| Jesper Wallstedt | VIK Vasteras | J16 Elit | NA | G | 6’3″ | 214 | Lulea HF | Vasteras, SWE | 2002 | 2020-2021: A- |
Neutral Zone NHL’s Ian Moran’s comments, June 2021: The first thing that jumps out to you about Wallstedt is his calm demeanor, his confident presence in the net. The second thing you notice is the lack of secondary shots. It seems like grade scoring opportunities do not exist. He just eats pucks like he’s wearing Velcro. He’s very quick laterally, but still in control. You rarely seem him slide outside of his post, and when he does it seems like he’s already convinced the shooter into taking his shot. In the SHL we did see shooters going high blocker on him quite a bit so that is something teams will be looking at closely because we all know even NHL pluggers can put the puck where they want it.
SHL: Lulea vs Skelleftea,, April 2021: Wallstedt played a very calm controlled game. He had no wasted effort and stayed within the paint no matter how much confusion and chaos was happening around him. He played the puck with confidence, working well his Lulea defensemen to generate time and puck handling space. We noted several times Wallstedt’s ability to control long bouncing dump-ins with his glove and leave the puck quickly in a place where his teammate could wheel the net with his head up looking for a quick breakout. Skelleftea had 27 shots on goal with all three goals coming on the high blocker side.
SHL: Lulea vs Malmo, February 2021: Wallstedt did not seemed to be fazed by incidental contact or unfortunate bounces. Two examples of this occurred early in the game; one happened on Malmo’s first goal where Wallstedt played the puck cleanly behind the net and his defenceman tried to make a cute play that resulted in a quick turnover for an open net goal. The second, after making a save on a breakaway one of Lulea’s defenceman swept the legs out from under him resulting in a hard awkward fall. Wallstedt stayed calm and focused on his next save rather than be distracted by being taken out. Wallstedt gave up four goals on 17 shots. The first on the broken play we described, two came off of turnovers which resulted quick 2 on 1s inside the tops of the circle with royal road passes and the forth was a one-timer from the blueline through a scree.
SHL: Lulea vs Brynas, January 2021: Wallstedt seemed to eat pucks and limit secondary scoring opportunities and rebounds. By our count he gave up three rebounds that resulted in an additional scoring opportunity or shot on net. His play was calm and very controlled which allowed him to always be positioned in his crease. He has a presence.
U20 World Jr. Championships: Sweden vs United States, January 2021: Wallstedt came in to relieve Hugo Alnefelt after Team Sweden was already down 4-0 and immediately provided a calming presence. Initial shots seemed to stick to him like glue and when there was a rebound it seemed as if Wallstedt directed the puck to non-dangerous areas. He made quality saves on one-timers from the slot, quick cross crease passes and when Team USA was shooting far pad for a rebound there consistently was none. It is easy to see why Team Sweden’s management is excited for this young man’s future.
Photo Credit: Dan Hickling/Hickling Images