ST. PAUL, Minn. — We’ll find out Sunday if Jesper Wallstedt is off the Wild’s roster for already the second time in three games this season.
The challenging part of the Wild planning to carry three goalies for large parts of this season is the Wild’s rookie goalie might be a transaction ping-pong ball to no fault of his own.
We figured that if Wallstedt was going to spend time in Iowa this season, it would be to get him game action because of the way the Wild’s more varsity goaltenders were faring. Or simply because the schedule, either in Minnesota or Iowa, dictates it makes more sense to have him in Des Moines temporarily playing games.
But on the morning of Thursday’s opener, Wallstedt already couldn’t be on the active roster because defenseman Declan Chisholm was sick and the Wild wanted a seventh defenseman in the building in case another blue liner arrived to the game ill or somebody got hurt in warmups.
So Wallstedt was reassigned to Iowa. It wasn’t a big deal because he wasn’t even supposed to dress against the Blue Jackets.
Saturday night against the Seattle Kraken, Wallstedt backed up Marc-Andre Fleury.
Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury is scored on by Kraken right wing Oliver Bjorkstrand for the first goal in Saturday’s shootout. (Matt Blewett / Imagn Images)
But center Joel Eriksson Ek sustained a head injury when he took an elbow to the face from Adam Larsson. The Wild played an exhausting game and expended way more energy than ever anticipated when they jumped out to a 2-0 lead.
The Kraken came up back from a two-goal deficit and a pair of one-goal deficits to take a 5-4 shootout victory, a game in which the Wild had to overextend several forwards. At one point in overtime, Kirill Kaprizov was so tired, that he dragged himself to the bench and thus pulled Marcus Johansson offside on the final shift of Kaprizov’s 24-minute and 16-second night.
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After the game, coach John Hynes didn’t have an update as to whether Eriksson Ek would be on the Wild’s flight to Winnipeg for Sunday’s 5 p.m. game. But later, president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Guerin told The Athletic that Eriksson Ek didn’t accompany the team on its 11:30 p.m. charter.
Hynes can always play rookie Liam Ohgren in his first game of the season to replace Eriksson Ek and Freddy Gaudreau could move to center.
But Hynes wondered aloud: “Now we’ve gotta go back and see if there are any more questionable guys for (Sunday). … Then you’re probably going to have to make some moves.”
There are only two moves that really could be made if that were the case. One is to reassign Wallstedt for another forward. The other is to play seven defensemen as long as Chisholm, who practiced Friday and skated Saturday morning, is feeling good enough to play.
But because Wallstedt doesn’t require waivers, it’s clear that even if the Wild decide not to reassign him Sunday for a forward, this could be a constant juggling act for the foreseeable future any time the Wild need a forward.
That sure doesn’t seem fair nor the smartest way to break in your 21-year-old “Goalie of the Future” who most importantly needs starts, whether that be in Minnesota and Iowa. Remember, he is so important to the Wild, he was signed last week to a two-year, $4.4 million extension despite only three games of NHL service.
It’s a sure signal they’re planning for him to be on the roster full-time next year.
This just seems like it could be a constant problem. For instance, let’s just say the Wild don’t recall a forward Sunday but lose another forward against the Jets.
Remember, there’s a good chance the Wild have it penciled in that Wallstedt is to make his season debut on Tuesday in St. Louis. Are they suddenly not going to be able to play him because they have to use his roster spot to recall a forward against the Blues?
Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson makes a save during Minnesota’s season-opening game against the Blue Jackets. (Matt Krohn / Imagn Images)
This was all self-induced when they decided late last season to re-sign Fleury for his 21st and final season. It signaled that they were going to try to trade Filip Gustavsson and come back with a Wallstedt-Fleury tandem. They were unable to trade Gustavsson and now because of that have decided to still carry three goalies because they feel they must get Wallstedt more NHL action this season.
But there are going to be times this season when they’re not going to be able to carry three even if they want to because Wallstedt’s occupying one of their 23 permissible roster spots. Plus, he carries a $925,000 cap hit, so to even afford another forward under their ceiling, he’s likely going to always have to be the guy that goes down.
This is part of the reason Hynes wouldn’t commit Saturday morning that the plan is to start Wallstedt in St. Louis. He knows everything this season when it comes to his starting goalies is to be determined based on circumstance, not necessarily how they’re playing, but how healthy the Wild roster is.
The one thing we know for certain: Fleury, who gave up four goals Saturday and another two in the shootout, is going nowhere. He has a no-move clause. And trading Gustavsson now seems risky because he’s 26 and worked hard this offseason to return in great shape and resurrect his quality play of two years ago. Trade Gustavsson, and suddenly you have a soon-to-be 22-year-old goalie with three NHL games of service as a tandem with a soon-to-be 40-year-old whose game isn’t close to what it used to be.
Since Fleury is retiring after this season, a Gustavsson-Wallstedt tandem next season at a combined less than $6 million in cap space seems the most prudent way to go rather than trading Gustavsson.
So, it’ll be interesting to watch how the Wild navigate all of this. But carrying three goalies on a 23-player roster without enough cap space to recall another player has the makings of a significant problem and we’re only two games into this 82-game season.
Since Wallstedt is always going to be the easiest option to send to Iowa whenever the Wild need a forward, this could be a dizzying year for the young goalie.
(Top photo of Jesper Wallstedt in preseason play: Nick Wosika / Imagn Images)
