Report: Wild's Jesper Wallstedt Could Become Historic Offer-Sheet Target

Thursday, October 01, 2026
Jesper Wallstedt's path to restricted free agency next July has opened up a question that's never happened before.

Daily Faceoff's Jeff Marek raised it on a recent episode of The Sheet, speaking on it as part of a conversation about whether goaltenders are about to get left behind in the NHL's salary explosion. 

"The threat of the offer sheet is always the big one," Marek said. "Jesper Wallstedt is a restricted free agent next July with arbitration rights. A goalie has never been offer sheeted before in the history of the NHL. That is the domain of the forwards and the defensemen."

Why Wallstedt Specifically Fits

Wallstedt is in the final year of a two-year, $2.2 million contract, and he's coming off a season strong enough to make him a massive candidate for a bigger payday, having posted a .930 save percentage and a 1.98 goals-against average down the stretch last year.

He's currently splitting duties with Filip Gustavsson in Minnesota, and an injury to Gustavsson has pushed Wallstedt into a heavier early-season workload this year, giving him a huge chance to further build his case before his contract runs out.

Over his 40-game NHL career, the 23-year-old has recorded a strong .910 save percentage, 2.72 GAA, five shutouts, and a 20-12-6 record.

With young stars across the league cashing in on record contracts this offseason, goaltending is the one position that's largely been left out of that boom, and Marek's point is that an aggressive team looking for a market inefficiency could find exactly that in net.

Wallstedt was drafted in the first-round (20th overall) by the Wild in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.

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