Edmonton OilersKirill Kaprizov has 11 goals in 10 games, three more than anyone else in the league, and the Wild are 6-2-2, level on points with Utah at the top of the Central after a 4-3 overtime loss in Edmonton on Tuesday. That is the headline, and Kaprizov is the obvious reason Minnesota is winning.
The reason it might keep winning is in net. Jesper Wallstedt has started nine of the 10 games with Filip Gustavsson on long-term injured reserve, and he has been one of the five best goaltenders in the league. Minnesota is also doing it without Brock Faber, the injury that left the Wild's blue line as one man. That makes the next month the most important of Wallstedt's career, and it should change how Minnesota thinks about its crease.
Is Kaprizov's start sustainable?
More than most hot starts. Kaprizov has scored on 11 of his 34 shots, a rate no one keeps up. Through nine games, when he had 10 goals, MoneyPuck valued his chances at 7.5 expected goals, so he was about 2.5 goals ahead of an average finisher rather than six or seven. Those 7.5 expected goals are the most of any player in the league, and he has a track record of beating the model. Last season he scored 45 goals from 38.4 expected.
The finishing around him has gone the other way. Matt Boldy has 41 shots and five goals from 5.7 expected. Joel Eriksson Ek has one goal from 4.5 expected, the biggest shortfall on the team. Both of them are on the ice for far more Minnesota chances than opposing ones, so the team's scoring should hold up even when Kaprizov slows down.
How good is Minnesota at five-on-five?
Good, and a little better than last season's 52 per cent. The Wild have 54 per cent of the five-on-five expected goals, seventh in the league, and 59 per cent of the high-danger shots, eighth. They rank sixth in expected goals against per 60, which is a strong number for a team missing its second-best defenceman.
Quinn Hughes is the reason the defence has held. He is playing almost 24 minutes a night, has 12 points, and Minnesota has 59 per cent of the expected goals with him on the ice. We said in August that the Hughes trade made the Wild a contender, and the first 10 games support it. The special teams have helped too. The power play has scored eight goals in 37 minutes, second in the league by rate, and the penalty kill has allowed three in 50.
| Minnesota at five-on-five | 2026-27 | League rank |
|---|---|---|
| Expected goals share | 54.0% | 7th |
| High-danger shot share | 59.1% | 8th |
| Expected goals against per 60 | 2.22 | 6th |
| Save percentage | .916 | 9th |
| Shooting percentage | 8.0% | 26th |
The low shooting percentage matters. Minnesota is winning games while converting fewer of its shots than most teams, which means the scoring has room to grow.
How good has Wallstedt been?
Wallstedt has stopped 213 of 233 shots in nine starts, a .914 save percentage, and the Wild are 6-1-2 in those games. Through his first eight starts MoneyPuck had him 6.5 goals better than an average goaltender, fifth in the league behind Jake Oettinger, Ilya Sorokin, Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman.
It is not a one-month story either. Wallstedt took 35 games last season and posted a .916 with four shutouts, a better save percentage than Gustavsson's .904 in 50 games.
| Wild goaltender | Season | Games | Save % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Filip Gustavsson | 2024-25 | 58 | .914 |
| Filip Gustavsson | 2025-26 | 50 | .904 |
| Jesper Wallstedt | 2025-26 | 35 | .916 |
| Jesper Wallstedt | 2026-27 | 9 | .914 |
Gustavsson had hip surgery in the summer and is in the first season of a five-year, $34 million extension. John Hynes said on Sunday that he is at least a month away. Wallstedt, the 20th pick in 2021, is on a contract that runs out at the end of this season.
What should Minnesota do with the crease?
Plan around Wallstedt. When Gustavsson is healthy he should come back as the 1B, and the Wild should spend this season working out an extension with the 23-year-old who has outplayed him over the last two years.
That has a cost. Minnesota has the richest contract in hockey in Kaprizov, Hughes can become an unrestricted free agent next summer, and Boldy is the reason its cap problem is worth having. A $6.8 million backup does not fit in that picture for long. If Wallstedt keeps this up, Gustavsson becomes the goaltender the Wild trade, probably next summer, once his hip has proved itself.
The case for Gustavsson, stated fairly
The case for the veteran is that he has done it for longer. Gustavsson was a .914 goaltender over 58 games two seasons ago, Minnesota committed to him for five more years, and young goaltenders often look brilliant for a month and then come back to earth. Wallstedt has fewer than 50 regular-season games of NHL experience. Handing him the job on 10 games of evidence, in a season the Wild are built to win now, is a real risk.
The other side is that the evidence is no longer 10 games. It is last season as well, when Wallstedt was the better goaltender, and this month, when he has been one of the best in the league. Gustavsson's contract is a reason he is hard to trade, and on its own it is no reason to give him the net.
What to watch
The five-game road trip that began in Edmonton, and Wallstedt's save percentage through it. If he stays above .910 until Gustavsson is ready, which looks like mid-November at the earliest, the Wild's crease decision is made for them. Kaprizov's goal pace will slow, and Boldy's and Eriksson Ek's should rise to replace it. Every Wild number is on the team stats page, and the Central race is on the standings.
Correction, October 22, 2026: An earlier version of this article said Kaprizov had 10 goals in 10 games. His goal in Edmonton on October 20 had not yet reached our data. He has 11 goals in 10 games.