Well, well, well, the Wild are playing musical chairs with their roster again, and oh boy, have they done a number this time. With Marc-Andre Fleury out and nursing what one can only imagine is a doozy of an upper-body boo-boo thanks to a little action against Florida, the Wild have decided to put on their big-kid pants and call for backup. Enter stage left: Jesper Wallstedt, summoned from the depths of AHL Iowa.
Now, pump the brakes, because we’ve seen this kid Wallstedt and his NHL opening act against Dallas. Let’s just say he won’t be getting a standing ovation anytime soon, with a less-than-stellar performance of allowing seven goals to whistle past him out of thirty-four shots. Yikes! But hey, the dude’s just twenty-one and to give credit where it’s due, his AHL report card isn’t too shabby. The former twenty-one first-round draft darling is rocking a pretty neat goals-against-average of 2.61 and a save percentage of .916. Those digits got him tied for fourth in the AHL goalie cool-kids club.
And what of Daemon Hunt, you ask? The young defender got the short end of the stick, or rather, a one-way ticket back to Iowa to clear the stage for Wallstedt. Hunt’s NHL tenure this year has been, let’s call it, an educational period, clocking in a modest dozen games with a lone assist to show for it. No offense to the kid, but for nearly eleven and a half minutes on ice per game, fans might expect more than just one point, right? Down in the minors, however, Hunt’s got a bit more swagger to his stats, boasting a goal and eight assists in sixteen cameos.
Given the lack of an empty seat in the Minnesota Wild’s roster game of Tetris, and since Fleury hasn’t been slapped on the injured list yet, Hunt got the “it’s not you, it’s me” breakup line and was chosen as the one to pack his bags. Thanks to his fancy ‘I don’t need waivers’ status, that move can be as temporary as a Minnesota snowstorm in April. Don’t be shocked if you see the script flipped and Hunt pops up again if Fleury either plays peekaboo against Carolina or ends up chilling on the injured reserve. Stay tuned, folks, the drama’s just heating up!