The Danger Of Signing Goalies To Lucrative Contracts
The New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks are two of the NHL’s worst teams this season and are both on the verge of massive roster changes. While both teams face unique challenges, one parallel is that they’ve made a mess of their goaltending finances with pricey extensions that were miscalculations.
The Rangers and Canucks are far from alone in this predicament. High-priced extensions have also burned several other teams at the bottom of the standings, leaving them with goaltenders who had been performing well but whose play fell off a cliff after signing their new deals.
That isn’t necessarily the case for Shesterkin, however, it is the case for Linus Ullmark of the Ottawa Senators, Juuse Saros of the Nashville Predators, and Jacob Markstrom of the New Jersey Devils, who are all making big money on recent contract extensions, with no guarantees their play will turn around. This has left three teams with win-now rosters featuring goaltenders who are vastly overpaid.
It’s become a trend over the past five-plus years that teams signing goaltenders to expensive deals must be seriously concerned about their performance throughout the term of the agreement.
There is concern about every player’s performance after they sign a lucrative long-term deal. However, goaltenders have become a unique cause for concern lately, and it’s hard to say why.
In the late 1990s and throughout the 2000s, many veteran goaltenders on the wrong side of 30 would sign expensive long-term deals without so much as a second thought from their new teams. In July 2002, for example, goalie Curtis Joseph signed a three-year, $24MM contract with the Detroit Red Wings, even though it wasn’t the best offer on the table.
Joseph had a three-year $26MM offer from the Toronto Maple Leafs but opted to move to Detroit. Toronto then pivoted and signed Ed Belfour to a two-year, $13.5MM deal.
By today’s standards, those contracts aren’t eye-popping, and the term is relatively short. But Belfour and Joseph were 37 and 35, respectively, and there was a chance their play would drop off significantly during the brief time they were signed.
Nowadays, it’s hard to imagine a team giving $8MM a season to a 35-year-old goaltender, and Joseph’s deal was inked 23 and a half years ago. The Senators gave Ullmark four years and $8.25MM annually just last year, but he had just turned 32 and was two seasons removed from a Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goaltender.
It was a pricey gamble for Ottawa and hasn’t looked like good value this season, but Ullmark has been dealing with personal issues, so it’s hard to project how the deal will work out long-term.
Circling back to the Rangers and Canucks, they are a tale of two teams whose expensive goaltending has led to team-wide issues, but for wildly different reasons. In Vancouver, Thatcher Demko was signed to a lucrative three-year deal at the start of free agency, worth $8.5MM annually.
It was a gamble by Vancouver, as they hoped the former Vezina Trophy finalist could bounce back from a poor showing last season. Had Demko had a good year, he would have been a candidate to get $9MM or more on a new contract, but Vancouver thought it was wise to jump the queue. It has not turned out well.
If Demko had played well, Vancouver likely would have paid him an AAV slightly higher than the $8.5MM they gave him, but would’ve been on the hook for more term, which would’ve been riskier. Instead, Vancouver made a different bet and is now on the hook for more term than Demko would’ve received in free agency. But hindsight is 20/20, and for the Canucks, they are stuck with the Demko deal, one they’d love to have back.
In New York, it was a different calculation. Rangers’ general manager Chris Drury believed he had a Stanley Cup contender on his hands, which meant doing everything he could to retain his Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender, Igor Shesterkin. Drury moved out his captain, Jacob Trouba, to open up space to sign Shesterkin to a record-breaking eight-year, $92MM contract.
While it was the right on-ice move given Trouba’s cap hit relative to his play, the Rangers have never been the same since the trade. New York fell off a cliff last season and has remained at the bottom of the league this year, despite Shesterkin being good.
But that is the issue: Shesterkin has only been good. In the years leading up to his extension, Shesterkin was elite.
His play in those seasons masked many of the Rangers’ problems and led Drury and New York management to think the team was much better than it actually was. Shesterkin’s goaltending was a mask, hiding the fact that Drury had built a fatally flawed roster that relied too much on out-of-this-world netminding, which was clearly unsustainable.
While the Rangers, Canucks, Devils and Predators aren’t the only teams with pricey goaltending, they are the most apparent examples of paying a premium for goaltending. But even middle-of-the-pack teams can run into issues where their extensions turn into disasters.
There are good examples in Washington: a few years ago, with Darcy Kuemper, who had just won a Stanley Cup, and Philipp Grubauer, who had been solid for years before signing as a free agent with Seattle and becoming unplayable in the NHL. Matt Murray in Ottawa was the same story, but none is more egregious and obvious than Tristan Jarry in Pittsburgh, who was recently dealt.
Pittsburgh is a relevant example because of Stuart Skinner, who has been a revelation with the Penguins but is a UFA at the end of the season. Pittsburgh already has its goalie of the future in tow in Sergey Murashov, and the Penguins would be wise to ride Skinner into the playoffs and then let him walk in the offseason if his salary demands exceed $5MM annually, which they surely will. It should be interesting to see the Skinner story unfold, but there is plenty of evidence that the Penguins would be wise to avoid giving term to a netminder who is unpredictable.
Trade Deadline Primer: Minnesota Wild
With the Olympic break approaching, the trade deadline is about a month away. Where does each team stand, and what moves should they be looking to make? We begin our look around the league with teams that have clear plans at the extremes of the standings, this time with Wild.
Our Trade Deadline primer series rolls on with the market’s current big fish. The Minnesoa Wild pulled off one of the biggest trades in recent memory when they sent top-six center Marco Rossi, top prospect Zeev Buium, wing prospect Liam Ohgren, and a first-round pick to the Vancouver Canucks for franchise defenseman Quinn Hughes. The monster move has already returned dividends. Minnesota has posted a 16-5-5 record with Hughes in the lineup – but still appear a few lineup pieces shy of true Stanley Cup contention. The Trade Deadline will challenge Minnesota to mend those holes with a recently-thinned wallet.
Record
34-14-10 (2nd in Central Division)
Deadline Status
Buyers
Deadline Cap Space
$14.52MM on deadline day, 0/3 retention slots used, 42/50 contracts used per PuckPedia.
Upcoming Draft Picks
2026: MIN 3rd, MIN 4th, SJS 5th, MIN 5th, MIN 6th, MIN 7th
2027: MIN 1st, MIN 3rd, MIN 4th, MIN 5th, MIN 6th, MIN 7th
Trade Chips
The Wild dealt most of their loose pieces in their big buy for Hughes. What was left behind is a relatively solid lineup with no major value-buys sticking out. That hasn’t stopped Minnesota from finding ways to stay on top of the trade market. The club has dangled star goalie prospect Jesper Wallstedt in recent trade discussion, in an attempt to find a star addition on offense.
Wallstedt offers unprecedented market value. The Nashville Predators traded top goalie prospect Yaroslav Askarov, and a third-round pick, to the San Jose Sharks in 2024 in exchange for David Edstrom, Magnus Chrona, and a first-round pick. Counting Edstrom’s draft capital, that is the equivalent of two first-round picks – a price that Wallstedt could supercede with his performance this season. Finally stuck in an NHL role, Wallstedt has posted 14 wins and a .914 save percentage in 23 games this season. He has proven to be a true force in the NHL, after doing as much in both the AHL and SHL.
The Wild could land a serious addition on the back of Wallstedt’s value alone. They could add to it their 2027 first-round pick or top prospects like Charlie Stramel or Ryder Ritchie to seemingly land some of the biggest names on the market. With plenty of cap space on deadline day and one more year on Hughes’ current contract, there could be little-to-nothing holding Minnesota back from going all-in.
Trade Needs
Thee Center: Minnesota has held tryouts for their top-center role through the last four seasons. None of Rossi, Joel Eriksson Ek, Ryan Hartman, or Danila Yurov have appeared capable of leading a Cup-winning offense. It is clear the Wild are one piece short of a true top lineup. Luckily, this year’s market is unusually rife with center talent.
Minnesota might be able to swing Robert Thomas away from the St. Louis Blues with their assembly of Wallstedt and future capital. Thomas is a clear top center in the midst of his prime on a Blues team heading the wrong way. He would offer a forechecking and playmaking presence that would fit seamlessly next to play-driving scorers Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy, like it has next to Jordan Kyrou in St. Louis. The Blues will need to be swayed to trade away their core forward, especially to an interdivision rival, but a core future piece like Wallstedt could be enough.
The Wild could pull off a similar deal for Calgary Flames center Nazem Kadri, though the Flames are less likely to be swayed by a trade package surrounding a star goalie. That offer could be more convincing should the Vancouver Canucks let Minnesota double-dip and target Elias Pettersson.
Should Thomas, Kadri, and Pettersson be too rich for Minnesota’s taste, they could find cheaper options in Rangers’ center Vincent Trocheck or Sharks’ center Alexander Wennberg. Neither player would fill the top-line role outright, though they could add some nice diversity next to Hartman, Eriksson Ek, and Yurov on the depth chart. Trocheck has 12 goals and 36 points in 43 games with New York, while Wennberg has stepped up with 37 points in 55 games.
Some Goalie Reassurance: Dangling Wallstedt for another big trade is a bold, and potentially franchise-altering, decision by the Wild. They would need to replace their backup goalie role should Wallstedt move, with Calvin Petersen and Samuel Hlavaj both boasting sub-.900 save percentages in the minors.
The Wild could find that quite easily if they make it a priority in their buy of a new center. The Blues could likely be separated from former Cup-winner Jordan Binnington in a deal where they land Wallstedt. That would give the Wild a veteran addition – and a rival familiar to Wild and Team USA general manager Bill Guerin – to backup Filip Gustavsson. Minnesota could also find a few different options in the Canucks, who currently have Nikita Tolopilo and Jiri Patera battling for the NHL backup role after an injury to Thatcher Demko.
Should Minnesota want to split their buys into two deals, they could benefit from connecting with the Pittsburgh Penguins or Florida Panthers, in an attempt to buy netminders like Joel Blomqvist or Daniil Tarasov. Both would come with a cost, though could probably be pulled away with the right argument.
Photo courtesy of John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images.
Wild Notes: Wallstedt, Stramel, Coyle
The Minnesota Wild announced to the league that they are all-in on trying to win a Stanley Cup over the next two years when they acquired star blueliner Quinn Hughes from the Vancouver Canucks. As they seek a player who can occupy a top-six center role, one of the key trade assets they have to leverage is breakout rookie goalie Jesper Wallstedt. Last month, it was reported that the Wild would consider dealing Wallstedt, and yesterday, The Athletic’s Michael Russo and Joe Smith took things a step further, writing that a Wallstedt trade “really does feel inevitable.”
Despite his stellar rookie year, one where he’s posted a .914 save percentage across 23 games, Wallstedt is somewhat expendable for the Wild because they have starter Filip Gustavsson locked into a contract extension that carries a $6.8MM AAV, runs through 2030-31, and has a full no-move clause through next year. According to Russo and Smith, Wallstedt will be a real asset in play in the team’s search for a high-end center. For rival teams that have a need in net and a center to trade, Wallstedt’s availability could be a real opportunity to add a goaltender that could potentially be a starter in net for the next decade or more.
Other notes from the Twin Cities:
- Answering a question as to whether top prospect Charlie Stramel might exercise his right to hit unrestricted free agency when the Wild’s exclusive rights to sign him expire this summer, Russo and Smith relayed word from Stramel, who said he “100 percent” plans on signing with the Wild in some form when his NCAA season ends. It’s still to be determined whether that will be with AHL Iowa or whether the Wild will sign him to his entry-level deal and “burn” a year in doing so. Stramel is one of Minnesota’s best prospects, and is leading the Michigan State Spartans with 35 points in 26 NCAA games.
- Russo and Smith also reported yesterday that the Wild “have checked in with” the Columbus Blue Jackets regarding trade possibilities, including possibilities specifically related to veteran center Charlie Coyle, whose game Wild GM Bill Guerin is reportedly a fan of. Coyle, 33, played for the Wild from 2012-13 through 2018-19, and has had a stellar 2025-26 season, scoring 42 points in 56 games. Seeing as the Blue Jackets have surged after their recent coaching change, they could be unwilling to deal Coyle, even though he is a pending UFA. But as the Wild seek to upgrade their standing at the center position, it appears Coyle is very much on the team’s radar.
Wild Reassign David Jiricek, Cal Petersen, Tyler Pitlick
The Wild have reassigned defenseman David Jiříček, goaltender Calvin Petersen, and winger Tyler Pitlick to AHL Iowa, per a team announcement. Minnesota won its final game before the Olympic break yesterday, a 6-5 overtime thriller over the Predators, so those three will now be able to continue playing over the next few weeks in the minors.
Players can still be reassigned during the ongoing roster freeze if they’ve played fewer than 16 of the team’s 20 games before the freeze, or have been on the NHL roster for fewer than 80 league days before Jan. 21. All three of them meet that criteria.
Up-and-down movement has been a hallmark of Jiříček’s season. The once-highly touted prospect continues to struggle to lock down a full-time NHL role. Since being drafted sixth overall by the Blue Jackets in 2022, he’s scored 13 points in 84 career NHL games. None of them has come this season. He’s posted zeroes across the board in 25 outings for the Wild. He only has two career points in a Minnesota uniform, both of which came in a six-game stint last year after being acquired from Columbus.
Lack of ice time surely has something to do with the lack of output from the talented puck-mover. He’s only averaged 11:48 of ice time per game this year, although it’s hard to argue he’s earned more. His possession numbers are underwhelming, only controlling 46.1% of shot attempts at 5-on-5.
Things in the minors haven’t gone terribly well for Jiříček since last year’s move, either. He’s notched a goal and five points in 15 outings for Iowa this year after seven assists in 27 games in 2024-25. He’s only clicking at a 0.29 points per game rate with the club, with a -10 rating.
While Jiříček may be coming back up after the break, Petersen isn’t. He was only rostered for Minnesota’s last two games before the break to back up Filip Gustavsson while Jesper Wallstedt dealt with the flu. The Iowa native signed in free agency with the Wild last season to serve as a minor-league depth option in his home state. Now 31 years old, the former Kings hopeful has managed a .897 SV% with a 2.82 GAA in 17 AHL games, including two shutouts and a 4-13-0 record.
Pitlick, 34, also arrived with the Wild in last summer’s free agency period. After spending all of last year in the minors in the Bruins organization, he’s re-established himself as a fringe NHLer in Minnesota. He’s been up with the team for a good chunk of the year but cleared waivers last month, so he’s within the 30-day exempt period.
A second-round pick back in 2010, Pitlick doesn’t offer much more upside than being a physical fourth-line checker at this stage of his career. He has two goals and a -4 rating in 31 games for the Wild while averaging 7:48 of ice time per game. While his 41.3 CF% is among the team’s worst, he does rank fourth on the club with 76 hits and third on a per-game basis (2.45).
Marcus Foligno Out With Illness
- The Minnesota Wild were without a middle-six forward last night against the Montreal Canadiens. Before the drop of the puck, the Wild announced that Marcus Foligno would miss the game because of illness. The 34-year-old forward had been playing better of late, scoring three goals and eight points in his last 15 games, including the first hat trick of his career a few weeks ago. He’s not expected to miss the Wild’s final contest before the Olympic break.
[SOURCE LINK]
Wild Recall Cal Petersen, Activate Zach Bogosian
6:03 p.m: The Wild officially announced Bogosian’s activation in advance of their game tonight against the Montreal Canadiens.
In a corresponding move, they reassigned defenseman Matt Kiersted to the AHL. Kiersted, 27, began his most recent recall on Jan. 27, and ended up serving as a healthy scratch for the club’s game’s on Jan. 29 and Jan. 31. The 27-year-old undrafted blueliner has gotten into four NHL games for the Wild this season, and has four points in 28 AHL games. He’s under contract through next season at a league-minimum NHL cap hit, with a $450K AHL salary.
12:13 p.m.: The Wild have now activated Bogosian from injured reserve, per the NHL’s media site. Since teams can exceed the roster limit to have a third goalie under emergency conditions twice during the season, they won’t need to make a move to reinstate him. He’s been out for 13 games with an undisclosed injury sustained on Jan. 3 against the Kings. In 23 appearances this season, the veteran righty has four points with a +8 rating while averaging 14:52 of ice time per game.
11:30 a.m.: According to regional reporter Jessi Pierce, the Minnesota Wild have recalled netminder Cal Petersen from the AHL’s Iowa Wild. Minnesota confirmed the news, sharing that it’s under emergency conditions. The Wild will need to make an additional transaction before tonight to activate defenseman Zach Bogosian from the injured reserve.
Fortunately, there are no injury concerns with Minnesota’s usual goaltending tandem. Several reports from practice indicate that Jesper Wallstedt is dealing with the flu, and he won’t be available for tonight’s contest. Filip Gustavsson will assume the starting position.
This morning’s roster move is the first call-up of the year for Petersen. He was waived shortly before the start of the 2025-26 campaign after signing a one-year, $775K contract with the Wild last offseason. He’s spent the entire year with AHL Iowa up to this point.
Although his win/loss record isn’t great, it’s not the worst performance Petersen has had throughout his professional career. The 31-year-old veteran has a 4-13-0 record in 17 games with a .897 SV% and 2.82 GAA. Last season, with the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Petersen finished with a 13-15-3 record in 31 games with a .885 SV% and 3.14 GAA.
His results are more indicative of the team in front of him rather than his individual performance. It’s much of the same for AHL Iowa, a team that has only made the playoffs twice since the 2013-14 season, though no postseason was held in 2020 or 2021. That’s not expected to change this season, as the Wild are in last place in the Central Division with a 12-26-4-1 record in 43 games.
Wild Interested In Nazem Kadri
Still, that’s a long shot from Montreal’s perspective. Further down the article, D’Amico suggested that the Carolina Hurricanes, Detroit Red Wings, and Minnesota Wild remain interested in acquiring Kadri in varying degrees. There is no word on whether those teams are on Kadri’s no-trade list.
Wild Recall Matt Kiersted
The Wild announced today that they’ve recalled defenseman Matt Kiersted from AHL Iowa. With two open roster spots, there’s no need for a corresponding move.
Minnesota is back to having an extra defenseman on its roster ahead of tonight’s clash with the Blackhawks. They’d had David Spacek in the role for the last several days but sent him down to Iowa over the weekend with the hope that Zach Bogosian would be ready to come off injured reserve. While he was previously listed as day-to-day with a foot injury, The Athletic’s Michael Russo reported yesterday that it never got back to 100% and that he’s now “seeking a different form of treatment.”
That opens the door for Kiersted to rejoin the team, especially since Spacek was ineligible to be recalled today because he hasn’t played for Iowa since being reassigned on Sunday. Kiersted was previously up with the Wild in a similar role for nearly a month across December and January, but was sent down over two weeks ago after clearing waivers.
A competent depth defenseman with some NHL utility, Kiersted is a Minnesota native who returned home last summer in free agency. He’d spent his professional career up to then with the Panthers, who plucked him out of North Dakota as an undrafted free agent in 2021. He has a strong outlet pass in his arsenal with some offensive utility at the AHL, but has panned out as a defensive threat in the pros first and foremost.
In 261 career AHL games across five seasons with Charlotte and Iowa, he’s put up a 16-73–89 scoring line with a +44 rating. In 43 NHL games, including four with the Wild this year, he’s posted eight points with a -8 rating while averaging 12:11 of ice time per game.
Minnesota Wild Open To Trading Jesper Wallstedt
The Minnesota Wild “would be open to dealing” top young netminder Jesper Wallstedt “if the right deal comes along,” The Athletic’s Michael Russo reported today. On Sportsnet’s 32 Thoughts podcast today, Elliotte Friedman echoed Russo’s report, adding that Wild GM Bill Guerin may have already attempted to deal Wallstedt as part of his longstanding efforts to acquire a top-six center.
As part of Russo’s report, he indicated that “the right deal” to include Wallstedt, from the Wild’s perspective, would be one that brings a pivot capable of filling the No. 1 center role to Minnesota. The Wild are, according to Russo, “aggressively looking” to add a top-six center to their lineup.
That isn’t exactly fresh news, nor is it something that would come as any real surprise to anyone who takes a look at the Wild’s current depth chart at the position. But what is new are these concrete reports that the Wild are willing to include Wallstedt in a deal that fills their longstanding need.
On one hand, the Wild’s reported willingness to deal Wallstedt is somewhat surprising. That’s largely because of how excellent he’s been this season, which has supercharged his stock league wide. Wallstedt has a .914 save percentage through 21 games this season, and while he’s slowed down a little bit, he earned some votes in NHL.com’s midseason poll of Vezina Trophy candidates.
This breakout season has been a long time coming for Wallstedt, who has long been considered one of the game’s best prospects at the position. The 2021 first-round pick had a tough 2024-25 campaign, but impressed in his first two seasons in the AHL, posting .908 and .910 save percentages in 2022-23 and 2023-24, respectively. Under contract through next year at a $2.2MM cap hit, Wallstedt looks to be an emerging starting goalie, and one that could provide a significant amount of surplus value if given the right workload.
But what makes Wallstedt’s name surfacing in trade rumors less of a surprise is the wider situation Minnesota finds itself in at the goalie position. While Wallstedt could indeed provide a considerable amount of surplus value due to his $2.2MM cap hit, Minnesota isn’t positioned to truly take advantage of that. Wallstedt currently operates in a tandem with 27-year-old Filip Gustavsson, who has been one of the league’s better goalies since arriving in the Twin Cities. He has a .908 save percentage in 33 games this season, and is likely to be Minnesota’s go-to option in the playoffs, even if Wallstedt isn’t dealt.
Not only is Gustavsson Minnesota’s No. 1 netminder at this moment, his contract positions him to occupy that role for the foreseeable future, without much room for that to change. The $6.8MM AAV contract extension Gustavsson signed in October 2025 carries a full no-move clause for the first two years of its duration, before morphing into a 15-team no-trade clause. That NMC means the Wild are essentially locked into keeping Gustavsson as their starter for the next few years, a reality that makes trading Wallstedt all the more logical.
Wallstedt has long been projected to eventually become an impactful NHL goalie; As a result, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Gustavsson’s agent, Kurt Overhardt, negotiated the NMC into the first two years of Gustavsson’s deal with an eye towards warding against the possibility that his client could be dealt in order to pave the way for Wallstedt to take the reins as an undisputed No. 1 goalie in Minnesota.
Considering all of those factors, it becomes clear why the Wild are considering dealing Wallstedt, even though they likely know they’d be trading away a player who could be one of the league’s top goalies through the 2030s. The logic behind trading Wallstedt becomes even clearer when one considers how singularly focused the Wild are on maximizing their window to win as long as Quinn Hughes remains a Wild player.
Hughes’ contract is set to expire at the end of the 2026-27 season, and he has not given Minnesota any assurances that he’ll extend his deal and remain there. Consequently, it is in Minnesota’s best interests to not only maximize their chances of winning for the two playoff runs they have Hughes under team control for, but also to try to win as much as possible with Hughes in order to help convince him to sign an extension to remain in Minnesota.
Hughes had to play through some lean years as a member of the Vancouver Canucks, something he acknowledged weighed on him considerably. It’s likely, therefore, that whether or not a team is positioned to legitimately compete for a Stanley Cup will hold a great degree of influence over their odds of signing Hughes. And with Kirill Kaprizov now 28 years old, it’s clear the Wild’s competitive aspirations lie in players more around Gustavsson’s age (late twenties) than Wallstedt’s (early-to-mid twenties.)
As for who the Wild might target in any Wallstedt deal, that becomes more difficult to ascertain. The team is reportedly very interested in New York Rangers pivot Vincent Trocheck. But it’d be surprising to see New York trade Trocheck for a goalie seeing as the team already has star Igor Shesterkin locked into their starting role for the rest of the decade and beyond.
A hypothetical three-team trade could land Trocheck in Minnesota and send Wallstedt to a goalie-needy team, with that third team sending skater prospects to New York. But including a third team is a major hurdle to clear, and one that makes it so Minnesota is likely to need to leverage other assets if they want to acquire Trocheck.
Considering teams that might covet Wallstedt, or at least have a more pressing need in net, a few other potential candidates emerge. On the most recent trade board made by The Athletic’s Chris Johnston, there were five centers listed that most would reasonably consider to be of the top-six caliber Guerin is seeking: Nazem Kadri, Elias Pettersson, Robert Thomas, Ryan O’Reilly, and Trocheck.
Unfortunately for the Wild, nobody in that group appears to be a real candidate to be traded in a deal involving Wallstedt. The Calgary Flames and Nashville Predators (employers of Kadri and O’Reilly, respectively) each have goalies (Dustin Wolf for Calgary, Juuse Saros for Nashville) whose presence would likely limit their interest in Wallstedt. The goalie situation of the Vancouver Canucks and St. Louis Blues are more up in the air, but Minnesota may not want to take on Pettersson’s hefty $11.6MM cap hit, and the Blues are unlikely to have much interest in dealing their No. 1 center to a divisional rival.
Among teams who would stand to benefit most from adding Wallstedt, the New Jersey Devils are a clear candidate. While backup Jake Allen has performed admirably, starter Jacob Markstrom has endured a brutal campaign. Adding Wallstedt might stabilize the Devils at a position that has caused them so much trouble in recent years, but it’s not a clean fit. Markstrom signed a two-year, $6.5MM extension in October, and has a full NMC through the end of the season. Allen has a full NTC through 2026-27, and is under contract (at an affordable $1.8MM AAV) through 2029-30. Fitting Wallstedt into that picture might not be realistic.
The Ottawa Senators have a clear need in net, but trading away a key center such as Shane Pinto or Dylan Cozens may be a less optimal route for the team to improve than simply attempting to get incumbent starter Linus Ullmark‘s game back on track.
The Montreal Canadiens have a clear immediate need in net due to the struggles of Sam Montembeault and Jakub Dobes, but the looming presence of top prospect Jacob Fowler could scuttle the possibility of a deal. While Montreal would certainly benefit from adding Wallstedt, trading away the kind of center Minnesota would demand in return (such as promising rookie Oliver Kapanen) might not be in the team’s best interests with Fowler so close to being NHL-ready.
This is all to say that as things currently stand, Wallstedt is one of the most interesting trade candidates heading into this year’s deadline. They have many different factors to contend with when deciding not only whether or not to trade him, but also what kind of deal to construct if he’s indeed traded. The numerous different considerations the club will need to navigate are fascinating, and make Wallstedt a clear player to watch moving forward.
Photos courtesy of John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
Wild Reassign David Spacek
The Wild have reassigned defenseman David Spacek to AHL Iowa, the team announced. There is no corresponding move yet, although it could be an indication that Zach Bogosian will be ready to come off injured reserve for Tuesday’s game against the Blackhawks.
Taken in the fifth round of the 2022 draft, Spacek is in his third season with the organization and has earned his first set of recalls – three of them, to be exact – this season. The 6’0″ righty has been mostly used as press box fodder but finally made his NHL debut this month, suiting up twice against the Jets on Jan. 15 and against the Canadiens on Jan. 20.
The son of longtime NHL defender Jaroslav Spacek had his ice time capped at just 10:45 per game, recording a -1 rating with two blocks and one hit. He was otherwise held off the scoresheet and controlled just 19.6% of shot attempts at even strength, the worst figure among any Wild skater to step on the ice for them this season.
The Czech puck-mover has put together some good seasons in a disastrous minor-league environment in Iowa, though. He led the team’s blue line in scoring last season with 31 points in 72 games and is now second on the team in scoring overall this season with a 3-16–19 line in 35 showings. He’s also suited up for the Czech men’s national team at the last two World Championships and will be joining the club at next month’s Olympics as NHLers return to the event.
It’s a contract year for Spacek, who’s a pending restricted free agent in the final season of his entry-level agreement. He’s due a two-way qualifying offer of $813,750, something the Wild are likely to offer him if they haven’t reached an agreement by the end of June, given his promising AHL performances.