- Filip Gustavsson’s availability for the start of the season is in doubt after offseason hip surgery
- Jesper Wallstedt opens the year in the Wild crease with Calvin Pickard as the backup
- Read below for the full breakdown of Minnesota’s goaltending picture heading into 2026-27
Filip Gustavsson still has no green light for opening night.
NHL.com’s Wes Crosby listed the goaltender’s hip recovery among the three biggest questions facing the Wild this season, and the update was blunt. Gustavsson’s availability for the start of the regular season is in doubt after he had offseason surgery.
Jesper Wallstedt takes the crease until that changes. Calvin Pickard, who signed a one-year, $1 million contract on July 1, slots in as the backup.
Bill Guerin announced the surgery back in May at his season-ending press conference, and the language has not softened since. The Athletic’s Joe Smith relayed it from the podium:
Michael Russo of The Athletic reported the same from the room. The procedure was for general wear and tear rather than anything Gustavsson picked up in the playoffs, and Minnesota had no timeline in May because nothing was certain until after the operation.
Gustavsson’s 2025-26 ended on a sour run. He went 28-15-6 with a 2.69 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage in 50 games, then allowed at least four goals in five of his final six regular-season starts.
His only playoff appearance was a 5-2 loss to Colorado in Game 2 of the second round.
Wallstedt handled everything else. The 23-year-old went 18-9-6 with a 2.61 goals-against average in 35 games during his first full NHL season, then started all 10 of Minnesota’s other playoff games and posted a .909 save percentage.
Watch the 43-save playoff debut that put him in the conversation to begin with:
Gustavsson has roughly six weeks of runway. The league drops the puck on the 2026-27 regular season Sept. 29:
Guerin spent this offseason patching an attack that lost Mats Zuccarello, Marcus Johansson and Vladimir Tarasenko. The crease was supposed to be the part he did not have to think about.
