Basic Player Overview
2020/2021 Team: Luleå HF (SHL)
Position: Goalie
Height: 191 cm / 6’3″
Weight: 97 kg / 214 lbs
Handedness: Left
Nationality: Sweden
Introduction
Drafting goalies is always a risk. And it’s changing at all, but one thing is at least noticeable. NHL teams are not afraid to pick guys from the goal-crease with their higher picks. On the other hand, it’s not about the organizations, it’s about the qualities of the players. And they are simply there. Jesper Wallstedt can be a goaltender taken in the top-15 for the third consecutive year (after Askarov being selected 11th in 2020 and Knight 13th in 2019).
And he could very easily be the highest-drafted goalie since Carey Price in 2005 (5th), first in the top-10 at least.
Last year, there were rumors about Ottawa’s second first-round pick that slid on the spot number 5. They ended up drafting Jake Sanderson but it’s believed that they had decided between him and Yaroslav Askarov. And this year is perfect for drafting goalies HIGH.
The risk of taking them and other players is getting even this year because a lot of players are either playing in different conditions in different leagues or they are not playing at all because the start of their league was postponed.
And Jesper Wallstedt deserved a spot in the men’s Luleå team in SHL. He was a back-up at the beginning of the season, but he outplayed his partner David Rautio. They had to sign another goalie because David requested trade by a couple of sources.
Wallstedt played only one game in J20 Nationell, didn’t allow a single goal. In SHL, his save percentage is higher than .910, and the number of allowed goals per match is just by a tenth over 2. Luleå has a great defensive group but those numbers are incredible for an 18-year-old goaltender.
World Juniors Performance
Jesper Wallstedt came to the tournament as a 1B goalie. He should have spared time between the pipes with Hugo Alnefelt. He ended up in goal twice – in the group-stage games against Austria and Russia (he also stepped into the game against the USA after the fourth goal more than 36 minutes to go). He allowed four goals, all of them in an OT-loss against the Russians. Two goals per game, it’s decent. But there’s one more stat that is intriguing.
Wallstedt is criticized for being non-dynamic. Fair, compare to Askarov he’s not dynamic, saves based on ‘wow factor’ are not often. A lot of people connecting this type of saves to saves above average or to saves against scoring chances. And that’s wrong. Why?
31 of the 51 shots against Wallstedt at World Juniors were in scoring chances. He saved 23 of them, the next four he allowed and the other four hit the post. That’s a 74,2 % save percentage against those high-danger shots. Only Šimon Latkoczy from Slovakia was better – by 8 tenths.
For a closer hint, let’s look at the four goals he allowed in the tournament.
The first and the second one are pretty similar. Miscommunication among Swedish defenders and smart cross passes by Russians opened half of the net for the open teammates. Maybe the first one could have been handled better by Wallstedt, the pass went through the crease where he should have had the stick but there was a chance that Abramov would be trying to put the puck into the net right near to the pipe so it’s reasonable that he was trying to cover that spot rather. The third one is just an unbelievable shot by Kirsanov. Wallstedt didn’t see a bit of it. The OT-winner is kind of 50/50. The rebound was there, Wallstedt had a difficult view at the puck but he can easily cover these shots in the SHL without the rebound.
Posture
Wallstedt has a smarter posture in the net than I thought. At the first view, I thought he’s pretty upstanding, pretty much all the time and then he just sticks his pads to the ice and moves. But it’s not totally like that. When the attack is going right to the Wallstedt and he’s expecting the player to shoot the puck, he lowers the posture a bit. Thanks to that, he’s much quicker on the ice with his pads. He was struggling with low-targeting shots in the past and is not anymore. It could be fixed thanks to this improvement or change of style.
So when the player is looking to shoot, Wallstedt lowered himself a bit. It looks like this. Visually it looks like he had more space on his glove side and blocker side, less between the legs. He’s kind of tempting the opponents to shoot there and that’s where he’s dominant. With his glove.
Wallstedt is excellent positionally, he’s not getting out of the goal-crease very often and he’s every time on the centerline of the shot. He makes mistakes very rarely but something was wrong with his numbers after he came back to Luleå after World Juniors. Here is the report of it.
He allowed 2,27 goals per match in the 11 games after the World Juniors. That’s not bad. He stops 229 of 257 shots he was up against. 0.891 %, that’s not good. But let’s get deeper into it.
He allowed 25 goals, only four of them goes through him between the legs. That’s a massive improvement. On the other hand, 20 of them went on his glove/blocker side and pass him. All of the goals he allowed on the glove side were from the slot or when the forward was all alone in front of Wallstedt. Those goals are scored after the defensemen’s mistakes. Eight of the ten goals on the blocker side were the same, two of them can be counted as Wallstedt’s fault.
Here they are. He allowed four goals from distance but three of them with a massive screen in front of him. Apart from the second goal in this clip. The first goal is a bit lucky but those shots simply can’t go in.
From 11 games after World Juniors, he’s blameful only in two goals. That’s still a fantastic result. Even though his team is not that dominant (won only five of those 11 games), it’s not Wallstedt fault. His defense is not helping him that much as it did at the start of the season. Averagely he’s facing only 23 shots per game after New Year’s Eve and that’s very tough for goalies. He could be better, but the save percentage is not appropriate this time.
Conclusion
Wallstedt is a terrific goaltender who might not have overwhelmed potential as Askarov, but his ability to be at the right place at the right time is huge. Picking goalie is never safe, but this time with Wallstedt, I believe it’s the safest goalie-pick since Carey Price.
Highlight-reel saves are simply not for Swedish goalie, but here are some clips where Wallstedt had to show his quickness and reflexes.
Comparison
Wallstedt style of play reminds me a lot of Connor Hellebuyck. He makes the goaltender’s job very easy, his positioning is his best threat. He also has a pretty quick catching glove, that suits best Tuukka Rask.
Rankings
#14 – TSN/Bob McKenzie
#14 – Recruit Scouting (November)
#12 – Recruit Scouting (February)
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