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Jesper Wallstedt

Wild Announce Roster Moves With Joel Eriksson Ek, Jared Spurgeon Out

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3:30 PM : Minnesota has issued an injury update, adding that team captain Jared Spurgeon will also miss Sunday’s game with a lower-body injury. He’s been designated as day-to-day. Spurgeon has recorded one assist, four hits, and six blocks through the first two games, while averaging 19:35 in ice time.

3:00 PM : The Minnesota Wild will be without Joel Eriksson Ek in their Sunday matchup against the Winnipeg Jets, as the centerman bears through a head injury, shares Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. The team specified that the injury is a broken nose. Eriksson Ek left Minnesota’s Saturday matchup midway through the second period after taking an elbow to the face from Seattle defender Adam Larsson.

Minnesota has utilized an emergency recall on forward Travis Boyd, and sent goaltender Jesper Wallstedt to the minor leagues, in response to Eriksson Ek’s absence.

Eriksson Ek has served in a pivotal role for Minnesota in the early going, recording 20 minutes of ice time and a goal in the team’s season opener, and adding just shy of 12 minutes of ice time before leaving on Saturday. He’s been the Wild’s clear top centerman, deployed alongside the team’s leading scorer Matt Boldy. That’ll be a tough role for Minnesota to fill for even one game, though top youngster Marco Rossi could be in a prime position to step up. He’s recorded two assists on the season while operating in the middle-six, and seems to have added a strong layer to his game this summer. Rossi will compete with Ryan Hartman for the ice time opened by Eriksson Ek.

Meanwhile, Boyd will look for space in the bottom-six after recording two points in the AHL Iowa Wild’s season opener. He scored eight points in 16 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season but had his season in December by a torn pectoral muscle. Boyd had managed a pair of strong seasons with Arizona in 2021-22 and 2022-23, scoring 35 and 34 points respectively. This recall will provide his first chance to work back to that stout scoring since going down with injury.

Wild Recall Jesper Wallstedt, Reassign Daemon Hunt

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Oct. 11: After Hunt was scratched as expected for yesterday’s home opener, the team announced he’s been returned to Iowa while Wallstedt is back with the NHL club. The move indicates Chisholm will likely be ready to return tomorrow against the Kraken if needed.

Oct. 10: The Wild have recalled defenseman Daemon Hunt from AHL Iowa, per a team announcement. Hunt will serve as Minnesota’s seventh defenseman while Declan Chisholm, who’s dealing with an illness, is unavailable for tonight’s home opener. Without an open roster spot to execute the transaction, the Wild sent down goaltender Jesper Wallstedt in a corresponding move. He wasn’t expected to dress tonight anyway, with Marc-André Fleury backing up Filip Gustavsson, per Michael Russo of The Athletic.

Drafted in the third round out of WHL Moose Jaw in 2020, Hunt landed in the AHL two years ago and climbed up the depth chart to make his NHL debut last season. He’s posted 41 points (6 G, 35 A) with a -2 rating in 116 games for the Iowa Wild. While a left-shot defender, he can also comfortably log time on the right side.

A strong skater with good physicality for his 6’1″, 201-lb frame, Hunt made a strong impression in training camp after logging an assist and a -1 rating in his first 12 NHL appearances in 2023-24. He’s still waiver-exempt, though, and his level of play didn’t warrant exposing a depth piece like Chisholm or Jonathon Merrill to waivers. The 22-year-old will remain waiver-exempt throughout the season and should receive frequent call-ups whenever injuries affect the Minnesota blue line.

However, Hunt will likely have to wait a bit to make his season debut in the NHL. He’s projected to sit in the press box while Merrill and Zach Bogosian comprise the Wild’s bottom pairing.

As for Wallstedt, the Wild still thoroughly plan on having him in the NHL as part of a three-goalie rotation. Since he’s one of the few waiver-exempt names on the roster, expect him to be papered down to Iowa at other points this season if Minnesota needs an open roster spot in a pinch.

Wild Sign Jesper Wallstedt To Two-Year Extension

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The Wild announced today that they’ve signed goaltender Jesper Wallstedt to a two-year, $4.4MM extension, keeping him under contract through the 2026-27 season. It’s a one-way deal in both years with a cap hit of $2.2MM.

It’s a significant commitment to a goalie with just three NHL starts under his belt, but it’s indicative of his status as arguably the best prospect at the position in the sport. Wallstedt, who turns 22 next month, was under consideration for a top-10 pick throughout most of his draft year in 2021 but ended up falling to Minnesota at No. 20 overall.

Thus far, nothing indicates they should be unhappy with the pick. The 6’3″, 214-lb netminder has kept a rather hapless AHL Iowa team afloat during his two seasons in North America, posting a 2.69 GAA, .909 SV%, three shutouts, and a 40-34-9 record in 83 appearances as their starter. He’s been outstanding in senior-level international play as well, logging a .947 SV% in three appearances for Sweden at the 2023 World Championship.

His NHL career got off to a bit of a rocky start, allowing seven goals on 34 shots in his debut against the Stars on Jan. 10 last season. But he came back with a much more solid performance in two showings against the Blackhawks and Sharks in April, stopping 51 of 53 shots he faced in those games.

He enters 2024-25 on the Wild’s opening night roster with a 2-1-0 record and .897 SV% in his brief NHL showing. He’ll look to build on that while competing with Filip Gustavsson and 40-year-old vet Marc-André Fleury for starts in a three-goalie rotation in Minnesota. He could cement himself as the No. 2 option behind Gustavsson, with Fleury’s workload likely to stay low in his final NHL season.

Wallstedt will still be an RFA upon the expiry of his extension in 2027. He won’t be eligible to test the UFA market until 2030 at the earliest.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Liam Ohgren, Jesper Wallstedt Expected To Make Wild Roster

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Minnesota is expected to maintain top prospects Liam Ohgren and Jesper Wallstedt on their opening night roster, per Michael Russo of The Athletic. Minnesota’s brass has named both players as favorites to make the team since the start of training camp.

The Wild are showing no hesitation in placing perhaps the league’s best goalie prospect – Wallstedt – into a three-man rotation with Marc-Andre Fleury and Filip Gustavsson. All three goaltenders made two appearances in the preseason, with Wallstedt leading the trio in save percentage with a .930 to Fleury’s .925 and Gustavsson’s .898.

Fleury and Gustavsson split starts last year, making 40 and 45 appearances respectively. Neither were particularly productive, each posting save percentages below .900 – a feat Fleury hadn’t managed since his rookie season of 2005-06. Those muddling performances leave plenty of room for excitement in Minnesota’s goaltending room – something Wallstedt may be able to bring quickly. The former first-round pick has posted two strong seasons as an AHL starter, collectively posting 40 wins and a .909 save percentage in 83 appearances.

Ohgren should have a much clearer path to an NHL role, having spent five preseason games on the team’s third-line. He certainly seemed comfortable in the role, posting one goal and one assist – the same statline he managed in his first four NHL games at the end of last season. An upper-body injury delayed the start of Ohgren’s 2023-24 to late November, but he played well immediately upon returning, ultimately recording 19 points in 27 games in Sweden’s SHL –  the highest scoring pace of any U20 SHL player last season. Wild general manager Bill Guerin has previously praised Ohgren’s ability to produce from any spot in the lineup, which could mean he’ll have to work his way up to a high-usage role – though a fully healthy season could make quick work of that challenge.

Both Ohgren and Wallstedt seem poised to bring big impacts to the Minnesota lineup – a welcome relief to the team that ranked in the bottom 15 of both goals scored and goals allowed last season. They’ll each be names to watch closely, as Ohgren fights for healthy footing and Wallstedt looks to claw above two proven NHL starters.

Snapshots: Gustavsson, Flyers, Khaira

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After re-signing Marc-Andre Fleury and indicating that they’d like Jesper Wallstedt to see more NHL action in 2024-25, it looked as if Filip Gustavsson was set to be on the move this summer.  That hasn’t happened as of yet and Joe Smith of The Athletic notes (subscription link) that it appears that Gustavsson will now be sticking around, meaning that Minnesota will be juggling three goalies at times when they want Wallstedt to get a look.  Gustavsson is coming off a tough year, one that saw him post a 3.06 GAA with a .899 SV% in 45 games after putting up 2.10 and .931 respectively in 2022-23.  The Wild’s cap situation will make it tricky to carry three goalies; GM Bill Guerin acknowledged that Wallstedt could be in a “hybrid” situation that sees him spend time with Minnesota and AHL Iowa as a result.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • The Flyers have added a pair of prospects to their upcoming rookie camp roster. Jonathan Bailey of Philly Hockey Now relays that goaltender Sam Hillebrandt and forward Josh Zakreski will join them in September.  Hillebrandt had a 3.67 GAA with a .899 SV% in 36 games last season with OHL Barrie while serving as the third goalie for Team USA at the World Juniors.  Zakreski, meanwhile, is their lone undrafted invitee from July’s development camp to move on to rookie camp so far.  He had 21 goals and 28 assists in 68 games in 2023-24 with WHL Portland.
  • Unrestricted free agent forward Jujhar Khaira was on Vancouver’s radar for the PTO slot that went to Sammy Blais earlier this week, report Thomas Drance and Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic (subscription link). The 30-year-old is a veteran of 337 career NHL games but only one of those came last season as he spent most of the season with AHL Iowa where he had 18 points in 22 games.  Drance and Dhaliwal add that the Canucks have not shown interest in Nick Cousins or Milan Lucic who are also looking for a new place to play for the upcoming season.

Morning Notes: Couturier, Stamkos, Wild Goalies

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Flyers captain Sean Couturier has made a rare early-offseason agent switch. He’s now repped by CAA Sports’ Pat Brisson, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports.

Couturier, 31, was previously represented by Sports Prospects’ Erik Lupien, whose only active NHL client is now Lightning forward Gabriel Fortier, per PuckPedia. Brisson won’t have any say in Couturier’s compensation anytime soon – he just finished the second season of an eight-year, $62MM extension that carries him through 2030. However, the change did come in short order after a season that ended poorly for the 12-year veteran, who was unexpectedly scratched by head coach John Tortorella for a pair of games in March as the Flyers were beginning to fall out of the playoff race.

Lupien did find his name in the news cycle around the time of Couturier’s scratch. He went on record to The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz ahead of Couturier’s first scratch on March 19, saying there had been minimal communication between Couturier and Tortorella about the captain’s diminishing role in the lineup heading into the game. “Sean won’t learn anything by being in the bleachers tonight,” he added. “If there’s no communication of why between the two, in 2024, from my perspective, it ain’t always good to coach and establish regimental fear.”

Couturier had 11 goals, 27 assists and 38 points in 74 games this season with a career-worst -10 rating. It was the most he’s played in a single season since before the COVID-19 pandemic, as he missed most of 2021-22 and all of 2022-23 while recovering from back surgery.

Before landing Couturier as a client, Brisson already managed the highest cumulative cap hit of active contracts ($231.5MM) of any NHL agent, according to PuckPedia. Among Couturier’s Flyers teammates, he also represents defensemen Erik Johnson, Nick Seeler and Cameron York, as well as forward prospects Alexis Gendron and Massimo Rizzo.

Other NHL news and notes to start your Tuesday:

  • Until Lightning captain Steven Stamkos puts pen to paper on an extension, the possibility remains that last night’s Game 5 loss to the Panthers was his last in a Tampa uniform. Speaking to reporters after their first-round elimination, head coach Jon Cooper spoke briefly about his future, saying he hopes there won’t be much conversation about it. “He belongs here. We know it, he knows it… I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but he feels like a Bolt for life. Only he and Julien [BriseBois] can answer that one,” he said. Stamkos, one of the top pending UFAs, said last night that the thought of playing in his final game in Tampa “never crossed my mind” as Florida increased their lead late in a 6-1 win. During training camp, Stamkos said he was disappointed in the lack of early extension talks between him and general manager BriseBois, which still haven’t occurred.
  • The Wild crease will be crowded next season with veteran Marc-André Fleury back for his final NHL season and rookie Jesper Wallstedt primed for more major-league time. That’s left many wondering where this leaves 25-year-old Filip Gustavsson, whose numbers were mediocre this season after finishing seventh in year-end positional All-Star voting in 2023. Speaking to The Athletic’s Joe Smith, GM Bill Guerin confirmed that Wallstedt “needs to get more than he got this year,” and they don’t yet have a plan in place for how they want to operate between the pipes. Carrying three goalies on the active roster isn’t an active proposition for a team with $14.7MM in dead cap space from the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts next season, so if the organization decides Wallstedt is ready for a full-time tandem role with Fleury instead of just increased call-up opportunities, Gustavsson could find himself on the trade market. He has a $3.75MM cap hit through 2025-26, an attractive number for a netminder who’s still cumulatively saved 26.3 goals above average in 84 games with the Wild since 2022.

Minnesota Wild Reassign Adam Beckman, Jesper Wallstedt

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Before their last game of this season this Saturday, the Minnesota Wild have chosen to send a few of the younger players on the roster, announcing the reassignment of both forward Adam Beckman and goaltender Jesper Wallstedt to the organization’s AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild. The news comes in congruence with earlier reporting that forward Frederick Gaudreau would be returning to the lineup after missing some time on personal leave.

After receiving a callup with the team on March 7th, Beckman has been a full-time member of the Wild for a little over a month. Playing in 11 games over that stretch, Beckman was not utilized very heavily in Minnesota, only tallying two assists while only averaging 9:24 of ice time per game. At the AHL level, Beckman was similarly productive to his past two years in Iowa, scoring 16 goals and 29 points over 48 games this season.

Being one of the league’s top goaltending prospects, Wallstedt received his third call-up of the year to Minnesota on April 6th. Unfortunately, he was only able to participate in one game, stopping 29 of 31 shots against the San Jose Sharks in the team’s victory on April 13th.

Neither player will have much to look forward to as they return to the AHL Wild, as Iowa sits with a 25-37-4-3 record in the AHL, sitting dead last in the Central Division. With both teams in the organization set to miss the postseason, Beckman and Wallstedt will have to wait until the 2024-25 season to play in any more meaningful games.

Wild Recall Jesper Wallstedt

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It appears the availability of one of Minnesota’s netminders is in question for this afternoon as, according to the AHL’s transactions log, the Wild have recalled goaltender Jesper Wallstedt from AHL Iowa.  In a corresponding move, Iowa signed netminder Peyton Jones to a tryout agreement to replace Wallstedt on their roster.

The 21-year-old is widely considered as one of the stronger goalie prospects league-wide although his NHL debut back in January didn’t go too well as he allowed seven goals on 34 shots in a loss to Dallas.  However, Wallstedt has fared well in the minors, posting a 2.76 GAA and a .908 SV% in 43 starts at that level this season.  He has one year left after this one on his entry-level deal, one that carries an AAV of $925K.

Assuming that one of Marc-Andre Fleury or Filip Gustavsson is unavailable against Winnipeg, Wallstedt’s recall can be classified as an emergency promotion and thus not count against Minnesota’s four recall limit.  However, Wallstedt would have to be returned to the minors as soon as the emergency conditions end.

Transaction Notes: Flames, Golden Knights, Wild, Blackhawks, Lightning

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While most teams prepare for an informal roster freeze over the upcoming NHL All-Star break, many are also stripping their roster down to the bare minimum to save as much cap space for the encroaching trade deadline in early March. Today, the Calgary Flames activated forward Martin Pospisil from the injured reserve, while optioning Matthew Coronato, Adam Klapka, and Cole Schwindt to their AHL affiliate, the Calgary Wranglers.

According to Ryan Pike of Flames Nation, this set of transactions by the Flames will save the organization approximately $497K in cap space, just by sending them down over the All-Star break. As one of the expected sellers leading into this year’s trade deadline, the nearly half a million in cap space could allow Calgary to weaponize their cap space, as many deadline sellers have done.

For development’s sake, with the NHL returning to regular season action on February 5th, the trio of players sent down by the Flames today will have the opportunity to play in three games for the Wranglers. Coronato projects to factor in the most, still leading Calgary’s AHL team in points, having already scored 12 goals and 29 points in 27 games for the Wranglers this season.

Other transaction notes:

  • Similarly to the Flames, the Vegas Golden Knights have optioned Brendan Brisson, Sheldon Rempal, and Jonas Rondbjerg to their AHL affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights, per a team announcement. Having been recalled on January 18th via an emergency loan, Rempal has largely been the most successful of the bunch over the last several games for the Golden Knights, scoring a goal against both the New York Islanders and New York Rangers over the last four contests.
  • In an announcement earlier this afternoon, the Minnesota Wild sent down forward Jake Lucchini and goaltender Jesper Wallstedt to their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild. Not only one of the best prospects in the Wild organization but one of the best prospects across the league, Wallstedt was able to make his NHL debut in his previous call-up coming in early January, stopping 27 of 34 shots in the team’s loss against the Dallas Stars on January 10th.
  • The Chicago Blackhawks have sent down forward Cole Guttman and defenseman Louis Crevier to their AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs, per a media release this afternoon. Guttman has been the much better player in Rockford this season, playing with the team through much of October and November. Over that stretch, Guttman scored three goals and nine points in 12 games for the IceHogs, tying him for 12th on the team in scoring for the season.
  • The Tampa Bay Lightning made similar roster moves today, sending down Maxwell Crozier, Mitchell Chaffee, and Waltteri Merela to their longtime AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch. Although neither of the three have made a large impact in their limited NHL experience, Chaffee has been the most successful over the last stretch, earning a goal and an assist in the team’s recent victory against the Arizona Coyotes on January 25th.

Wild Recall Jesper Wallstedt, Assign Daemon Hunt To AHL

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With Marc-Andre Fleury sustaining an upper-body injury on Friday against Florida, it appears the Wild have opted to make sure they have an extra goalie around if needed.  Michael Russo of The Athletic relays (Twitter link) that netminder Jesper Wallstedt has been recalled from AHL Iowa.  To make room for him on the roster, defenseman Daemon Hunt has been sent down.

Wallstedt made his NHL debut earlier this month against Dallas, one that was a bit of a struggle for him as the 21-year-old allowed seven goals on 34 shots.  However, the 2021 first-round pick (20th overall) has had a strong sophomore year in the minors, posting a 2.61 GAA with a .916 SV% in 21 games.  His save percentage is tied for fourth among AHL goaltenders who have made at least 20 appearances this season.

As for Hunt, the 21-year-old has split the season between Minnesota and Iowa.  At the top level, he has played in a dozen games so far in his first taste of NHL action.  Hunt has a single assist in those contests in limited minutes as he’s averaging just 11:30 per night.  However, in the minors, he has been considerably more productive, collecting a goal and eight helpers in 16 appearances.

Minnesota didn’t have an open roster spot to work with and at this point, Fleury hasn’t been placed on injured reserve so someone had to be sent down to make room for Wallstedt.  Thanks to his waiver exemption, Hunt is that player for now but it wouldn’t be surprising to see this transaction reversed if Fleury is cleared to dress for tomorrow’s game against Carolina or if he lands on IR, allowing Hunt to be recalled.

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