Des Moines — Iowa head coach Brett McLean is happy for Jesper Wallstedt.
The Minnesota Wild rewarded one of their top prospects in Wallstedt for his strong start in goal for the Iowa Wild this season by having him accompany the team on their trip to Stockholm, Sweden for the NHL Global Series. Instead of being in Iowa this past week, Wallstedt enjoyed a week in Stockholm — about an hour from his native Vasteras.
Sure, Wallstedt missed Iowa’s important divisional matchup against the Rockford IceHogs at home this past weekend — but his play warranted a reward.
“His numbers speak for themselves,” the first-year head coach McLean told The Hockey News Saturday.
You can say that again.
Wallstedt is 6-2 with a .932 save percentage and 2.01 goals against average with two shutouts across his first eight starts this season. His numbers are among the best in the AHL: tied for second in shutouts, tied for fourth in wins, fifth in save percentage and sixth in goals against average. “He’s been outstanding,” McLean said.
Don’t forget the AHL Player of the Week Award Wallstedt received for his play during the week of Oct. 30 to Nov. 5, where he stopped 57 of 60 shots for a .950 save percentage across two starts.
Wallstedt followed that up with an even better week, McLean said. Wallstedt won both his starts that next week, which ended with a 24-save shutout performance against the Chicago Wolves on Nov. 11. And what’s especially impressive is the fact he did that after stopping 35 of the 37 shots he faced against Rockford the night before.
“I think they just had to rotate the award around,” McLean quipped.
Rookie defenseman Carson Lambos has had a front row seat to Wallstedt’s rise.
“He stands tall for us when we have our breakdowns,” he said, “and we can really lean on him. Sometimes, we do probably too much, but we can get away with it at times — and he’s a rock back there.”
Keep in mind that the 6-foot-3 Wallstedt just turned 21 last Tuesday.
“He’s so calm,” McLean said. “Other goalies are scrambling to cover the pucks, and he’s got a real presence about him back there — and it calms our whole team down.”
This all comes after a promising rookie season where Wallstedt went 18-15-5 with a .908 save percentage and 2.68 goals against average.
. . .
If you ask McLean about Sammy Walker’s start, he will tell you the 24-year-old’s zero in the goal column through 12 games is misleading. On the surface level, it appears that the 24-year-old Edina native who scored 27 goals last season in Iowa and has 11 games of NHL experience is struggling to start the year.
But that’s not the case, McLean says, adding that Walker has remained positive despite the lack of scoring. The team charts scoring chances and a slew of other numbers and Walker's name isn't found at the bottom, or even in the middle of the team.
“He’s right at the top of all of them,” McLean said.
Walker has been unlucky, and just hasn't found the back of the net yet, McLean said. As he noted, Walker — who has seven assists and a team-leading 37 shots — could’ve had three goals Saturday against Rockford. So, it's not that he's not putting himself in a position to score.
“He’s playing a really good game,” McLean said. “He’s disrupting, he’s skating, the puck just hasn’t gone in for him, and everything went in for him at the start of last year.
“So, it’s gonna happen for him.”
All data via AHL.com