Three possible fits if the Wild trade goaltender Jesper Wallstedt
The Minnesota Wild announced themselves as a team ready to compete with the best after the blockbuster acquisition of defenseman Quinn Hughes. In the toughest division in hockey, the Central, GM Bill Guerin is clearly preparing for an arms race to go all in during the coming seasons.
Guerin dumped a boatload of assets overboard to acquire Hughes and is, by all accounts, still looking to add to his roster. In recent days the future of goaltender Jesper Wallstedt has come into question, with several reports surfacing that the 2021 first-round selection could be in play for the Wild. I reached out to a Minnesota source to ask about it; unsurprisingly, the source opted not to comment on the situation, though not outright denying Wallstedt’s availability.
Looking around the NHL: which teams are best suited to acquire Wallstedt? Taking return, organizational assets and internal needs into account, here are some of the top clubs who could take the biggest swings at Wallstedt.
Honorable mentions
The Florida Panthers and Philadelphia Flyers are two teams who would surely have interest in Wallstedt, though it may be something better tackled during the offseason.
The Panthers need a succession plan for Sergei Bobrovsky, who is a UFA this summer and will turn 38 before next season. In terms of return, center Anton Lundell is exactly what the Wild are looking for as a young (24) center with solid cost certainty ($5 million AAV until 2030) on his contract. Given Aleksander Barkov’s uncertainty to return this season, this would only (potentially) be a deal the Panthers would make in the summer.
The Flyers are dying for long-term stability in net, and Wallstedt would provide that. They like Wallstedt and have for some time; he was discussed as a potential return for Cutter Gautheir two years back. It is well documented that the Wild have liked several of the Flyers’ forwards for a while, and my gut tells me they would target Tyson Foerster – he is sidelined with injury for the remainder of the season.
Both of these teams are fits, but I can’t see it making sense for either club before the summer.
3. New Jersey Devils
This would certainly be a major move for New Jersey Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald, but given the ugly season from Jacob Markstrom and that prospect Mikhail Yegorov remains years away, is it something to consider?
From the Wild’s perspective, Dawson Mercer is the type of player I could see Guerin having an eye on. Though more of a winger than a center, Mercer previously showed he could be a 50+ point player during his sophomore season of 2022-23; would a change of scenery get him back to that level?
If we’re to get crazy for a second, would Jack Hughes be in play for the Devils? It would obviously take a lot more than just Wallstedt from the Wild to get it done, to say nothing of what it would mean for where the Devils are going directionally. But man, what a storyline it would be if Jack and Quinn were to split the geographical difference and end up in the mid west together?
The Wild are all-in, so I wouldn’t put it past Guerin to being willing to take a swing like this. Fitzgerald, on the other hand, I’m not so sure.
2. St. Louis Blues
Sitting in the bottom of the Central Division, the St. Louis Blues are open for business – though their prices are extremely high. Of all the available players none is more tantalizing (and expensive) than 2017 20th overall pick Robert Thomas. As I wrote last week, Thomas is available but for an exuberant cost; would a first-round pick goaltender be a good starting point to get talks going?
Thomas – age wise, style wise, contractually and positionally – checks all the Wild’s boxes. Under contract until 2031 at an AAV of $8.125 million (which I’ve heard the Wild view as a good deal), Thomas would shore up the top-line pivot role for Guerin for the next five years minimum. And with the Kirill Kaprizov contract set to kick in next season with a $17 million AAV along with a potential Hughes extension in 2027, the cost certainty on a No. 1 center like Thomas would be welcomed.
For the Blues, it would allow them to finally turn the page on Jordan Binnington and not have all their eggs in the basket of Joel Hofer. Thomas does hold all of the cards with a no-trade clause, and whether GM Doug Armstrong would want to make a colossal trade like that in the division is a question mark, but on paper this deal could make sense for both sides.
3. Ottawa Senators
The sad reality is that Filip Gustavsson, now the starting goaltender for the Wild, was once property of the Ottawa Senators following the trade of Derick Brassard to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2018. Former Senators GM Pierre Dorion made the massive miscalculation of sending a young Gustavsson out the door to bring in an established veteran in Cam Talbot – the Senators have not stopped searching for consistent goaltending since.
If you’re looking around the league, no team needs a solid young goaltender more than the Senators. They have played legitimately good hockey this season – they rank third in expected goals percentage per moneypuck.com – but have seen miserable goaltending sink them time and time again. With his team now 10 points out of a playoff spot, GM Steve Staios has to know what needs to be done for next season.
The Senators have three players that would make sense for the Wild: Dylan Cozens, Ridly Greig and Shane Pinto. Any of those three would be a solid starting point in a deal for Wallstetdt; I do believe the Wild had interest in Cozens while he was still a member of the Buffalo Sabres. Greig has largely played wing at the NHL level, but both a league scout and Senators source told me that they believe that the 2020 first-round pick can still be a pivot in the league. Pinto has mainly been buried as the Senators’ third line center but has shown flashes of being able to contribute more in an elevated role.
The Wild need a young center (which the Senators have a plethora of) and the Senators desperately lack a young goaltender to match their skater talent pool. It seems like a match made in heaven with a hint of irony given the blunder by Dorion in 2022.
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