By Mariah E. Stark,The Hockey Writers

Copyright yardbarker

Again, he did get some playing time in during the preseason and then some during the regular season; just two games, and unfortunately, they were both tough losses. He wasn’t given a chance to redeem himself, as he didn’t see any more games the rest of the season and none in the postseason. It’s important to remember that he’s only a rookie and a young one at that, especially in the goaltender position. He has the skills to be a strong goaltender; he just needs time in the net and confidence in both himself and from the coaching staff.

He didn’t have the greatest stats last season in the American Hockey League for the Iowa Wild, but he also only played 27 games during the season. He had nine wins and 14 losses, which obviously are not great numbers, but he was dealing with injury issues and struggled to get back on track. Regardless, prior to these struggles, he showed some strong stats and had winning seasons; he knows how to win games. It’ll be interesting to see how he overcomes these past struggles and adjust to the NHL. Hopefully, things will go smoothly, and he can transition into a strong backup and potentially challenge for the starting spot.

Wild Have Strong Goaltending Future

Many may not believe it, but the Wild have a strong goaltending future in Gustavsson and Wallstedt. It may not happen this season, but once Wallstedt has a full season under his belt, he’ll catch on to how everything works and get comfortable in the big league. It’s entirely possible that Wallstedt won’t be the goaltender everyone expects, and he may never become that true number one, but he has too much talent for that to happen.

Every goaltender has an off-season, even Fleury, but especially when dealing with injuries. The biggest worry is if this becomes a recurrent issue, and that’s a whole other topic entirely, but he came back and was able to play. Gustavsson has already proven himself and shown he knows what it takes to become a top goaltender, and he appears to just get better with every game. He’ll still make mistakes like every goaltender does, but he’s a worthy number one.

For now, Wild fans shouldn’t worry too much about the goaltending; however, the worry doesn’t ever go away entirely. Goaltending is such a difficult position that can control a game, and it’s hard to ever not worry about it, even when the goaltender is top of the league. However, the Wild deserve to have some faith in both goaltenders at least for the first half of the season to gauge how things go. If they can’t get a single win under Wallstedt, depending on how many games he gets to play, then it may be time to rethink, but he deserves time. Hopefully, they both can start on the right foot and help the Wild win games.