One of the best goaltending prospects in the world is now a part of the Moose Jaw Warriors' organization.

The Warriors selected 16-year-old goalie Jesper Wallstedt with the 46th overall pick in the 2019 CHL Import Draft on Thursday.

"He's one of the most highly rated young goaltenders in the world right now," said Warriors GM Alan Millar. "He's a six-foot-three goaltender that is a late birth, not eligible for the NHL Draft until 2021 and NHL people project him as a first-round pick in that draft."

Wallstedt has played, and starred, as an underage player on the international level four times, helping Sweden to its first-ever gold medal at the 2019 IIHF Under-18 World Championship. He posted a 2-0 record with a 1.50 goals against average and a 0.936 save percentage.

He has also won silver at the 2018 Hlinka Gretzky Cup and bronze at the 2018 U18s and 2018 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.

In 21 games with Luleå in the J20 SuperElit, which is the highest level of junior hockey in Sweden, Wallstedt posted a 2.65 GAA and a 0.901 save percentage.

"He fits exactly in terms of our strategy with the draft in trying to add an impact player," said Millar.

The Warriors haven't received a commitment from Wallstedt after selecting him and Millar said that some recruiting will be needed to get him in a Warriors' uniform.

"There's certainly some work to be done, the door is open to consider playing in Moose Jaw and consider playing in the Western Hockey League," said Millar. "The next step will be communicating with the family and Tim [Hunter] and I have a meeting tentatively planned in Vancouver with Jesper, his father and his agents in early July."

Millar added that Wallstedt playing on North American-sized ice ahead of his draft season could be a benefit for him, "We're going to work very diligently to do everything we can to present the opportunities that we have here and the positives of our program," he said.

"In talking to his agents, they wanted to see where he was drafted, see what kind of opportunity that presented for him in terms of his development and opportunity to play, so now they know they're dealing with the Moose Jaw Warriors and we'll do everything we can, whether its this year or a year down the road, to make this work.

The Warriors currently have two imports on their roster with 20-year-old defence Vladislav Yeryomenko and 18-year-old forward Danill Stepanov, so a commitment from Wallstedt this season would force the Warriors into a decision on who to keep.

Wallstedt would be the first import goalie to play for the Warriors since Rastislav Stana from 1998-00.

The Swift Current Broncos used the first overall selection in Thursday's import draft to take Finnish defenceman Kasper Puutio. Click here for the full list of players selected.