Wild goalie of the future Jesper Wallstedt opens up on ‘terrible' season, what's next

New York Times

14-05-2025

DES MOINES, Iowa — There might have been a few rock bottoms for Jesper Wallstedt this season. One, he called an 'all-time low' and 'terrible.'
But there were also moments when AHL Iowa goalie coach Richard Bachman felt the touted Minnesota Wild prospect started to figure things out. The light would come on. One such time was in December. Wallstedt thought he'd gotten his game back only to give up five straight goals in a road loss in Rockford. As Bachman put it, the feeling was, 'What do I have to do to get out of this?'
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The Wild would shut Wallstedt down for a few games, giving him a mental break and telling him to go back to basics. But before that, Bachman called Wallstedt into his small office at Wells Fargo Arena for a chat. Bachman, Wallstedt's coach and confidante the past three pro seasons, usually goes over video or talks technique. This one was different. He challenged him.
'Wally, I need more,' Bachman told him.
'I totally understand,' Wallstedt replied. 'I need to be better. I need to give you more.'
Wallstedt isn't a super emotional kid. But Bachman could see the 22-year-old showing heart in the moment.
'He cares so much, and it was hurting him,' Bachman said. 'But that was probably the moment where we were like, 'All right, I've got to slow this thing down, get him back centered.''
This was a frustrating and sometimes maddening season for Wallstedt, who went 9-14-4 with an .879 save percentage, 3.59 goals-against average. There were plenty of reasons for it. The Swede admitted he didn't handle the beginning of the season well, getting it into his head he'd be part of a three-goalie rotation in Minnesota, then letting that linger until midseason in Iowa. There were three injuries, including a groin issue and a concussion.
It's fair that Wild fans worry about the first-rounder who has been considered their goalie of the future — their 'Wall of St. Paul.'
It makes sense the Wild brass plans to bring in an experienced No. 3 goalie to have in Iowa next year, just in case, and may start contract extension talks with Filip Gustavsson, their current No.1. Wallstedt still has plenty to prove in the most important summer of his career.
But Wild management and coaches believe in Wallstedt, feeling the adversity this season will help him when he undoubtedly finds some at the next level. And Wallstedt, as humbled and down as he was this season, isn't wavering in his confidence on what he can be, starting next year as Gustavsson's backup.
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'No. I'm definitely not concerned,' Wallstedt said in a candid 30-minute conversation with The Athletic. 'I know everyone is going to have a down year or down period sometime. Obviously, I would have loved to have it with a shorter time. I would have loved not to be injured three times. But the fact is, I have been injured. I've not been good enough. But that doesn't change from what I can become.
'I'm still 22 years old. I'm still super young. It's my fifth year pro at 22. I'm not doubting I can turn it around and have a great year next year. I know I can do it. It's about actually finding a way to do it. It's been a lot of talk, and it's about doing it right now. It feels like there's been enough excuses. It's been enough this and that. 'I could have done this.' I've just got to get back to doing my job and that's saving the puck and winning games, and I haven't done that good enough.'
'Maybe I wasn't as ready during that game as I would be today.'I spent an afternoon in Iowa w/ #mnwild goalie of the future Jesper Wallstedt. The Swede was very candid about his #NHL debut, Hynes' pep talk, Fleury as a mentor. 'He wants to be the man.' https://t.co/2QMPZiKu2R pic.twitter.com/8JzVLvxYrT
— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithNHL) April 3, 2024
As Gustavsson often puts it, being a goalie is 90 percent in your head. And Wallstedt's season first started to derail at the beginning with his mental approach. President of hockey operations and general manager Bill Guerin openly talked about a three-goalie rotation all summer, with the idea of Wallstedt rotating in and getting some NHL experience. They told him to get a place in the Twin Cities. Wallstedt's apartment remained mostly empty all year.
But everyone should have known it would be extremely difficult to carry three goalies with the Wild's cap situation. Whether Guerin & Co. could have set Wallstedt up better can be argued, but Wallstedt put the blame squarely on himself. It took until around Christmas for him to effectively 'land' in Iowa mentally.
'I definitely don't think I handled it the right way,' Wallstedt said. 'And, looking back on it, I felt like I took it way too hard and maybe I doubted myself way too much and thought it was my fault or something. After a full season, there's no way (the Wild) could have kept three goalies all year. I'm almost laughing myself that I actually believed in a little bit that there could have been three with the cap space.
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'I wasn't (good), so there was no reason to keep me up there. Maybe I should have been a little smarter in that sense. I definitely didn't handle it right, and I think I let it affect me way too hard.'
It didn't help that Wallstedt, living in one of the team's apartments in Des Moines, had his belongings split between Iowa and Minneapolis, so he never really 'felt like at home.' His girlfriend, Erika, would go back and forth to grab things in between his call-ups.
Wallstedt said he talked to sports psychologists back home in Sweden and got help from Wild director of human performance specialist Aaron Bogosian. It wasn't necessarily that he was ticked he was sent down. He wondered, 'Why isn't anything working?' He couldn't save a puck for the first time in his life, and he would constantly overthink it.
'An all-time low,' Wallstedt said.
Iowa general manager Matt Hendricks said Wallstedt's early-season struggles in the AHL were no different than a seven-game playoff series.
'Game 1 didn't go the way you wanted to — how are you going to prepare for Game 2?' he said. 'In this game, nothing ever really goes the way you envision it going. If it does, you do everything in your power to keep it going in that direction. For (Wallstedt), having gone through something like this, at the end of the day, he'll be better for it. He'll be mentally stronger.'
'I believe in Wally and I know he's got the talent,' Guerin said. 'He's just got to fight a little harder when things don't go his way. But I believe in him as a player and a person. He's going to have to come in and earn a spot on the team just like everybody else.'
A focus for Wallstedt the past two offseasons has been working on his conditioning and practice habits, and Bachman has seen an improvement in both of those areas. There were some things that Bachman and the staff suggested Wallstedt change up in his warmup routine in order to keep him healthy, and the prospect was open to it. Wallstedt said he struggled so much, there was no choice but to have an open mind on things.
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'Everyone struggles now and then,' he said. 'You go through rough patches as a player or as a team and you find your way back. But for myself this year, I haven't really found a way to get back to it. Even when I felt like I was playing good, I was not having success. I feel my game is in the right spot, and we'd still lose games and goals still go in. I've just got to be better.'
Bachman said Wallstedt's issues weren't always technical. At times, Wallstedt went from being positioned too low and wide to too high and narrow. They tweaked his stance, his balance, for more power and pace. Bachman said he started to see the 'old Wally' late in the season before his third injury in March.
'The game seemed like it was slowing down,' Bachman said. 'When you see a goalie who is on the ice and everything looks effortless, you're like, 'OK, he's got it figured out.' His ability to track down on pucks, read a release, is where, before you even shoot it, he knows where it's going. He's finally got to that point of putting it together.'
What struck Bachman, Iowa coach Brett McLean and teammates was Wallstedt's attitude and accountability. His work ethic wasn't an issue. He didn't pout or point fingers. It isn't always easy to be a goalie for a struggling team that missed the playoffs for the third time in four seasons.
'I'm confident in myself, knowing what I can do and what to do to succeed,' Wallstedt said. 'I know I'm a great goalie. I know I can save the puck. I've done it for so many years. I've done it at so many different levels. I've done it at the AHL. So it's more that I'm asking myself, 'Why am I not doing it right now? What has changed?' I just need to get a clean slate.'
Future Hall of Famer Marc-Andre Fleury went through his own struggles, seeing a sports psychologist about eight years into his NHL career. Gustavsson too had a reset last summer, when his name was in trade rumors.
'I remember all you guys kind of ripping him from last year, not being as good as possible,' Wallstedt said of Gustavsson. 'And see what a bounceback year he's had?'
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That's what Wallstedt is hoping to have. His plan after the Wild playoff series against Vegas — where he was a black ace — was to spend time back home in Sweden and see his family. He wants to get healthy. But he is expected to spend time this summer working with Wild staff in Minnesota, too.
'If anything, him going through this has given me more confidence he's going to be just fine at that next level,' Bachman said. 'Now he's even more ready than he was seven months ago. He's still a young man. He's still maturing and learning. This is all part of that process. Everyone's path is so different.
'This is all part of what he has to go through, and now he'll come out of it really well.'
Wallstedt's Iowa teammates had fun with him before the rough season wrapped. He was still injured at that point, a late March trip to Austin, where he wasn't expected to play. Some veterans, like Ryan O'Rourke, took a page from the Fleury prank playbook and removed all the furniture from Wallstedt's hotel room and put it in the hallway outside the elevator. So when Wallstedt got off the elevator, he saw a paper on the desk with his key and the name, 'J. Wallstedt.'
April Fools came a little early for Wally this year… 👀#ItStartsInDSM #AprilFools pic.twitter.com/tGYUGxog7Z
— Iowa Wild (@IAWild) April 1, 2025
The hotel staff wasn't laughing. Wallstedt was later brought to the security room to point out the culprits. Teammate Carson Lambos and O'Rourke said Wallstedt was the perfect guy to do that too.
'He's not afraid to get in the middle, jarring back and forth with guys,' Lambos said. 'You've got to be able to take it if you're going to give it.'
Wallstedt has taken it on the chin the past year. The losses. The constructive criticism. The struggles. The internal (and external) doubts. But he sounds like a player who is comfortable in his own skin, accountable for what he did wrong and determined to prove this year was a one-off.
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A veteran NHL scout who watches Iowa often said he wasn't concerned about Wallstedt because of his track record and talent.
'Sometimes it's your environment, too,' the scout said. 'You don't know what happened all year, whether he was told to get a place (in Minnesota). He started well, got hurt … It wouldn't shock me to see him come in and play 20 to 25 games in the NHL next year.'
Said McLean: 'I have no doubt he'll be the Wally we all expected him to be for the Minnesota Wild. The Wallstedt the great goaltender is still there.'