{"id":441868,"date":"2026-02-02T19:21:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T19:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/441868\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T19:21:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T19:21:16","slug":"could-one-more-oilers-trade-correct-2021-draft-day-mistake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/441868\/","title":{"rendered":"Could One More Oilers Trade Correct 2021 Draft-Day Mistake?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Edmonton Oilers have had a tough time against the Minnesota Wild in 2025-26, and a big part of that has been the play of young goaltender Jesper Wallstedt<\/a>, who stopped 72 of 75 shots across two road wins at Rogers Place. <\/p>\n

A high-flying offense getting shut down by a goalie is never fun, but it stings a bit more for Oilers fans, given that it\u2019s the one that got away from former GM Ken Holland<\/a> in the 2021 NHL Draft. Interestingly enough, Wallstedt\u2019s name has recently resurfaced in trade rumors, and even though Edmonton acquired Tristan Jarry<\/a> just a month ago, one analyst believes that shouldn\u2019t stop them from pursuing<\/a> the Swedish netminder.<\/p>\n

Sportsnet reporter Mark Spector took to X during the game on Saturday, and his take was that the Oilers should try to right their wrong and trade for Wallstedt.<\/p>\n

Spector wrote<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cHot take: Oilers should trade for Wallstedt,\u201d<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old has gone 14-5-4 in Minnesota this season, posting a 2.72 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage to go with four shutouts in those 23 starts. He\u2019s in year one of the two-year, $4.4 million extension signed with the Wild in 2024.<\/p>\n

Wallstedt was, of course, selected 20th overall by Minnesota in 2021 after they acquired the pick from Edmonton in exchange for the 22nd overall selection\u2014which ended up being Xavier Bourgault<\/a>\u2014and a 2021 third-round pick.<\/p>\n

Could the Oilers Actually Trade for Jesper Wallstedt?<\/p>\n

While the idea of Edmonton acquiring Wallstedt is tantalizing, it sounds like Minnesota is only willing to move their former first-round pick for an elite impact player\u2014preferably a center<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"JesperJesper Wallstedt Wild Oilers<\/p>\n

From an Oilers perspective, that basically narrows things down to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins<\/a>, who is almost certainly untouchable in trade talks. As a result, a deal bringing Wallstedt to Alberta seems unlikely unless GM Bill Guerin<\/a> is open to a more futures-based package of picks and prospects.<\/p>\n

That said, our sources saw Guerin and GM Stan Bowman having a lengthy conversation at the game on Saturday night, and while we don\u2019t know the specifics of what they were discussing, it adds an interesting wrinkle to the situation.<\/p>\n

The odds remain against Edmonton pulling off such a move, given Minnesota\u2019s asking price. At the same time, very few around the hockey world would have expected Wallstedt to become a trade candidate in the first place, so perhaps there\u2019s at least a slight opening for the Oilers to make a run at one of the brightest young goalies in the game.<\/p>\n

Next: There\u2019s a New Twist in Marc-Andr\u00e9 Fleury\u2019s Potential NHL Return<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Edmonton Oilers have had a tough time against the Minnesota Wild in 2025-26, and a big part…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[462],"tags":[3201,5,795,4,465,466,6269,2175],"class_list":{"0":"post-441868","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl-draft","8":"tag-bill-guerin","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-jesper-wallstedt","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-nhl-draft","13":"tag-nhl-entry-draft","14":"tag-stan-bowman","15":"tag-top-story"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116002664816754887","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}