Another start, another shutout. Last night, Minnesota Wild goaltender, Jesper Wallstedt, stopped 33 shots from the Edmonton Oilers on his way to posting his fourth shutout in his last six starts. The young netminder now has ten career wins in the NHL, half of those are shutouts. With the 23-year-old moving into the Vezina Trophy conversation, hockey card collectors have taken notice.
Wallstedt, who made his NHL debut during the 2023-24 season, was part of the first series of Upper Deck cards released in 2024-25. His card, #202, is part of the Young Guns subset, recognized by most collectors as the go-to rookie card for players. Other rookies in that same class include Chicago’s Frank Nazar, Montreal’s Lane Hutson, and Anaheim’s Cutter Gauthier. The big rookie chase of that year, Macklin Celebrini, would appear in Series II.
As the top rookie goalie in the set, his cards commanded a premium when first released. According to eBay data, the earliest sales of PSA 10 copies were in the $85-$90 range.[ed. note PSA is a company that grades the quality of cards and a “10” is considered a perfect card] As injuries derailed his season, those sales plummeted, and by January, a card in that condition could be had for as little as $42.
Prices would range around $50-$55 for most of the summer and early into the season. By mid-November, as the Wild went on their winning streak, backed by Wallstedt’s phenomenal play in net, the cost of acquiring his rookie card skyrocketed. On November 10th, a card sold for $89. That would be the last sale under $100. Now, they are closing, on average, between $145 and $190.
Cardboard speculators love rookies who outperform expectations and Wallstedt seems to be doing that as he was just named the league’s rookie of the month for November. If this rise in price is something that is permanent or just a bubble will depend on how the season goes. Trends in collecting can run hot and cold, and a brief losing streak or injury could cool off the prices in a heartbeat. Collectors tend to give more leeway to forwards when it comes to long-term investments while goaltenders could see a lot more fluctuation in the prices as sentiments come and go about them.
Wallstedt is a young goalie embarking on what could be a historic season, and he caps it with a Vezina Trophy or by backing the Wild to a long playoff run, $190 could seem like a bargain. Andrei Vasilevskiy’s rookie card in a PSA 10 is valued between $360 and $400 while Connor Hellebuyck’s sells in the $250-$275 range. One could argue that, while they do have a longer track record of success, neither is in a market as dedicated to hockey as Minnesota.
As long as he keeps winning and putting up league-leading stats, there will be demand for the card. How long he can keep it up is the big question. On the season, he is 8-0-2 with a 1.74 GAA, .944 SV%, and four shutouts. Over his last six starts he’s allowed 5 goals total (3 to Carolina and 2 to Colorado) on 215 shots against.
The Wild have been committed to a goalie rotation between Wallstedt and Filip Gustavsson as the duo have traded starts throughout the team’s 15-game point streak that has vaulted them up the standings. While that might suppress his overall stats a little, it should keep the young netminder fresh for the entire season and possibly prevent a slump in the spring.