Jesper Wallstedt has a simple goal for his third NHL training camp.

“Definitely try to take a spot straight out of camp,” the Wild goalie prospect said.

His first big chance to prove to the Wild brass that he’s ready for regular NHL season games comes Saturday night, when he’ll take the net in the team’s first preseason game against the Jets at Winnipeg’s Canada Life Centre.

It’s a key test for the 6-foot-3, 220-pound prospect, who made his NHL debut in a 7-1 loss to the Stars in Dallas on Jan. 10 but won his other two starts, earning a .62 saves percentage in a pair of April games against Western Conference also-rans Chicago and San Jose.

“Sometimes, I know, that there’s a little bit of like, ‘It’s just an exhibition game,’ ” coach John Hynes said. “But real hockey breaks out there, and he’s going to get tested, you know, on the road, in Winnipeg.”

Wallstedt, 21, is the wild card in a goaltending picture that could include three in the frame this season — Filip Gustavsson, Marc-Andre Fleury and Wallstedt.

His games against the Blackhawks and Sharks — a shutout against at Chicago and two goals against in San Jose — convinced the Wild that after two full seasons in the AHL, he was ready to take the next step.

When the Wild signed Fleury to a one-year, $2.5 million deal for him to end his career in Minnesota, they made Gustavsson available in a trade. When no partner emerged, the team made peace with the idea of keeping three goaltenders on the roster.

“I’m confident it’ll work,” general manager Bill Guerin said Thursday. “I think the three of them can work together.”

Minnesota Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson (32) is photographed during the team’s media day in St. Paul on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press).

There are hurdles there, of course, a big one being the fact that the Wild — still saddled with $14.7 million in dead cap space from the Parise/Suter buyouts — will likely be fighting the NHL’s $88 million salary cap all season. Depending on the team’s health, there may be times this season the Wild simply can’t afford to keep Wallstedt’s $925,000 cap hit.

So, even if Wallstedt has a great camp and earns a spot on the big league roster, he could be the first to go back to Iowa is the team runs into injury trouble, as it did last year.

That, Wallstedt said, won’t bother him.

“Not at all. I can’t affect what’s going to happen. It’s outside of my reach,” he said. “The only thing I can do is focus on what I do on a daily basis, and as long as I bring it every day, if I push the other goalies in practice and try to show off good results in the games, I do all I can do. And if it’s up to cap space or whatever it is, that’s going to happen.”

Fleury, who turns 40 on Nov. 28, is entering his 21st and final NHL season — “That’s how old I am,” Wallstedt said. “Just thinking about that is pretty crazy.” — and said Thursday he will do anything the team needs from him to win games, including act as a mentor for Wallstedt and Gustavsson, 25.

That leaves Gustavsson, who, when asked about being one of three goaltenders this season, provided short, terse answers. Asked about what he expects, the third-year Wild player said, “That I don’t know. I just play hockey.”

Minnesota Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury (29) is photographed during the team’s media day in St. Paul on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press).

Coaches have yet to discuss a plan with the netminders because, in Hynes’ words, “It’s fluid.”

“I think that it would be a combination of myself, (goaltending coach) Freddy (Chabot) and Billy to talk to the goalies about it,” Hynes added. “At this point, we’re all talking about it quite a bit, but as I’ve said, we don’t know how camp’s going to play out.

“We just want the three of them focused on getting themselves to compete at a high level. When the time is right, or if the time even occurs, then we’ll talk about it.”

The reality is, Minnesota’s goaltending wasn’t great last season. After lighting the league on fire in his first season with the Wild — 22-9-7 with a 2.10 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage — Gustavsson came back to earth last season, 20-18-4, 3.06, .899.

Fleury was better, but not by much — 17-15-5 with a .298 GAA and .912 save percentage. Hynes, in fact, said this week that camp won’t just be about Wallstedt proving himself.

“Flower’s performance, and Gus’ performance in camp and in the training camp games, I think, will ultimately determine whether we start with three,” he said.

Whatever happens, it seems that unless Wallstedt sticks and has the kind of season Gustavsson had in 2022-23, he will play games in Des Moines this season. There’s a reason NHL teams don’t typically carry three goalies, and of the three, only he can be sent to the AHL.

The whole thing is something Gustavsson didn’t want to discuss on Friday. Asked if he is upset by the team’s surfeit of goaltenders, he said, “No, I just … if they tell me to play, I play.”