Jesper Wallstedt remains the ultimate “What if” scenario after the Minnesota Wild goaltender shut out the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night.

The Swedish rookie has been on a tear to start the season. Through 11 games, Wallstedt has looked like one of the best goalies in the NHL, posting an incredible 8-0-2 record with four shutouts and a stellar .944 save percentage. If he keeps this up, the 23-year-old could be a serious contender for both the Vezina and Calder trophies.

For Oilers fans, his success is agonizing, considering how close he came to being drafted by the team. Going into the 2021 draft, Wallstedt was expected to be the top-ranked goalie, but for whatever reason, he fell into the back half of the first round.

He was on the board when the Oilers came up to pick at #20, but instead of taking the Swede, then-Edmonton GM Ken Holland traded the pick to the Wild.

When asked after the victory if he had any extra motivation playing against the Oilers, the team that passed on him, Wallstedt immediately shut it down.

“I’ve seen, and I heard, and it’s been way too much about this,” Wallstedt said of the situation. “I’m drafted by Minnesota, I play here, I love it here, and that’s kind of the end of the conversation.”

I asked Jesper Wallstedt after tonight’s game if he had any extra motivation against an #Oilers team that could have drafted him in 2021, but opted to trade the pick to Minnesota….

He shut it down pretty quickly pic.twitter.com/iZMjbHMejh

— Preston Hodgkinson (@NHLHodgkinson) December 3, 2025

Instead of drafting Wallstedt, the Oilers used the pick to move down two spots to select QMJHL forward Xavier Bourgault, who has not sniffed the NHL since. To add more salt to the wound, the Dallas Stars selected Wyatt Johnston right after that pick as well. It was perhaps the biggest draft swing and misses in recent Oilers history.

The Oilers got a front row look at the consequences of that mistake on Tuesday night, with the Swedish goaltender stopping all 33 shots sent his way to pick up a razor-thin 1-0 victory.

Have a night, Jesper Wallstedt 🧱🧱

📺: Watch the end of Wild 🆚 Oilers live on SN1 or stream on Sportsnet+ pic.twitter.com/hEa20gVZhE

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 3, 2025

Edmonton looked pretty good throughout the game and actually carried most of the play, but they could not find a way to get one past Wallstedt. You can’t fault Stuart Skinner in the Oilers crease, who only allowed a single goal, but it was another goaltending battle that Edmonton could not win.

All Oilers fans can do is sit back and wonder how this team would look with a guy like Wallstedt between the pipes.