Wild got red-hot goalie Jesper Wallstedt in draft swap with Edmonton, much to Oilers’ chagrin

EDMONTON, ALBERTA – As unprecedented as Jesper Wallstedt’s current reign has been, it’s his origin story that’s been all the rage.

You see, back in 2021 the Wild moved up two spots in the first round of the NHL draft to No. 20 to nab Wallstedt, the top-ranked European goaltender. The switch cost them their first-rounder and a third-round pick.

And the team they made this trade with was none other than the Edmonton Oilers, the Stanley Cup runners-up the last two years with the most beleaguered goaltending situation in the league: The Oilers own the NHL’s worst save percentage and are having a mediocre season despite being led by not one but two MVPs in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

So, yeah, Wallstedt’s lineage has been in the limelight.

“It’s been way too much about this,” he said. “I’m drafted by Minnesota. I play here. I love it here. That’s kind of the end of the conversation.”

For Wallstedt, at least.

But the what-ifs will probably linger, especially after Wallstedt went into Edmonton Tuesday night and shut out the Oilers 1-0 for his latest coup during his extraordinary rookie run.

“I’m trying to do my job and making a lot of saves but can’t do that without the way we’ve been playing tonight and every other game.”

From all angles, Wallstedt’s impact has been stunning.

Take the comparison to last season, when he was cut from a potential three-goalie system with Filip Gustavsson and Marc-Andre Fleury because the Wild didn’t have enough salary-cap space to keep him on their roster after they were left shorthanded by injury. Wallstedt went to the minors and struggled, on the ice and in his head.

But that adversity seems incompatible with the confidence Wallstedt has exuded in the net this season, the 23-year-old fulfilling his prospect pedigree as a technical guru.

“The thing that I respect about him is he had a tough year last year, and he didn’t handle those situations the right way,” coach John Hynes said. “But he took the action steps and learning lessons from that and turned it into action of what he needs to be able to do to play at this level.”

The two have teamed up for the second-best save percentage (.914) in the NHL, and the healthy competition in the crease is bringing out the best in each goalie; Wallstedt is 7-0 during the Wild’s 12-game point streak, while Gustavsson is 3-0-2. Wallstedt has played himself into an every-other-game rotation with Gustavsson after starting as the backup.

“To have two goalies like that, it makes our job really easy, both physically and mentally,” defenseman Brock Faber said. “Just the confidence that they have back there, it just bleeds throughout the whole lineup.”

As for Wallstedt’s execution on the ice, that’s most impressive.

After backstopping the Wild to their signature win of the season last Friday vs. Colorado, a 3-2 victory after Wallstedt stopped stars Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar in the shootout, his encore was holding Edmonton’s McDavid and Draisaitl scoreless.

Where Wallstedt was at his sharpest was in crunch time, including on two second-period power plays for the Oilers.

The way Wallstedt carries himself between the pipes, it’s like he doesn’t even know what that is.

“It feels safe to have him,” said defenseman Jonas Brodin, who scored against Edmonton. “Every shot you don’t get stressed out from it.”

His results are resounding: Wallstedt’s four shutouts are tops in the NHL, as are his .944 save percentage and 1.74 goals-against average. He’s only the fourth rookie goalie with four shutouts in a six-game stretch and just the sixth to go on a 10-game season-opening point streak (8-0-2); the last to do so was former Gophers All-America Robb Stauber in 1992.

“Obviously, my game plan is to make the pucks come to me [and] be in the right place at the right time,” said Wallstedt, who was named the NHL’s rookie of the month for November. “Usually when it looks like they more so hit me than I’m saving them is usually a good sign, and I felt that way today.”

The players the Oilers chose with the two draft picks the Wild sent them aren’t in the NHL. Xavier Bourgault was taken 22nd overall and was later traded to Ottawa. He has 41 goals in 200 AHL games.