There are plenty of issues the Minnesota Wild still need to sort out if the team wants to go on a deep playoff run -- or get past the Dallas Stars -- but goaltending is not among them. That’s thanks to the absolutely brilliant play of star rookie Jesper Wallstedt, but his success isn’t coming without some potential hiccups.
Minnesota was rumored to be trading Wallstedt at the deadline to acquire top center help, but that didn’t happen. Part of why the rookie was deemed expendable was the fact that Filip Gustavsson was occupying the starting netminder role. That has since flipped, and a recent quote from Gus has some thinking that he’s sick of sitting on the bench.
As players spoke to the media ahead of Game 4, Gustavsson redirected reporters looking to ask him questions with a pretty blunt response.
“Talk to the players who are playing,” Gustavsson said, in a quote that has caused quite the stir among Wild fans.
The interpretation of the quote is that Gus is unhappy or in some way bothered that he's not starting right now. It's understandable that he's disappointed -- who wouldn't be -- and it's not hard to read into what he said given the context of the situation.
Will the Wild trade Filip Gustavsson this summer as Jesper Wallstedt continues to blossom?
That being said, this feels like a classic case of not being able to read tone through text. How many of us have been there either texting with someone or trying to decipher the real meaning behind a message from someone at work on Slack or Teams?
While it's certainly possible that Gus is upset, it's not the way everyone is reading it and that might be the way to look at this one.
I don’t see this as him getting traded but more as he doesn’t have anything to say because he isn’t getting any minutes. Is there potentially hurt feelings there? Maybe but a trade seems like a stretch. https://t.co/q786zDAfXj
— Marissa Voss™ (@marissavoss) April 25, 2026
I actually read this as him saying “don’t put the spotlight on me because the story is on the ice, not on the bench.” I don’t think we need to all get our undies in a bunch over it 🙄 https://t.co/7DbqOFUybA
— HockeySheWrote (@HockeySheWrote) April 25, 2026
i think everyone is blowing this way out of proportion https://t.co/DzKFjMYlmp
— x - mikayla (@mikaylaaaa777) April 25, 2026
Those are probably the proper readings of the situation, but there's no denying that whether or not Gus is upset there's a new conversation about to happen this summer when it comes to trades.
Even if he hadn't said anything, things have flipped when it comes to which assets the Wild might move to land the final piece of Bill Guerin's championship roster. At the deadline it was Wallstedt who was getting dangled but given how utterly brilliant he's been, the Wild would be foolish to trade him even if his stock as skyrocketed.
Of course, it could be that we don't really go anywhere based on this or the Wild's need to make a trade this summer. Guerin was vindicated for not moving Wallstedt and hanging onto Gus to keep one of the best goalie duos in the league together might be a smart move.
Wallstedt is playing out of his mind right now, boasting a 92 percent save percentage with a 3.57 Goals Saved Above Expected and a .970 save percentage when facing 5-on-5 this series. That's absolutely bonkers stuff and is the surest sign yet that he's the future in net for Minnesota.
That might make Gus expendable this offseason, which regardless of his comments or the way they're being interpreted will be something to keep an eye on.
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