ST. PAUL – Minnesota Wild President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Bill Guerin today announced Monday that the team has signed goaltender Jesper Wallstedt to a two-year, $4.4 million contract extension that begins during the 2025-26 season and goes through the 2026-27 season.
He will make $2.2 million per season.
Related: Jesper Wallstedt becomes youngest goalie in Wild history to record a shutout
Wallstedt, 21, has had a great training camp for the Wild and played well in the two preseason games he started. Wild head coach John Hynes made it clear on Monday that he will be on the opening night roster.
The Wild will carry three goalies to start the season.
“It’s always going to be a complicated answer because we have three guys. I would say, right now, we have three goalies on the team. Really, when we went into training camp, we talked about if all three play — and all three have played well — we’re going to have some difficult decisions to make,” Hynes said. “The good thing is when time’s on your side, you can use it and we don’t have to make a decision right now, so we’ll start the season with those three guys and, again, I think you have to let some things play out.”
It was the youngsters goal coming into camp to make the team and he hopes he can stick around longer.
“This was my goal coming in. Hopefully I had a good camp,” Wallstedt said. “Practices have felt pretty good. And I’ve just been loving every day to show up here and compete and be(ing) around these guys has been awesome, and obviously something that I want to do. I want to be here every day. So this is definitely a goal that I wanted to do. But, keep on working.
“Take it day by day and continue to develop. I want to play games. So there’s always going to be new goals too. When you get to the goals they want to get to, there are always new goals coming up. So now it’s time for the next one.”
The 6-foot-3 goaltender made three starts for the Wild during the 2023-24 season. He went 2-1-0 with a 3.01 goals-against average (GAA), a .897 save percentage (SV%), and one shutout.
Related: Jesper Wallstedt earns first career shutout in second NHL start as Wild beat Chicago 4-0
Wallstedt also went 22-19-6 with a 2.70 GAA, .910 SV% and two shutouts in 45 games with the Iowa Wild during the 2023-24 American Hockey League (AHL) season.
He is 40-34-12 with a 2.69 GAA, .909 SV% and three shutouts in 83 games played over two seasons with Iowa (2022-24). Wallstedt was drafted in the first round of the 2021 NHL Draft with pick No. 20. The Wild’s goaltender of the future is now locked up for two more seasons after this one.
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