Minnesota Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt was praised as the team’s “best player” this season by one of his star teammates.
The Wild beat the Maple Leafs 5-2 on Thursday night in a game where Wallstedt stopped 26 of the 28 shots headed his way.
With the win, Wallstedt improved to 13-2-3 on the season with a 1.94 GAA and a .925 SV%, which are elite numbers for a goalie in the NHL.
His strong performance is certainly not lost on his teammates.
Matt Boldy Praises Jesper Wallstedt
Speaking to reporters after Minnesota beat Toronto on Thursday night, Wild superstar Boldy — who had a hat trick against the Maple Leafs — praised Wallstedt for his incredible performance not just against Toronto, but over the entire season for the Wild.
“Yeah, he was our best player tonight for sure. Has been for a lot of the season. Yeah, he kept us in that game. Like I said, we weren’t great early on and for him to stand on his head, make some huge saves, obviously gives us so much confidence having him back there. But we gotta make life a little bit easier for him,” Boldy said.
Jesper Wallstedt Could Get Vezina Trophy Consideration
While it’s still quite early in the season, the strong performance so far by Wallstedt makes him one of the favorites to capture the Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goalie this season.
Wallstedt’s numbers have been absolutely elite this season, and if he can continue to help the Wild win games while putting up these kinds of elite numbers, there’s a good chance that he will be one of the finalists in the Vezina Trophy race when it’s all said and done.
Given that he was technically a rookie last season, the strides that we have seen Wallstedt make this season in such a short period of time have been incredibly impressive to witness.
Again, there’s still a ton of time left in this season, so anything can happen from here on out, but given how important he’s been to the Wild so far this season, the Vezina Trophy might not be far off.
Jesper Wallstedt Called Team’s ‘Best Player’ by Wild Teammate