{"id":543643,"date":"2026-03-16T08:05:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T08:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/543643\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T08:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T08:05:08","slug":"rookie-watch-levshunov-hryckowian-among-top-5-in-central-division","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/543643\/","title":{"rendered":"Rookie Watch: Levshunov, Hryckowian among top 5 in Central Division"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jesper Wallstedt<\/a>, G, Minnesota Wild: The No. 20 pick in the 2021 NHL Draft is 14-7-6 with a 2.78 goals-against average, .912 save percentage and four shutouts in 28 games (27 starts) this season.\u00a0Wallstedt (6-3, 214) was named the NHL “Rookie of the Month” for November after going 6-0-0 with a League-best 1.14 GAA, .967 save percentage and three shutouts in six games. He’s begun to find a bit of his form again as Filip Gustavsson<\/a>‘s backup, allowing three goals or fewer in five of his past six starts (2-2-2) dating to Jan. 27. He joined Gustavsson for Team Sweden at the 2026 Winter Olympics, finding his way onto the roster by going 11-2-3 with a 2.21 GAA,.928 save percentage and four shutouts in first 16 games from Oct. 13-Dec. 31. He became the fourth rookie goaltender in NHL history and first in 87 years to have four shutouts over a span of six games, joining Frank Brimsek<\/a> (Boston Bruins, 1938-39),\u00a0Dolly Dolson<\/a> (Detroit Cougars, 1928-29) and Tiny Thompson<\/a> (Bruins, 1928-29).<\/p>\n

“I felt very confident that my game plan and the way I play would be successful in the\u00a0NHL,” he said in January. “Obviously, with hard work and everything, I felt like I had a good chance. I always trusted, and kind of inside of myself felt, that I would be able to succeed.”<\/p>\n

Matthew Wood<\/a>, F, Nashville Predators: He is 18th among rookies with 24 points (14 goals, 10 assists) and is averaging 11:59 of ice time in 55 games this season as the center on a line with left wing Filip Forsberg<\/a> and Luke Evangelista<\/a>. Wood (6-4, 202) is also earning ice time on the second power play (1:39 per game). The 20-year-old right-handed shot was taken No. 15 in the 2023 NHL Draft and recalled from Milwaukee of the AHL on Oct. 23. Wood played six games for the Predators in 2024-25, getting one assist and averaging 11:35 of ice time. He sustained a lower-body injury during training camp, delaying his chance of making the opening-night roster, but has scaled the lineup since his season debut Oct. 23.<\/p>\n

“He has an unbelievable shot, and I think he’s getting confidence using his hands, using his body to protect pucks,”\u00a0Forsberg said. “He’s a big guy. He can do a lot of those things really well.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jesper Wallstedt, G, Minnesota Wild: The No. 20 pick in the 2021 NHL Draft is 14-7-6 with a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-543643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}