Wild's future looks bright

ST. PAUL - The ceiling is high for Jesper Wallstedt. The young Swedish goaltender projects to be the Wild's No. 1 for the future and somebody the organization will likely build around.

Wallstedt, 21, got in three games for the Wild during the season. His first start was one to forget.

“That first start, I take full responsibility for," Wild General Manager and President of Hockey Operations Bill Guerin said. "That was just a poor choice of games to just throw him into. Hopefully he learned something from it, but I felt terrible after putting him in that game."

The Wild gave Wallstedt his first ever game on the road in Dallas. He let up seven goals, eight if you count the one that was later overturned, on 34 shots. After that, the Wild sent Wallstedt back down to Iowa where he preformed well.

“Going back down to Iowa, working on his game, doing the things he did to perform the way he did when he came back up, I was really happy about that," Guerin said. "He looked good.”

After being eliminated from the playoffs, the Wild called up Wallstedt to get him two more games. He shutout the Chicago Blackhawks and stopped 29 out of the 31 shots he faced against the San Jose Sharks.

Not long after the Wild announced the re-signing of 39-year-old goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to a one-year deal. In the press conference after the Wild announced the Fleury signing, Guerin said there is no rush with Wallstedt or figuring out the goaltending tandem next year but he did say that Filip Gustavsson needs to improve his fitness.

"He's not the only one," Guerin said on Gustavsson improving his fitness level. "This is just something where you know, there are certain players that just have to. They just have to stay on it. Some guys have to work on their fitness level. Some guys will have to work on their diet. Some guys have to work on their professionalism, their consistency and things like that. We all have stuff that we have to work on. So for Gus that's a key factor in him."

Guerin also said that Wallstedt needs to get more starts next year and will get more starts. So does that mean the Wild will carry three goalies?

"What’s the workload going to be like for Flower? What’s it going to be like for Gus? How many games do we need Wally to get because he needs to get more than he got this year," Guerin said.

There seems to be about two options that could happen this offseason for the Wild on the goaltending front. Either they trade Gustavsson and roll with Wallstedt and Fleury or they keep Gustavsson and keep Wallstedt in the AHL. If they go with option two, Wallstedt will likely be called up throughout the year to play in games like Guerin said he will.

If they keep Gustavsson and Fleury for the start of the season, they could decide to trade Gustavsson at the Trade Deadline. This would allow the Wild to get Wallstedt more games.

Fleury will be 40-years-old in November and Wallstedt will be 22. The question is, can you go with a Fleury and Wallstedt tandem for the whole season? Can Fleury play almost 50 games?

The veteran goaltender played in 40 this season and went 17-15-5 with a 2.98 goals-against-average and a .895 save percentage with two shutouts.

Gustavsson, on the other hand, went 20-18-4 with a 3.06 goals-against-average and a .899 save percentage with three shutouts in 45 games. There is no doubt he struggled after his career season a year ago.

<em>Will the Wild keep Gustavsson next year or trade him?</em>

"I would say it was ups and downs. Some very good games, come very poor games. Way more inconsistent than last year," Gustavsson said on his season. "Very frustrating because you can play so good sometimes and then you have bad performances. It just tears instead of going on a steady pace the whole way."

Despite Gustavsson's poor season, Guerin did say at the end of the year interviews with the media that the 25-year-old goaltender can still be a No. 1 goaltender.

"Oh yeah, he can handle the No. 1. Yeah, he can handle those types of games and numbers. He can handle it all," Guerin said. "But you know, it's up to us to help him out, stay on him and make sure he's getting the right workload. Practice, post practice and all that stuff. He can handle it."

One other thing John Hynes and Guerin indicated was Gustavsson needs to improve how he practices.

"He's a very talented guy," Hynes said. "I think the big thing a lot of players have to learn is that a lot of them are here because of talent, but then how do you take that talent and make it excellent, or elite? A lot of times it's all the things surrounding the game. It's your mental toughness, it's your mental mind state, it's your fitness, it's how you practice, and it's how you prepare. Sometimes guys need to learn that they need to take it to another level to maximize their talent. And that's encouraging to us that Gus is in that place."

Hynes and the coaching staff explained they have a plan in place for Gustavsson this offseason to try and get back to his .931 save percentage and 2.10 goals-against average he had a season prior.

"I think he was very well thought out in his meeting and he recognizes some things that need to improve," Hynes said. "There's a clear plan in place for him. We'll stay connected on it this summer, whether it's myself or Freddy [Chabot], with him. Sometimes in a tougher year you learn those lessons of maybe you could get away with certain things before. And then when you go into a situation where it doesn't, I think sometimes it ignites or ignites someone to realize that there needs to be a certain improvement."

<em>Can Gustavsson get back to the season he had in 2022-23? </em>

Guerin didn't meet with Gustavsson for an exit meeting after the season, but Hynes said a few times that Gustavsson was honest in his meeting and understood what he needs to do in the offseason to be better.

"It’s normal. Getting good workouts in, trying to get in the best shape I can be for when the camp starts," Gustavsson said on what he needs to do in the offseason. "I have some personal things I need to sort out to be even better for my own sake going out and play goalie every night.

"It’s more like, the brain is big thing in how people work. If the brain isn’t there, you don’t perform at your highest level."

As of now, Hynes and the staff will plan for Gustavsson to be back next year despite the high chance of him being traded. As for Gustavsson, he hopes he can be back next year and help this team but also show he can redeem himself.

"We’ll see. There is always a business side to hockey too," Gustavsson, who has two years left on his contract, said. "I like it here and would love to be back next year and try to redeem what happened this year. We’ll see."

It's safe to say Gustavsson will redeem himself, it's just a matter of what team he will do it on.

“Honestly I don’t know if I have a great answer for that question right now," Guerin said. "I mean there’s a lot that goes into it. I’m comfortable with our goalies the way it is now. We’re going to have to talk about it, assess everything, really find out where everybody is.

"I just don’t have anything definite for you. We’re going to talk about that.”

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