Wild: 3 Potential Trade Destinations for Jesper Wallstedt

Could the Minnesota Wild really explore moving Jesper Wallstedt at the trade deadline? The rookie goaltender took the State of Hockey by storm this season, but a recent cold streak has him surrendering starts to his tandem mate, Filip Gustavsson. The Wild don’t want to give up on him, but if the proper return comes along, Bill Guerin isn’t afraid to make a big splash.

Trading the Great Wall of St. Paul would undoubtedly be a big splash. Wallstedt is the future of Minnesota’s crease, but the Wild are in win-now mode with the uncertainty of Quinn Hughes’ long-term future with the club. If Hughes isn’t staying past the 2026-27 season, Guerin’s best chance to win a cup is within the next two seasons.

If Minnesota wants to get the upper hand on the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche in their division, the belief is that they’ll need to add one more top-six center. The Wild could use a better center than Ryan Hartman on their first line alongside Kirill Kaprizov, and Wallstedt is the type of talent who could land them that player.

Vancouver Canucks

Could a couple of Team Sweden Olympic representatives swap teams after the tournament is over? It’d take more than Wallstedt to make it work, but Guerin and Patrik Allvin have already had plenty of trade talks with each other this season, and Elias Pettersson could reunite with Hughes in Minnesota.

The Vancouver Canucks have a long way to go in their rebuild, but with Thatcher Demko’s injuries piling up, one of their needs could become a goaltender. Wallstedt was part of the future with players like Marco Rossi, Zeev Buium, and Liam Ohgren in Minnesota. Could he join them in Vancouver and start something new?

St. Louis Blues

Would the St. Louis Blues consider trading Jordan Binnington elsewhere and then acquiring Wallstedt to form a young one-two punch with Joel Hofer? While the fit for Wallstedt isn’t great in St. Louis, the fit for Robert Thomas in Minnesota is why this deal would work.

The Blues would likely prefer not to acquire another goaltender in a Thomas deal. But if the Wild sweetened the pot even more and put forth the best offer for their franchise center, it’d be hard to pass up the 23-year-old future star.

Thomas would make a ton of sense in Minnesota with his team-friendly salary.

Nashville Predators

The Wild’s most pressing issue with all of these trade ideas is clearing cap space to fit in players like Pettersson and Thomas. This idea is a bit more outside-the-box, but Steven Stamkos’ recent hot streak and Stanley Cup pedigree would make him an excellent fit for Minnesota if they truly are in win-or-bust mode.

Juuse Saros’ extension kicked in this season, but his stats over the last few years make everyone wonder how that deal is going to age over the next eight years. Saros might need less of a workload to help that contract age more gracefully, and creating a tandem with Wallstedt might be the way to do it.

Next: Red-Hot Jesper Wallstedt Has Oilers Fans Revisiting Controversial Draft Decision