ST. PAUL, Minn — When Jesper Wallstedt saw Marco Rossi score on the Wild’s fourth shootout attempt Monday night, he didn’t shy from the pressure.
It didn’t matter that Wallstedt, 22, and Minnesota had coughed up a three-goal, third-period lead to the Kings.
It didn’t matter what happened last year in AHL Iowa.
The game was now on his shoulders — and he embraced it.
“I just thought to myself, ‘OK, this is the moment you’ve been dreaming for,’” Wallstedt said. “You have a chance to win here for your team. Go out and make the save.”
Wallstedt did just that — not falling for Andre Kuzmenko’s shoulder fake/deke — and calmly gloving down the wrist shot to seal a 4-3 victory for the Wild. As he swiped the puck out of the crease, Wallstedt darted to the slot and celebrated with the swagger of a goal scorer — sliding down on one knee before raising his stick towards the rafters. The Wild’s touted goalie prospect did that celebration after shootout wins in Iowa last year, and that it just “ended up happening out of excitement.”
GOALIE CELLY from Jesper Wallstedt as he shuts the door on the Kings in the shootout 😤🔥 pic.twitter.com/Ozep6CIcxh
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) October 14, 2025
But it sure felt like Wallstedt was releasing a lot more emotions than just that.
“I wanted to start the season with a win, with everything that’s been talked about and all the people that have doubted me and everything,” Wallstedt said. “Obviously, this felt really good. Just proving that I can do it.”
This was a huge growth moment for Wallstedt, who not so long ago was considered the “goalie of the future” for the Wild. He was their No. 1 in waiting since getting snagged 20th overall in the 2021 NHL Draft. Their “Great Wall of St. Paul.” Now, Filip Gustavsson has the No. 1 title, and the major contract that goes along with it (five years, $34 million). And Wallstedt, entering his first full NHL season, is trying to prove himself again. He’s primed to bounce back from frustrating 2024-25 that he himself described as “terrible.”
His goalie coaches and management told him that those struggles would benefit him when he got to the NHL level. And, on Monday, Wallstedt admitted he channeled his lowest moments last year to fuel this resilient rally. After giving up three goals in the third, Wallstedt locked it down, making three saves in overtime (including on a penalty kill and stopped all four shootout attempts.
“I think all the experience from last year, that comes into play,” Wallstedt said. “I know what it’s like losing. I know what it’s like to have bounces go against me. I know what it’s like to break down mentally. I’ve done it now. I know what that feeling is like. I know what mindset I should have to find success instead of failure. And I felt like no matter what faced me, no matter what happened, if a goal scored or not, I felt like I always had a clean mindset and focused on the job to win the game.”
The Wild needed their young goaltender to come through. This game looked like it was going to be a breeze after Minnesota scored three power play goals in the first period — including ones by Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy. They were better defensively than in Saturday’s 7-4 loss against Columbus, allowing just one high danger chance through two periods, according to Sportslogiq. Then they got “lackadaisical,” as captain Jared Spurgeon put it, and the Kings relentlessly pushed. Former Wild winger Kevin Fiala struck first five minutes into the third after the Wild’s fourth line got pinned in their zone on an extended shift. Quinton Byfield scored a few minutes later on a power play blast from the slot. Adrian Kempe tied it when a big block in front of the net bounced right to him during 6-on-5 play — Wallstedt couldn’t slide over in time.
“I know my dad used to tell me 3-0 is the hardest lead in hockey when I was young,” Wallstedt said. “It seemed like there was something to it. As long as we get the two points and win, I’m going to be happy. I don’t care how it looks.”
Wallstedt’s perspective comes after a summer “reset.” He started by getting as far away from hockey as possible. He went back home to Sweden after the Wild’s season ended in the first round against Vegas in early May. Wallstedt didn’t watch the Stanley Cup playoffs until Game 5 or 6 of the Stanley Cup Final. Once he started to skate again, Wallstedt began to process what happened last year — the three injuries, the 3.59 goals against average, the rock bottom. He watched some video. But, mostly, he looked back at a lot of the notes he took throughout the year when he wasn’t feeling well.
“I don’t think my gameplan was bad,” he said. “I didn’t feel like sitting down and changing my gameplan was the way to go.”
A lot of it, Wallstedt felt, was mental. Sure, Wallstedt was diligent in his workouts, focusing on getting lighter and more explosive. But Wallstedt, who worked with some sports psychologists last year, focused on how he could handle things better, rebuild his confidence. “I don’t think I had confidence a single time last year,” Wallstedt said.
Wallstedt had a bad year. It didn’t mean he was a bad goalie.
“I’ve had success every single year of my career,” he said, “I’ve played with guys who were three, four, five years older than me since I was 15. I haven’t had a single bad season and finally now it ends up being a bad year, where nothing works. I’d still have bad stretches where I feel like (s—) and play really good, but now I feel good, and played like (s—). Playing six years pro, a lot of hockey, and I have one bad year. It doesn’t define me as a goalie.”
Goalie coach Frederic Chabot compared it to what Gustavsson went through two summers ago, the other Swede’s own “reset.” Chabot gave Wallstedt a list of things to work on, but the young goalie had to put in the work. And the Wallstedt that showed up early for preseason workouts on Aug. 3 was dialed in — and different than ones in previous camps. There was a maturity in both how he carried himself, and how he worked.
“He’s competing in practice from the first minute to the last minute of practice now,” Chabot said. “As a young guy, that’s something in Iowa that he really had to get better at. His practice levels weren’t high enough. Now it is. That’s why you see the improvements come even quicker.”
It’s something that Gustavsson went through as well.
“At that age, there’s room for improvement on everything technically, physically,” Chabot said. “Because when you’re between 18-22, you come into camp in shape, you think you’re in shape, and then you see those grown men going in the gym and on the ice, and you’re like, ‘Woah, I’ve got work to do.’ It was part of him growing up.”
Wallstedt said those workouts came into play as he saw the clock tick down in the waning moments of overtime Monday. The Wild were holding on during a Kings 4-on-3 power play. He dug deep, making a save on Brandt Clarke on the back post. He watched his teammates sacrifice their bodies, with Spurgeon and Jake Middleton coming up with big blocks.
“I felt like I was in good control, even though I was tired,” Wallstedt said. “The work I’ve done in the summer, I felt it was worth it. I felt I could keep on pushing.”
Chabot said he really wants Wallstedt and Gustavsson to push each other. The two Swedes have had a great dynamic together so far. Wallstedt said he couldn’t wait for Gustavsson to arrive in the Twin Cities before camp so he could book them some tee times. They play video games together with some of the other Wild gamers. Wallstedt’s girlfriend Erika and Gustavsson’s wife, Rebecka, get along well. The two have very different lives, with Gustavsson a married father of two. They’ve got different personalities, with Wallstedt the extrovert and Gustavsson the introvert.
“Sometimes they talk in Swedish so I don’t know what they’re saying,” Chabot joked. “So ‘Wally’ does a lot of the talking. But they seem to get along. They have fun. I think they really enjoy working together.”
Chabot said there’s no set plan of how many starts each goalie will get. Gustavsson, who appeared in a career-high 58 games last season, could get around the same number. But with the condensed schedule, Gustavsson will need his rest and Wallstedt could play “a minimum 24-25 and hopefully 30,” Chabot said.
“Sure, ‘Gus’ is the No. 1, he’ll play a lot of games,” Chabot said. “But depending on how ‘Wally’ is progressing. If he hits it out of the park (Monday), we’ll be more willing to put him in.”
Monday’s victory over the Kings had to go a long way in head coach John Hynes building more trust with his young goaltender. The fact is, Hynes said he’s noticed the payoff in Wallstedt’s summer training since the start of camp. He appreciated how Wallstedt practiced, how he battled during his preseason starts and made enough key saves to win those games, like Monday. “It’s nice to see that stick-to-itiveness by him to understand and let some things go that maybe didn’t go our way,” Hynes said. “But then he’s there when you now have to win the game. I thought he was clutch in those moments.”
Wallstedt feels like he’s in a really good place. And that includes off the ice. He’s in the same Minneapolis-area apartment he rented last year, when he thought he’d open the year as part of a three-goalie rotation in the NHL with Gustavsson and Marc-Andre Fleury. That never panned out for understandable logistical (salary cap) and performance-based reasons. So the apartment remained mostly empty, with Wallstedt or Erika bringing a few things back and forth during his callups. During camp this year, Wallstedt started looking for more furniture. They planned to decorate a bit too, put some things on the walls — “Make it feel more like home.”
“My head and body, everything,” Wallstedt says. “Is in a really good spot.”
