Wallstedt Continues to Improve with Wild

There was never a shortage of hockey talk and specifically goaltending talk in the Wallstedt house in Vasteras, Sweden.

Jesper Wallstedt, considered by many to be the most promising young Swedish goaltender since Henrik Lundqvist arrived in the NHL almost 20 years ago, grew up with an older brother, Jacob, who was an elite netminder in the family’s native Sweden. His father, Jonas, also played goal.

While his father didn’t play at a high level, there was often goaltending chat in the car on the way home from practices and games, little reminders of things that happened on the ice, goalie to goalie.

“I just basically grew up hanging with my brother, who was eight years older than me, he was playing at a higher level and I was still young and I was hanging around his locker room and the guys and watching his games. There was just a lot of hockey talk in the family when you have two former goalies and I just fell into that as well,” Wallstedt said after a recent training camp session.

“My brother, he was watching and kind of just a role model,” Wallstedt said. “The way he worked, he’s such a nice guy, he is a good person to look up to.”

I happened to be in the Wild draft room when the team selected the big netminder with the 20th pick in the 2021 draft.

There was a palpable buzz for Judd Brackett, the head of the Wild’s draft team and a former netminder himself, and the rest of the scouting staff as Wallstedt’s name continued to remain on the board as the Wild’s pick at 22 got closer.

GM Bill Guerin began making calls and the team moved up two spots and nabbed the player they felt was the best goaltender in the draft class.

But you don’t know until you know, do you? There is always the question of how potential translates to reality and this is especially true for goaltenders.

Last season marked the first big step for Wallstedt in that journey as he played in North America for the first time, enjoying a solid season with the Iowa Wild turning in a 2.68 GAA and .908 save percentage in 38 appearances for the Wild’s AHL affiliate.

It was a season not without its surprises and challenges.

“Definitely I think it was different than I thought,” Wallstedt acknowledged. “I definitely think I maybe underestimated the league a little bit. I think the AHL is a much better league than the credit it gets. Especially being a guy from over in Europe, you’re only talking about the NHL. You never talk about the AHL. So I think, definitely think, I underestimated the league as well. It’s a great league. It’s tougher than most people think. But still you want to get to the NHL one day so you’ve got to succeed there. I felt like I definitely became better as long as the season went but I’m looking to improve this year.”

Former NHL netminder Richard Bachman has been working with the Wild’s netminders in Iowa for the past three seasons.

In just one season in North America, Wallstedt has traveled a long road.

“I think in terms of his evolution, just from having one year of pro in North America under his belt, he’s grown in a lot of different ways. He’s really taken a step in just maturing and learning how to take care of himself, being on his own,” Bachman said.

One of those key elements of maturation has been in conditioning.

“I think the biggest thing is he’s learned what it means to really be a pro and you start to put the work in,” Bachman said. “I was telling him the other day I was super proud of him. We had a big thing about coming in and making sure we’re ready to go, in shape. Because it’s eye-opening when you first come over. He put in the work and it’s lightyears different than where he was at the beginning of last year which is awesome because now we’ll be able to start fine-tuning the game a lot quicker for him, so he’s really grown in that regard.”

Conditioning allows the technical aspects of the game to come more quickly – at least in theory. But there’s also the personality of a player that evolves the more they become comfortable with the process of becoming a professional hockey player. Strides have been taken there, too.

“I think the one thing at least from the beginning of last year when I first got to meet him, he seemed a little quiet and stuff but when he’s comfortable around his teammates it’s how much of a natural leader he is in that room and how outgoing and how much fun he has with all his teammates that was a side that was fun to watch that side grow as the season went along,” Bachman said.

If the AHL was markedly different than Wallstedt imagined it might be, it’s also fair to say that he arrived in North America, like a lot of European players, having played against much older players since he was in his mid to late teens. It’s the European model for its elite young players.

“I almost think it’s easier because we’re playing professional hockey in Sweden and in Europe and here it’s all about playing juniors and playing against guys that are the same age,” Wallstedt explained. “And I feel like the guys coming over from Europe we’ve all played against men. We know what it takes. We look up to these guys that are 30, 35 years old and we are 17, 16, 18 years old. We see how they have done their whole careers and what they still have to work on and that kind of gives you a heads up being 15 years younger, just looking up and seeing they’re still improving.”

For instance he worked alongside veteran goalie Joel Lassinantti in Lulea in Sweden’s top league before coming to North America. Wallstedt soaked in how Lassinantti prepared and his diligence at getting better even though he was a decade older than Wallstedt.

“Being next to him was great,” Wallstedt said. “Just seeing the way he took care of himself, just whatever it takes to be that good. I’ve obviously wanted to become even better and here’s what he’s doing and where he’s at and I’ve got to be better than that. He was great.”

One of the mantras after a player is drafted is that it doesn’t matter the number only what you do with the opportunity. But there remains the reality that expectations are always higher for high picks. It’s no different for Wallstedt.

But he seems to be grounded even as much as the organization and Wild fans have high hopes for his continued development and eventual arrival in the NHL.

Bachman has seen little to suggest the 20-year-old expects opportunities to be handed to him.

“I guess I’d start by saying he’s an extremely confident player and person which is great but I think that groundedness, just with his overall demeanor, is he doesn’t get high and low and when you talk about goaltending. A lot of times that comes up,” Bachman said.

“You see that in him off the ice and you see it on the ice. I think that’s actually one of his biggest strengths is he is the ultimate competitor. He hates losing. He hates giving up goals. But you’d never be able to tell any of it,” Bachman added. “He lives in the moment pretty much each and every day and I think that’s a huge strength that not a lot people quite see yet but will help him continue to grow.”

How big is this season for Wallstedt? They’re all big, of course.

“I think the challenge is now to go and really be one of the best goalies down there,” Bachman said. “But again we’re talking about a young kid and it’s a goalie so it goes back to just putting the work in every single day. Whether it’ll be going through a little lull or not he’s going to learn a lot. So now it’s just about playing games, seeing situations and just continuing to grow his overall game. So it’s a big year for him but he’s trending the right way which is good so there’s not a rush in that regard.”

Wallstedt is well aware of the narrative that accompanies him to North America and his first steps towards becoming an NHL netminder. But the message from within the organization and really from himself is simple, keep working, take nothing for granted.

“I just think I hear that from the outside. That’s what the outside speaks about,” Wallstedt said of the expectations and the hype that surrounds him. “Everyone inside of the organization and that I work with know the plan, know the path, know what it takes and know what we have to develop and what we have developed and keep improving on every day to hopefully get there one day.”

“There’s no one saying here, Billy’s (Wild GM Bill Guerin) not saying to me that I’m going to be the future here,” Wallstedt said. “It’s up to myself to take the job and improve every day and just keep working, getting better and there’s no clear path. There’s nothing that’s guarantees to me to succeed in the future but if I put down the work I think I have a great chance of becoming what I want.”