Wild goaltender Wallstedt's shutout over Oilers puts him in rare territory

Minnesota goalie Jesper Wallstedt redirected the question about not being drafted by the Edmonton Oilers four years ago Tuesday night as calmly as he recorded his fifth shutout in his 10thNHL career win — first time that’s happened in 61 years.

“I’ve seen and I’ve heard … way too much about this,” said Wallstedt.

“I was drafted by Minnesota. I love it there. End of conversation.”

It was Wallstedt’s first NHL game at Rogers Place, the 1-0 W, but he was in Edmonton and Red Deer on Team Sweden at two U20 world juniors, so he knows Alberta.

“I have mixed feelings about Edmonton but this (shut out) helped a little bit. First COVID year we had the bubble, with no fans and I didn’t play much. The second time around we were in Red Deer for the tournament and it got cancelled (during the COVID outbreak in late Dec. 2021). We had a pretty good last one. We got a bronze medal,” at the rescheduled August, 2022, world junior, said Wallstedt.

Wallstedt has certainly entered the NHL’s rookie of the year conversation with his great run but he’s still well behind Islanders’ teenage defenceman Matthew Schaefer with 19 points in 27 games, a plus seven, this season. Yet, it’s hard to not be gob-smacked by his shutout streak.

He’s the first goalie since Detroit’s Roger Crozier in 1964 to get the five shutouts in his first 10 victories. It’s only happened seven times in NHL history. Two of the others who did it: the late Oilers scout Eddie Chadwick (1956), who has his name on the Oiler Stanley Cup, and Jacques Plante in 1954.

Wallstedt, who has five shutouts in his 15 career games, is the second-fastest to that number. Eveleth, Minn., native Frankie Brimsek did it in nine career games on Dec. 18, 1938. The Hall of Famer Brimsek played for the Bruins. Remember him getting a couple of mentions on Cheers back in the old TV days.

Yes, Wallstedt would look very good in a tandem, rotating with Oilers goalie Stu Skinner, who has stopped 59 of his last 60 shots against Seattle and Minnesota. Skinner only gave up Jonas Brodin’s screened shot in the 1-0 Wild loss.

Wallstedt will be in Vancouver Saturday night while Filip Gustavsson, possibly one of Sweden’s three goalies at the 2026 Olympics, starts for Wild in Calgary Thursday.

TRAVELLIN’ MAN

Former Oiler defenceman Troy Stecher is making the most out of his sudden opportunity to play in the top 4 with the Maple Leafs with his wedding groomsman, Chris Tanev, out with a concussion, and fellow righty Brandon Carlo out following lower-body surgery. Stecher played 24 1/2 minutes against Florida on Tuesday, scored and assisted on another goal by Dakota Joseph.

Stecher told reporters after the win over the Panthers he knew his days with the Oilers were in jeopardy long before the season started, back to training camp. He was reading the tea leaves properly that Alec Regula’s emergence as a right-shot defenceman alongside another young right-shot Ty Emberson pushed Stecher, 31, down the depth chart.

“I knew there was a moment where they might move me, try to waive me. I didn’t know if I’d get claimed or go to Bakersfield or whatnot. That was tough mentally,” said Stecher, who had phone chat with Oilers GM Stan Bowman after the waiver claim to assure him they still loved the way he competed.

“It wasn’t due to a lack of performance. It just became a numbers game,” said Stecher, who is averaging 18:27, has a goal and three helpers and is plus-six in seven Leafs’ games since the waiver claim.

Stecher, on his seventh NHL team, had a funny line about his goal on Sergei Bobrovsky Tuesday.

“I told (Easton) Cowan and (Nick) Robertson I was gonna get one tonight and I actually did. Problem is I tell myself that every game,” kidded Stecher, who has 23 goals in 573 NHL games.

FREDDY, FREDDY

Trent Frederic, who has two goals, a breakaway on Igor Shesterkin and a slapper on Andrei Vasilevsky, and two points in 27 games, continues to play every game. But he’s a fourth-liner now, hard to swallow for a guy signed to an eight-year contract with an AAV of $3.85 million. But that’s where he belongs. Mattias Janmark is playing ahead of him on the wing on the third line.

In the loss to Minnesota, Frederic got 11 shifts, just 8:30. Game before in Seattle, 9:25. He played 5:25 in the 8-3 drubbing to Dallas Nov. 25 but he got hurt blocking a shot and sat out the third period In the last 10 games, he’s played fewer than 10 minutes four times, when healthy.

Clearly not good enough. He’s out there, but not noticeable, although he did get a shift or maybe two with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to increase his minutes.

Twenty-seven shots, 27 games, nine games with none.

“You sign a new contract and often players put more expectations on themselves. It’s more weight on their shoulders, it paralyzes you. He wants to do so much more but it’s getting away from his identity, playing to his strengths,” said Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch.

“He’s obviously disappointed with his season and we expect more from him. He hasn’t played to his potential and it’s on the coaching staff and Trent to get that out of him. When he is playing his best he has to be tenacious, driving the net. Keeping his game really simple. We believe he’ll come around,” said Knoblauch.

HORCOFF, PART 2

Onetime Oilers captain Shawn Horcoff’s son Will will be playing for Team USA in the U20 championship in Minnesota over Christmas with the Yanks winning the last two tournaments. The 2025 Pittsburgh Penguins first-round draft pick, 24th overall, has 18 goals in 18 games for the University of Michigan.

He leads the NCAA in goals and is fourth in points, with 26. He’s got six game winners.

He’s bigger than Shawn, the Detroit Red Wings’ assistant GM, but the 6-foot-5 forward has his dad’s drive, as we all saw here in his 796 Oilers games. Shawn, who got his one and only NHL hat trick against the Penguins in Pittsburgh, is seventh all-time in Oilers games.

“Will is an unbelieveably determined player,” said TSN’s amateur scouting guru Craig Button.

This ‘n that: As the Oilers enter their third month of the season, it certainly looks like Czech centre David Tomasek’s entry to the NHL at 29 has become a roadblock. He wanted to play on a team that could win but picked the wrong team to sign with if Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or Adam Henrique are third-line centre behind 97 and 29. He’s not a fourth-line player. He was an extra at practice Wednesday so will likely sit for his third straight game for Curtis Lazar. He’s been a healthy scratch nine times in the first 27 games. Maybe it’s fantasy, but perhaps the Oilers could do him a favour and phone the Canucks, in desperate need of a centre, to see if they would be interested in the Swedish League scoring champion … Jake Walman, who took a shot block off his foot, won’t play until next week at the earliest. Maybe Tuesday against Buffalo. He’s missed four games and 10 in all with two separate medical issues …The Oilers put Nugent-Hopkins in his usual place with McDavid at Wednesday’s practice and moved Matt Savoie from left wing there to right wing with Draisaitl … Interesting seeing Oilers 2025 fifth-round pick Asher Barnett, 18, a freshman at U of Michigan, on USA’s 28-man training camp roster for the U20 worlds in Minnesota. Barnett may be higher thought of today than Bakersfield rookie Beau Akey, 20, who has played five AHL games. “Asher is a hard, hard player to go against,” said Button … While many junior prognosticators don’t have former Oilers first-round forward Sam O’Reilly on Canada’s U20 team for the tournament over Christmas in Minnesota, Button figures O’Reilly, traded to Tampa for Ike Howard, will be there for Canada in the bottom six. Having his London junior coach Dale Hunter as bench boss helps, so does his junior GM Mark Hunter, who has that job with Team Canada. Button also sees Sherwood Park’s centre Braeden Cootes, who was captain of Canada’s U18 2025 gold-medal winning team, making it as well. He has 21 points in 14 games for Seattle after playing three games for Vancouver Canucks to start the season. Canada will come out with their roster next Monday … Button feels Oil Kings’ Blake Fiddler is a no-brainer to be on the U.S. tournament squad.