Minnesota Wild Should Keep Both Gustavsson and Wallstedt – Hockey Writers – Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild are in an unusual position heading into the offseason, with general manager (GM) Bill Guerin needing to address the center position very quickly.

Reported at deadline (from ‘Wild trade tracker: After bottom six overhaul – Foligno, Brink in, Hinostroza out – are they done?’ – Athletic03/06/2026) that the Wild have shown interest in New York Rangers center Vincent Trocheck. It’s clear that the deal didn’t happen, and that’s because of the number of stars the Rangers had and still want when they get rid of Trocheck.

Now, the Wild could go back to Trocheck during the summer, but their assets are limited to just two picks in the first two rounds over the next three years. Guerin obviously spent big on the Quinn Hughes trade, so now he has to innovate.

Are Goaltenders Real Assets?

One of the things that I think puts Guerin in a difficult position is the number of his strikers on the trade market. Goalscoring is undoubtedly the team’s biggest strength with youngster Jesper Wallstedt, and an established goalkeeper in Filip Gustavsson.

Now, before I dive into this, Wallstedt is obviously very important, and Guerin tried to use him in the pockets. According to Michael Russo (from ‘Wild GM Bill Guerin’s summer to-do list: Phsue No. 1 center, decide on UFAs, extend Quinn Hughes’ – AthleticMay 15, 2026), the Wild tried to offer Wallstedt and Danila Yurov as part of a center package to St. Louis Blues Robert Thomas at the trade deadline.

That package was apparently rejected, but the point is that Guerin were not afraid to make their 23-year-old goalkeeper available.

While Russo is a good source, I think the organization’s view of the bending situation may have changed (this is just my opinion, not a report). After Gustavsson’s up and down season and Wallstedt having a real breakout, I wonder if they are hesitant to move on from Wallstedt.

Where this gets tough now is because of Gustavsson’s lackluster performance in the Olympics, down through the regular season, and the one finals game he appeared in. I wonder if his price paid off. On top of all that, it was recently reported that Gustavsson will need hip surgery.

My colleague Mariah Stark has written well about what the injury could mean for Gustavsson, so if you’d like to dive into that specifically, click this link.

For me, the hip surgery is another big hit to his price. Although 27 is not old, hip surgery can be especially challenging for goalkeepers, as the hip is essential to almost every movement in the goalkeeper’s game. The more I think about what the Wild should do with their forwards, the more I believe that doing nothing with them this offseason would make a lot of sense.

Wallstedt has a lot going for it

In the 35 games that Wallstedt played, he posted stellar stats. He had a .916 save percentage (SV%), 18.93 goals saved above average (GSAA), and 18.01 goals saved above average (GSAx). His GSAA ranks fifth in the league, and he did all that at just 23 years old.

Finding true elite starters in this league is a difficult task. In my opinion, the list of true starters is only five guys in the NHL: Connor Hellebuyck, Igor Shesterkin, Jeremy Swayman, Andrei Vasilevskiy and Ilya Sorokin.

I truly believe that Wallstedt is one of the young goalies in the league who will make the jump to that level along with Spencer Knight and Yaroslav Askarov.

The playoffs didn’t end well, but to be fair, the Wild didn’t show him any favors against the Colorado Avalanche. He was a brick wall against the Dallas Stars, and nothing made me want to leave Wallstedt.

Why It Doesn’t Make Sense

Now, what makes this even more difficult is that Trocheck is basically off the board if you use Gustavsson in a deal. The Rangers obviously don’t need another forward with Shesterkin locked up for the long haul, so I don’t see the Wild being in a serious race for Trocheck unless the price comes down a bit.

I can see them circling back to Thomas’ situation, but again, I wouldn’t rule out Wallstedt, who was in the first pack they rejected, and Gustavsson isn’t that good. I would also think the deal won’t work unless Jordan Binington is moved in the offseason as well.

Russo also hinted that he might try to get Brady Tkachuk from the Ottawa Senators, if any speculation that he might be looking for a fresh start is to be believed. I don’t know if the Wild have the necessary package to make a deal like that happen, but that’s something I’d be interested in.

Going back to scoring, I don’t think Gustavsson is a good fit for Ottawa. The Senators are already paying Linus Ullmark $8.25 million a year, so adding Gustavsson’s new deal, where he makes $6.8 million over the next five seasons, doesn’t make sense to me. Another point to consider is that Ullmark was amazing on the floor and stood on his head against the Carolina Hurricanes.

If I were managing the Senators, I would use Ullmark to have a back-to-back season. You can’t do much when he makes so much money.

Although this article is not about trading any of these goals, I don’t want to leave this article covering all the ideas of different options for a second line center.

What I would try to do if I were Guerin is call the Anaheim Ducks and see if they can make a deal for Mason McTavish.

McTavish has struggled this season, and things have been a bit dicey between him and the Ducks since last season. He sat out the regular season due to contract negotiations, then agreed to a six-year deal with an average annual value (AAV) of $7 million.

If the Ducks are open to moving on him, I feel like you can get McTavish for a good price. At the end of the day, he’s younger than Wallstedt, and even though he’s coming off a tough season, he didn’t have a full training camp, and that has a big impact on players’ seasons.

I hope Guerin would have already called Ducks GM Pat Verbeek on McTavish. He has the right to be a second line center at a lower price than other options on the market.