Taking Down The Walls: How A Summer Reset Prepared Wild's Jesper Wallstedt For A Dominant Season

After a painful playoff exit, Jesper Wallstedt had to shut himself off from the hockey world. Now, following a summer reset, he's shining in the spotlight for the Minnesota Wild.Jesper Wallstedt didn't move. The goaltender sprawled on his stomach across the crease after the one-timer he tried to catch flew past him and into the back of the net.After the Minnesota Wild were eliminated from the second round of the playoffs by the Colorado Avalanche, Wallstedt disconnected from hockey. He returned home to Sweden, celebrated his dad’s 60th birthday in Portugal and went to Lake Como in Italy for the wedding of former Wild teammate Marco Rossi. "I played way too much golf," he added.But after a few months away from the game, Wallstedt got "hungry for it again." And why wouldn't he be, considering the opportunity waiting for him with the Wild?Related storiesWallstedt, 23, will go into the season as the team’s undisputed starter. Filip Gustavsson, the No. 1 before Wallstedt took over in the playoffs and backstopped the Wild past Dallas and out of the first round for the first time in 11 years, will start the season on the shelf after off-season hip surgery.The Wild signed Calvin Pickard, a veteran of 191 NHL games across 11 seasons, to help out in the interim, but Wallstedt is atop the depth chart in only his second full season, and he wants to stay there."Now, it's not about making the team," Wallstedt said. "It's about, 'OK, I want to be the guy. I want to play every night. I want to be more consistent and give the team a good chance to win every night.' I think there's definitely going to be higher expectations…and that's something good. That’s the way you want it to be."Although Wallstedt began last season as a rookie backup, his rise validated the Wild's decision to promote him for the playoffs. He went 18-9-6 during the regular season, finishing with the NHL's second-best save percentage (.916), and his four shutouts tied him for third.In Round 1 against the Dallas Stars, Wallstedt was airtight during a 6-1 blowout in Game 1. Dallas rebounded with back-to-back wins, including a double-overtime nailbiter in Game 3. But Wallstedt was rock-solid the rest of the series, holding the high-powered Stars to two goals in each of the next three games as the Wild clinched their first series since 2015, when Wallstedt was 12. "Obviously, I know the history of everything," he said after the victory. "I see our fans when we scored our fourth goal. I looked back through the glass, and I see someone crying in the stands. I realize how big this is for our fan base, not just us, but there's so many more people who are with us on this road and this journey. The excitement and joy to get past the first round is huge."I want to be the guy. I want to play every night. I want to give the team a good chance to win every night.- Jesper WallstedtOnly three days later, the Wild faced the Avalanche, and after dropping a 9-6 free-for-all in Game 1, Wallstedt sat Game 2 while Gustavsson played. But Wallstedt handled the rest of the playoffs, culminating in that heartbreaking Game 5 OT loss after the Wild blew a 3-0 lead and Colorado scored the equalizer late in regulation. Brett Kulak capped off the comeback with that one-timer by Wallstedt, sending the Avalanche onto the Western Conference final and the Wild back to Minnesota 11 wins shy of their goal.Wallstedt unplugged, a change from "living in it all the time" when he was younger. "You get excited to get back again," he said, "and you start to enjoy it and appreciate what you do again."Photo: Perry Nelson-Imagn ImagesIt was the most fun I've ever had playing hockey. Those games were the best.- Jesper Wallstedt on the 2026 playoff runWallstedt, a 2021 first-rounder, acknowledged that getting that playoff experience was absolutely vital. "There's mostly adrenaline, especially the first couple games," he said. "But obviously a lot to take away from it. For me, it was the most fun I've ever had playing hockey. Those games were the best. It was so much fun and definitely something to keep in the back of the head going forward and knowing that that’s where you want to be. That’s the hockey I want to play in."The Wild expect to have another crack at the Stanley Cup. With star forwards Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy up front and a defense led by 2024 Norris Trophy winner Quinn Hughes, the Wild are finally contenders, and Wallstedt helped make that happen.He also has a chance to be a reason why they advance even further next time, a pursuit that will start with him at the helm. "I obviously have to be a key player in that, to bring our team success early," Wallstedt said. "I'm excited for it. It's different, but it kind of feels like that's where I ended last year and kind of where I want to begin this season, too, and kind of just build off of everything I learned last year and hopefully play a lot of hockey."This story was edited for digital.For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free.Our annual XXL-sized Goalie Issue 2026 edition has everything you need to know about the best and most interesting goalies in the NHL. Inside, you'll find stories on plenty of goaltenders, like Sergei Bobrovsky, Jakub Dobes, Jet Greaves, Jesper Wallstedt, and more.