Jesper Wallstedt says he's ready to provide a jolt to this Wild team and thinks he is ready to play at the NHL level.
Wild top prospect Jesper Wallstedt hopes to provid a jolt to this team when he starts his first NHL game.ST. PAUL — Do the Wild need a jolt?
They have lost five of their last six games and are slowly falling back out of the playoff race that they re-entered after going 11-3-0 in their first 14 games under coach John Hynes.
As it stands today, the Wild are sitting at 17-18-4 and are only three points out of a playoff spot. The Edmonton Oilers hold the second wild-card spot in the West right now, but the St. Louis Blues and Seattle Kraken are tied with the Oilers at 41 points. Then there's the Arizona Coyotes who are only a point out and the Calgary Flames who are two points out.
There are essentially six teams battling in the West for one wild-card spot, but with the Wild being at the tail end of it and slipping out of the race dropping five of their last six, a playoff berth seems close to being out of the equation.
After the Wild's latest 4-0 loss to the Dallas Stars on home ice, Moneypuck.com has the Wild with a 17.6 percent chance of making the playoffs.
How does Jesper Wallstedt come into play?
The Wild are still a bit banged up right now. Last night they got Marcus Foligno back and got Mats Zuccarello back a game earlier, but they are still without Jared Spurgeon, Jonas Brodin, Kirill Kaprizov, Vinni Lettieri, and Filip Gustavsson, all of whom are key players on this team.
Even without Brodin, the Wild went 7-1-0 unit they lost Kaprizov, Gustavsson, and Lettieri to injuries. Since, they have gone 1-4-0 and lost the game where they lost all three players, so essentially 1-5-0.
Wallstedt was also injured when he heard the news that the Wild would be without Gustavsson for some time so Minnesota could not call up their top prospect, but instead called up Zane McIntyre and played Marc-Andre Fleury in six straight games.
But now Wallstedt is healthy and was called up just a few days ago.
"Of course, I saw as soon as Gus got injured and I knew that I was injured as well and I was like okay, I of course want to get there but I just got to take care of myself," Wallstedt said. "We took it easy with my injury and made sure it was 100% before I got the call to come up here. Very happy."
The 6-foot-2 goaltender was dealing with a lower-body injury when Gustavsson was out, but the Wild made sure that when they called Wallstedt up that he would be 100 percent healthy. So the Swedish netminder played in two AHL games after his injury and looked good in both before they recalled him.
"I felt like my game was still strong," Wallstedt said on coming back from his injury. "I stuck to my game plan, I played the game I wanted to play. Of course, it was a little rusty being out for two weeks and getting back into playing games. You can't really practice on how to play the games, it's tough. So you just gotta get back out there and play and it was fun."
There is no guarantee that Wallstedt will get in, but it does seem very likely that he will start against the Stars on the road tomorrow and will get one of the back-to-back games at home this weekend.
"You never know. Taking it day by day and we'll see how it goes," Wallstedt said on the call up and if he expects to play. "But of course, you can see a smile on my face. I'm happy that I'm here and we'll see if the opportunity comes. I'll try to give it my best shot if it happens, otherwise, we'll just get better every day."
Gustavsson and Kaprizov both should be ready sometime next week, but the Wild can't give games away and just wait to be healthy. Wallstedt right now gives the Wild a better chance to win, which is why his presence could provide a spark.
Fleury, 39, has played in six straight games and just needs a night off. Plus the team hasn't played the best in front of him.
Wallstedt, 21, is the future No. 1 goalie of this team and after about a season and a half in the AHL with the Iowa Wild, he believes he's ready.
"I think it's very easy to step out and say, I think I'm ready. Because I'm gonna think that but I think I had a good season in Iowa," Wallstedt said. "I had a good learning season last year, just getting used to everything here but I feel like this year has really been strong and showing off that I can play down there at an elite level. I feel like the next step is getting here and try to prove myself here."
Wallstedt is only expected to start a few games until Gustavsson is back from his injury but for Wild fans, this is a glimpse of what the future has in store for Wallstedt and the Wild.