The Minnesota Wild recently clinched a playoff berth and are on a collision course for a first-round matchup against the Dallas Stars. Now that the Wild have punched their postseason ticket, it’s time for the team to use their final regular-season games to make some decisions about the team that will take the ice in Game 1. The most crucial decision they’ll face is who will backstop the team in net.
Minnesota has found success all season long with a battery of Filip Gustavsson and rookie Jesper Wallstedt. Both have played well, and over the course of a full regular season, it’s great to split time between two solid netminders.
However, that arrangement leaves an issue come playoff time. When the games matter most, teams generally decide to lean on one goaltender in net for consistency throughout a series. John Hynes was recently asked if he’d consider playing both goaltenders in the playoffs, but was noncommittal on the issue.
“I haven’t thought that far ahead,” Hynes said. “I think that they both give us a chance to win. So that’s a good feeling. So we’ll see how it goes down the stretch. Both guys are gonna get a good amount of work here leading into the playoffs.”
At first glance, it may seem like Filip Gustavsson is the right choice for the job. He’s the more tenured player and has playoff experience. Still, Jesper Wallstedt has done enough to deserve a chance in the final weeks of the regular season to prove he’s the Wild’s best option.
The most obvious reason Wallstedt may be the better choice is simply that he’s played better recently. The Wild’s goaltending faltered somewhat in recent weeks, but frankly, that’s been more on Gustavsson than Wallstedt.
Since the beginning of March, Wallstedt has made seven starts and eight appearances. In those seven appearances, he’s logged a .900 save percentage or above seven times. He’s made 183 saves on 197 shots against for a .929 save percentage. That total is third-best in the league by goalies who have made more than three appearances in that time span.
In contrast, Filip Gustavsson’s .902 save percentage is 20th in the league in that same timespan.
Another reason to give Wallstedt a good chance to earn the role is that it makes sense from an asset management perspective. The Wild are clearly all-in on competing for a championship this season.
Minnesota appeared to consider trading Wallstedt at the trade deadline for a major piece, but they never did. Keeping Wallstedt was a future-focused move. Still, it would also mean the Wild had an asset they could have gotten something for sitting on the bench in the postseason.
Suppose the Wild were to go with Gustavsson and lose the series, even if Gustavsson played well. That would raise questions about whether keeping Wallstedt was the right move if they didn’t trust him when games mattered most.
Both of those factors are good reasons to give Wallstedt a chance to take over the net. Still, there are games to be played. Everything could change if one goaltender plays significantly better or worse over the team’s four remaining games. So, what can Minnesota do to evaluate whether Wallstedt is ready?
The easiest answer is to give him the brunt of responsibility in the remaining games of the regular season. Give him two of the four against the better competition to see if he stays in top form.
Most crucially, the Wild must play Wallstedt in Thursday’s game against Dallas. The Stars and Wild are nearly certain to play each other in the first round. If Wallstedt can play as well as he has since the beginning of March against Dallas, it’ll go a long way in proving that the net should be his for Game 1.
Another interesting layer to that game is that it would allow Wallstedt to answer the one thing he hasn’t this season over Gustavsson. The Wild have played the Stars three times so far this year, and they’ve started Gustavsson in all three games. Gustavsson has been mostly solid in those games, especially in the most recent matchup, where he made 29 saves on 30 shots in a 2-1 OT win for Minnesota.
Wallstedt still has yet to face Dallas’ lineup. That question needs to be answered. If he plays well against the Stars, he should be a lock for Game 1. If not, Minnesota can be confident with Gustavsson’s recent performance against its rival.
Minnesota’s other games will come against the Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues, and Anaheim Ducks. Anaheim is another, albeit less important, matchup against a team headed for the postseason that Wallstedt could use to sharpen his game heading into the playoffs.
The team can always use both goalies in the playoffs, but most teams operate with the one who has “the hot hand.” For what it’s worth, Jesper Wallstedt recently iterated that he isn’t sure about rotating in the postseason.
“It’s hard. You don’t want to switch up too much if one’s hot. It’s hard for me to say too. I’ve never been in the Stanley Cup playoffs. So I don’t know much either,” Wallstedt said. “I guess we’ll see. I think either way we’ll be in good hands.”
Minnesota has two capable goalies who could play in the playoffs. Despite a recent slump, Filip Gustavsson is also a more than capable goaltender. Having two starting quality goaltenders is a good problem to have, but only one can play at a time. The Wild should give Wallstedt the chance to be the one who gets first crack at playing between the pipes in the postseason.
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