The Swede Spot

For the past three seasons, it’s been Marc-Andre Fleury and Filip Gustavsson. Flower and Gus.

When Fleury hung up the pads at the conclusion of last season on his hall of fame career he not only left the Minnesota Wild in the capable hands of Filip Gustavsson as the Number 1 goaltender. It also left the crease open for Jesper Wallstedt to slot himself in as the Number 2. Or perhaps even as a 1A/1B goaltending tandem.

“It’s a little easier with Jesper—I speak better Swedish than French,” Gustavsson said with a laugh of working alongside Wallstedt, a fellow countryman, compared to the Montreal native Fleury. “You can talk a little more on a personal level and just stuff like that, and Jesper’s a great guy so it’s easy to deal with him.”

The familiarity extends beyond the nationality connection. Gustavsson and Wallstedt are not strangers. They spent time together during various call-ups last season as well as off-season trips to the golf course.

In practice, the pair prides themselves on pushing one another, making the crease competition as tight as they can while elevating one another’s games.

“It’s been good,” said Wallstedt, who had five NHL games under his belt heading into this season. “Obviously there are the times I want to play, I want to succeed. I want to play as good as I can and I want to force him to be his best in practice, so I have to be my best as well.

“I know I’m probably not gonna play as much as he does. He’s the guy that’s gonna play, which in a way is sort of good for him and good for me knowing kind of where we’re at. I know that, ‘OK if I have good efforts and I’m not playing’ I don’t have to overthink situations. So, I think it’s been working really good.”

With goaltending being as much a metal game as it is on-ice skills, both Gustavsson and Wallstedt are hyper-aware of the expectations on them together and individually. They each need to excel for them both need to succeed.

And to understand the duo, you must understand the individuals first:

Filip Gustavsson

Gustavsson’s play last season secured him notoriety not in Minnesota, but across the league. His 31 wins and .914 save percentage ranked seventh among goalies in 2024-25, and his five shutouts were sixth. He was honored as one of the NHL’s three stars twice last season, and played a pivotal role in stealing games for an injury-hampered Wild squad.

Not to mention, putting his name in the NHL history books when he became the 15th goalie to be credited with a goal when he sent the puck sailing into an empty St. Louis Blues net at Enterprise Center on Oct. 15, 2024.

“I feel like consistency was key for me last year, and this year, too,” said Gustavsson, who entered this year on NHL Network’s Top 10 Goalie List. “You just have to be as consistent as you can throughout your whole career. I feel like it comes with the older you get. You kind of know what’s going on around here. You know what they’re expecting, and I know what I can do. That makes me comfortable I guess.”

The consistency and confidence translated to success and earned the 27-year-old Gustavsson a five-year, $34 million contract extension on Oct. 4, 2025. A signature extension that locked up the organization’s top goalie for the foreseeable future.

“We have a chance to win here,” Gustavsson explained, who had one year remaining on his current deal and would have been a free agent this summer. “My family has liked it here ever since we moved here. Everyone’s taken care of us. Teammates, the core group is very good and very nice and very helpful. I just really liked it here. The style of game the team is playing fits my style very well.

“It’s a winning business and that’s what we have to do. We have to go out and win and play good every night.”

Now, as the elder statesman, it will be on Gustavsson to not only take the lion’s share of minutes and starts once again, but hold that mentor role with Wallstedt, too.

“I learned a lot from Fleury, the wisdom,” Gustavsson said. “And I am always around to help Jesper anytime he needs it.”

Jesper Wallstedt

Wallstedt had a fan-given nickname long before he stepped foot in the State of Hockey: “The Great Wall of St. Paul.”

Sufficed to say, excitement and anticipation have surrounded the 22-year-old since he was a first-round selection nearly five years ago, and in the years leading up to the present he was often found atop lists as one of the best goaltending prospects in the league.

But it’s rare for a team to carry three goaltenders. Even when it looked like Wallstedt might platoon in more often last year, it never came to fruition. When he learned he would be returning to Iowa and the American Hockey League for another year and not to his NHL dream, it was a mental blockade he admits was tough to navigate.

“It was just this type of darkness, and not having fun. That was my experience last year,” recalled Wallstedt. “Most of my career, I’ve found success. And I know one year isn’t going to define me as a human being and as a hockey player.”

In Iowa, Wallstedt saw his season partially derailed by three separate injuries include a groin issue and a concussion. In action, he struggled, going 9-14-4 with an .879 save percentage and a dismal 3.59 goals against average.

“It wasn’t the season that we all expected,” Wild general manager Bill Guerin said. “For me, I believe in Wally and I know he’s got the talent. He’s just got to fight a little harder when things don’t go in his way. But I believe in him.”

He worked hard in the offseason with trainers and sports psychologists. He talks with Gustavsson and Fleury about tweaks and techniques.

So far this year, Wallstedt’s rebounded, even in the limited games he’s appeared. He won his first start in a 4-3 shootout win against the Los Angeles Kings—one of many to come.

“I just thought to myself, ‘OK, this is the moment you’ve been dreaming for.’ You have a chance to win here for your team. Go out and make the save,” said Wallstedt, who denied all three shooters in the victory. “I wanted to start the season with a win, with everything that’s been talked about and all the people that have doubted me and everything. Just proving that I can do it.”

How Swede It Is

It’s hard to follow in the footsteps of a legendary netminder such as Fleury, and the new goaltending tandem has yet to establish themselves as a true force behind a budding Wild offensive core—but the foundation is there. And their attitude is correct.

“We’re doing this because we love it,” said Wallstedt. “We enjoy doing it. We get to spend time with our teammates who we all really enjoy being around. So, I think that makes it fun. I try to laugh, I try to have a smile on my face every time I’m out there, every time I make a save or even when a puck goes in. You have to have a laugh at the end of it, because it’s supposed to be fun at the same time as well as competitive.”