Minnesota Wild rookie goalie Jesper Wallstedt was dominant in November. Can he and veteran Filip Gustavsson deliver bargain-bin elite tandem goaltending for the Wild in the long term?
One of the breakout players of the season is Minnesota Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt.
The 23-year-old was named the NHL's rookie of the month for November after posting a league-best 1.14 goals-against average, .967 save percentage and three shutouts in six games. And Wallstedt's season totals of a 1.93 GAA and a .938 SP are nothing short of spectacular.
If voting for the Vezina Trophy as the league's top netminder were done today, you'd have to think Wallstedt would be deserving of at least a fifth-place vote, if not better, even if he is a backup to veteran Filip Gustavsson. And he absolutely deserves some love in the Calder Trophy race for the rookie of the year.
But that's a tremendous feat on Wallstedt's behalf. And it brings to mind the question of whether the Wild have a new edition of what the Boston Bruins had from 2021-22 to 2023-24 when they employed goalies Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman. Those two helped the Bruins reach an NHL-record 65-12-5 mark in 2022-23, when Ullmark won the Vezina and both goalies earned the William M. Jennings Trophy.
Now, there are still two-thirds of the season left to play, and a lot of things have to go right for Wallstedt to keep up these elite stats. Gustavsson also has solid individual numbers, including a .906 SP and a 2.74 GAA. In November, Gustavsson had a 5-1-2 record, .923 SP and 2.06 GAA.
If this duo can keep it up, they will not only be one of the league's top tandems, but they will be one of the best bargains as well.
Minnesota is paying Gustavsson $3.75 million this season, but that increases to $6.8 million for each of the next five years. And the Wild aren't going to be paying Gustavsson that amount to be their backup.
Wallstedt's current salary is $2.2 million, and his contract runs through next season. He'll be an RFA afterward, so the Wild do have ultimate control over him in the short term.
But if Minnesota GM Bill Guerin plays his cards just right, he could get Wallstedt's signature on an extension paying him about the same amount as Gustavsson is earning right now. And in a world where the NHL's salary cap ceiling is projected to rise exponentially in the next few years, paying about $13.6 million for your goaltending tandem isn't the worst thing in the world if both tandem members are playing as well as Wallstedt and Gustavsson are playing at the moment.
The Wild have put together a 14-7-5 mark thus far this year in large part because they've got reliable netminding. It's hard to envision Wallstedt playing any better than he has of late, and while it would be great to see Gustavsson ratchet up his individual numbers to rival or better Wallstedt's numbers, if Minnesota gets the same performance out of both goalies, they're going to be thrilled.
We have to remember that Wallstedt has only 14 NHL games under his belt. Once he goes through the league one time, pro scouts and coaches are likely to engineer better results against him. There's a reason why even the best goalies have save percentages only as high as .910 and .920. So there's likely to be some regression for Wallstedt in the weeks and months ahead.
However, Wallstedt’s dynamic play has given the Wild much to be excited about. If he can string together consistently above-average performances beyond just a few weeks, Minnesota is going to be one of the most dangerous squads in the league. And if that happens, Gustavsson and Wallstedt will set the bar for NHL tandems.
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