part may be keeping Wallstedt in the building.
Anyone watching the first seven games can see why: Wallstedt looks like a franchise goaltender, and that kind of player is going to draw real attention. He’ll be 24 when his deal expires next summer, which makes him exactly the type of young player teams will line up for.
That kind of battle is harder to manage now than it used to be. In the past, teams had more room to tempt young players with long-term guaranteed money, like Minnesota did with Matt Boldy and Brock Faber. These days, more clubs are willing to lean on restricted free agency, and fewer players are making it all the way to open market.
Goaltending only adds another layer of chaos. One move can blow the whole market open, and the Philadelphia Flyers’ offer sheet to Leo Carlsson, which carried an average annual value of $17 million, is the kind of example that shows how far a team can go. A goalie-needy club could decide Wallstedt is worth that kind of aggressive play, and the Wild might not be able to match it.
If that happens, Minnesota could at least have a trade piece it didn’t have when it tried to acquire Dylan Larkin last summer. Larkin’s status is still uncertain, but the Detroit Red Wings are well stocked in goal, which makes it unlikely the Wild would include him in a deal, especially with how important he is to this season’s team.
Next summer could look different. If another Team USA player such as Auston Matthews grows tired of his situation with the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Wild could find themselves in position to make a move. They would still need more blue-chip talent to make that kind of deal work, but Wallstedt could give them a valuable starting point if this goaltending situation keeps trending in the wrong direction.
In Other News...
Wild Injury Problems Just Reached Jared Spurgeon
The injury list around the Wild has been piling up early enough that every new absence feels less like bad luck and more like part of the nightly routine. Brock Fabers fractured skull already put a major dent in the blue line, and injuries have also touched Filip Gustavsson, Nick Foligno and Marcus Foligno, leaving Minnesota to juggle its roster while trying to stay afloat through the opening stretch.
Now the burden has reached captain Jared Spurgeon, who was unavailable for the next game after getting hurt in the previous matchup. With Nico Sturm also leaving that game after taking a shot to the head, the Wild had to rework things again for their meeting with the Winnipeg Jets, a reminder that the team is spending as much energy adjusting its lineup as it is trying to build any kind of early-season rhythm. [Read more 🡒]
Wild Waste Another Kaprizov Night In Frustrating Home Loss
Kirill Kaprizov did his part, but it still was not enough to keep the Wild from getting burned at home again. Minnesota fell 5-2 to Winnipeg in the second game of a back-to-back, and Kaprizov accounted for both goals while trying to drag a tired lineup into the points column against one of the Wests steadier clubs.
The Jets did most of their damage through balance and speed, with Cole Perfetti striking twice and Mark Scheifele piling up a goal and two assists. Winnipeg also got a big night from its top line, leaving the Wild to sort through another frustrating result in a building where they needed more than a standout effort from their star winger. [Read more 🡒]
Wild Fans Suddenly Have A Bigger Quinn Hughes Dilemma
Kirill Kaprizov did his part, scoring both Minnesota goals in a 5-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets, but the bigger conversation around the Wild is drifting well beyond one frustrating night on the scoreboard. Quinn Hughes has opened the season with an assist in all seven games, setting a franchise record for a defenseman and only adding to the intrigue around where this all leads for a player who still does not have a contract extension in place.
For Wild fans, the uncertainty has started to feel bigger than the usual star-player wait-and-see routine. The question is no longer just whether Hughes stays in Minnesota, but how his future could reshape the team's long-term picture, especially with speculation continuing to swirl around the possibility of his family connection becoming part of the equation down the road. [Read more 🡒]