Has Jesper Wallstedt's Emergence With The Minnesota Wild Made Filip Gustavsson A Trade Candidate?

The Minnesota Wild have started hot out of the gate, and goaltender Jesper Wallstedt has been everything they wanted and more.

The 23-year-old has posted a 6-1-2 record, appearing in nine of the team's 10 games to start the season while posting a .915 save percentage, 2.20 goals-against average, and a 6.9 goals saved above expected — which is fifth-best in the NHL.

It's certainly a small sample size for this season, but his performance has been in line with the high standard he set for himself after a remarkable rookie season. Wallstedt put together a .916 SP and a 2.58 GAA in 35 games during last year before essentially taking over the starting role in the post-season, suiting up for 10 of the Wild's 11 playoff games.

There's high expectations of this Minnesota team, and the pressure on Wallstedt is considerable. It's also worth noting he hasn't been feasting on terrible teams to start the season, defeating the Boston Bruins, Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights.

Wallstedt's early heroics have him as a an early candidate for the Vezina Trophy, but more importantly, he's providing Wild GM Bill Guerin with every reason to move on from veteran netminder Filip Gustavsson.

Gustavsson has yet to play a game this season as he continues to recover from off-season hip surgery, and Wild head coach John Hynes said heis still at least another month away from returning to action. But if Wallstedt continues playing at his current level, when he does return, Gustavsson could be the odd man out.

Some might suggest the fact that Gustavsson is in Year One of a five-year extension paying him $6.8 million per season as evidence he'll be traded. That could be the case – and we also have to acknowledge Gustavsson has a full no-movement clause for this season and next season.

But the 28-year-old Swede has averaged 51 appearances per season for each of the past three years. If Wallstedt has firmly established himself as not only Minnesota's goalie of the future, but their goalie of the present, wouldn't you think Gustavsson would welcome a trade to a team that sees him as their starter?

To that end, let's throw out a hypothetical: If the Detroit Red Wings haven't found a new home for former captain Dylan Larkin in the next month or so, is there an opportunity to build a trade around Gustavsson?

Larkin has reportedly included the Wild as a team he'd accept a trade to, and while work would need to be done to make a trade cap compliant, Minnesota would have their second-line center and Detroit would have a cost-certain starting goalie for the next five years.

Regardless if a Detroit-Minnesota trade for Gustavsson materializes, when the Winnipeg Jets work out a trade involving Connor Hellebuyck, Gustavsson could prove to be the best available goalie on the trade market.

There's also the possibility that Guerin decides having two above-average goalies makes sense for his team's competitive hopes, but with every outstanding performance from Wallstedt, the case for trading Gustavsson grows stronger.

If Guerin wants to find a way to inject another elite offensive presence in his lineup, leveraging his goaltending depth is by far the best way to do so.

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