Jesper Wallstedt let in a goal on a power play against the Minnesota Wild in the first period, looked up at the scoreboard to quickly analyze the replay, and realized something wasn't right.
The name on the back of his green jersey was misspelled: W-a-l-l-s-t-e-a-d.
“An April Fool's joke,” Wallstedt said after beating the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night, “but a little late.”
So he's sure this was a classic rookie prank and not an honest manufacturing mistake?
“Yeah, 100 percent. I don’t know exactly who it is, but obviously I have a feeling of who it could be,” said Wallstedt, suggesting fellow goalie Filip Gustavsson was the culprit.
When Marc-Andre Fleury retired last spring, he left behind quite the legacy as a prankster. Though Fleury turned over the net to Gustavsson and Wallstedt on the ice, the 41-year-old with the second-most wins in NHL history has stayed around the team this season as a practice goalie and with an informal front office role as a player development advisor.
Was it possible Fleury found his way in on the joke too?
“Oh, I didn’t think that Flower could be involved,” Wallstedt said. “Then I definitely think it’s a team job. Well done for them. Yeah, I’d rather take it that way than having my car on cinder blocks or something. I’d rather have my name a little misspelled.”
For the record, Wallstedt had his proper spelling restored for the second period. He had 34 saves in the 3-2 win over the Ducks and finished his rookie season 18-9-6 with the NHL's second-best save percentage (.915).
“I hope they threw that nameplate away," Wallstedt said. "I have no idea where it went.”
Heading into the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Minnesota Wild have a decision to make. Filip Gustavsson seems the obvious answer when it comes to who is going to start in goal. He's the veteran, he's been there before, he's started more games than Wallstedt (49 to 34). But the numbers paint similar pictures between the two, and Gustavsson struggled in a 5-4 loss in Dallas last week, a crucial game that clinched home-ice for the Stars in the series against the Wild.
Speaking to WCCO's Chad Hartman, Wild General Manager wouldn't tip his hand as to who is in the net for game one on Saturday in Dallas, but he did say they have a plan in place, adding any bias towards recent play versus the totality of the season wouldn't play a part in their decision-making.
"I'm a big body of work guy," Guerin explains. "You can't just put everything on the last couple of games. Especially when we're playing with weaker lineups and things like that. You just can't put it all on that. That's what I mean there's a process to it. There's multiple opinions, and you really have to just kind of talk through it, work through it."
Since starting his career 8-0-2 with four shutouts, Wallstedt has continued to give the Wild confidence in their tandem of Swedish Olympians — and a decision to make.
“I like the way I’ve been playing lately, especially after the Olympics. I thought I was in a good spot going into the Olympics, too,” Wallstedt said. “Obviously I was a little bit bummed that I didn’t get to play anything there, and maybe that gave some extra motivation for the games after. And ever since, I’ve felt like I’ve been in a good spot and given our team a good chance to win.”
Gustavsson has more experience and enjoyed plenty of strong stretches this season, but he's only 2-4 in his last six starts with 25 goals allowed. Wallstedt might have forced his way into some type of rotation in the first-round series against the Dallas Stars, which Guerin again wouldn't commit to talking to WCCO's Hartman. He did, however, say the Wild might be in a very unique situation do that.
"Somebody just asked me this too, and I have to admit, I don't know why," Guerin said when asked why teams usually don't rotate in the playoffs. "Here's why our league traditionally doesn't do it. Because normally you have one and two. I think we're very fortunate to have the two goalies that we have because we believe in both of them as starters. And we feel they both give us a good chance to win."
Guerin also said the harsh grind two months of the Stanley Cup Playoffs should absolutely be a factor.
"You'd think teams would figure out how to do a goalie rotation, but it's just not historically done because normally, or historically, there has been a significant drop from your tier one to tier two," he adds.
As for the overall series against Dallas, it's expected to be very close with the two teams neck-and-neck in the standings all season. Guerin is confident the Wild can prevail, but he knows it will be a battle.
"I think we can beat Dallas. I do think we're better," Guerin says, before pulling back some. "But no, I shouldn't say I think we're better. I think this is going to be very evenly matched. But I think we can beat them and I think they could beat us. That is the way this league is now. They're just like us, they are human beings putting on their skates one foot at a time. They're human beings, and we all screw up. So we just need to be focused on us, and playing our best, and we can beat them. And if we're not, they can beat us."
