The Minnesota Wild have made more than their fair share of roster recalls this season. As injuries have plagued the NHL roster, the path from Iowa to St. Paul has been worn out by numerous players as the likes of Matt Boldy, Zach Bogosian, Marcus Johansson, and others have spent time on injured reserve. However, their most recent recall is one that seemingly came out of nowhere and had the hearts of Wild fans skipping a beat or two.
On Monday, the organization announced they had recalled goaltender Cal Petersen from Iowa prior to their game against the Montreal Canadiens (which they won 4-3 in overtime). The 31-year-old netminder served as the back-up as Filip Gustavson stopped 17 shots for his 19th win of the season.
So, where was Jesper Wallstedt?
Luckily for Wild fans, he wasn’t being held out for “roster management purposes” aka the Artemi Panarin treatment. Rather, the rookie sensation was feeling a bit under the weather and Petersen was recalled under emergency conditions once it became apparent that Wallstedt wasn’t going to be able to participate in the contest.
The Wild have one more game prior to the Olympic Break as they head down to Nashville on Wednesday. Wallstedt’s status is not known at this time, so Petersen could make the trek to the Music City with the team. Even if he does go, it’s unlikely that he’ll see any action.
Petersen was signed by the team this summer to add depth at the goaltending position in the organization. He’s spent the entire season in the AHL with Iowa where he has posted a 2.82 GAA and .897 SV%. Despite those overwhelmingly average number he owns a very rough looking 4-13-0 record as the Wild have struggled to a 12-26-4-1 record which has them in last place in the Central Division.
Any time an unexpected recall is made right around a roster freeze it raises an eyebrow or two. Wallstedt’s name has come up more than once in trade rumors as a potential trade piece for the Wild to improve their center depth. With the Olympic roster freeze looming (no moves after 2:00 PM CST on February 4) there might be a flurry of deals as teams look to strengthen their rosters.
The recall highlights a big problem with moving Wallstedt - a tremendous gap in talent between Gustavsson and whoever would fill the back-up role. Petersen, who hasn’t appeared in a NHL game since he was with Philadelphia during the 2023-24 season, is at the top of a very small list of goaltenders under contract that includes Samuel Hlavaj (54 games of AHL experience) and 21-year-old Riley Mercer. That’s it. That’s the list.
The potential of a Wallstedt trade and the need for a reliable back-up provided an empty spot for even more rumors to marinate. Namely, the spot getting taken by old friend Marc-Andre Fleury. The affable future hall-of-famer has occasionally worked out in Minnesota which has led to some speculation that he might be interested in a comeback. Josh Yohe of The Athletic threw cold water on that plan, stating that, based on conversations he’s had with the goaltender, Fleury is perfectly content in retirement.
If Bill Guerin does pull the trigger on a deal involving his 23-year-old back-up goaltender, he’ll likely have to make a secondary move to bring in a veteran goaltender as he’s unlikely to trust Petersen or Mercer down a very busy stretch after the Olympics.