The Minnesota Wild’s highly touted Swedish goalie prospect Jesper Wallstedt is set to make his NHL debut tonight in Texas against the Dallas Stars. With Filip Gustavsson still injured, Marc-Andre Fleury has taken on a heavier workload. Once it was announced that Wallstedt was being called up from the Wild’s AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild, fans were wondering when they would see Wallstedt in the net.
When Gustavsson first left the ice with an injury, Wallstedt was unfortunately still healing from his injury in Iowa. The Wild first called up Zane McIntyre to back up Fleury until Wallstedt was healed. Wallstedt was called up on Sunday and watched the Wild’s 4-0 loss to the Stars from the bench on Monday. Buzz started right away after Wallstedt’s recall, with fans wondering which game he would start. While Fleury has been playing in top form, it wouldn’t be sustainable for him to start every game until Gustavsson is back. Wallstedt has earned a start, and thankfully, it is coming sooner rather than later.
The 20th overall pick of the 2021 NHL draft, Wallstedt has already spent one full season in the AHL. This season, he’s already been named the AHL Player of the Week twice. The first time was for the week of October 30 to November 5. During two wins for the Iowa Wild, Wallstedt stopped 57 out of 60 shots with a .950 save percentage. He didn’t allow any even-strength goals during this pair of games.
He was once again named AHL Player of the Week for the week of November 27 to December 3. During a pair of road wins, Wallstedt stopped 83 of 86 goals. He ended the week with a 1.50 goals-against average and a .965 save percentage.
For the past two seasons, Fleury has acted as a mentor for both Gustavsson and Wallstedt. After playing for two decades in the NHL, Fleury has plenty of experience to draw on. Asked what advice he gave Wallstedt, he simply told him to “Just go play. Have fun.”
With a handful of impactful players still out for the Wild (including Kirill Kaprizov, Filip Gustavsson, Jonas Brodin, and Jared Spurgeon), putting Wallstedt in the net could be the kick that the Wild need to come back from being shutout by the Stars only two days ago.
The Wild have a few game-time decisions as both Marcus Foligno and Marcus Johansson are sick. The only other roster change is that Alex Goligoski will be in for Daemon Hunt.
After John Hynes took over as Head Coach, the Wild seemed to have turned a corner, winning seven of the first ten games that they played under his direction. However, the Wild have now dropped five of the last eight games that they’ve played, including four straight losses at home. With the all-star coming up in a few weeks, the Wild need to limp to the end of January. With a week off of hockey, hopefully, some of the nagging injuries will be resolved, and the Wild can come back at full strength.
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