He also established and helped guide the early development of ringette in Finland, the first European country to do so.

[8] Wahlsten began his career at KuPS (Kuopion Palloseura) in Kuopio in 1957, from where he moved to KalPa.

[citation needed] After seven TPS seasons, Wahlsten followed in the footsteps of Reijo Hakanen to EC KAC in Austria, where he won the national championship.

[citation needed] In 1960 at the age of 22, Wahlsten won the SM-sarja gold while playing for Ilves Tampere.

[5] Wahlsten played 115 games for the Finland men's national ice hockey team.

[7][12][11][13] In 1962 Wahlsten won silver at the Ice Hockey European Championships while playing for Finland's national team.

[5] After his career as professional ice hockey player finished in 1971,[7] Wahlsten continued as a coach.

[citation needed] At least six players born in the early 1960s from TPS's Lokit junior team in Turku who were coached by Wahlsten were drafted by the National Hockey League in the 1980s, specifically to the Buffalo Sabres (coached by Scotty Bowman) and its Rochester farm team: Hannu Virta, Kai Suikkanen, Mauri Eivola, Heikki Leime, Jari Paavola, and others.

[16][17] In 1983, Wahlsten was head coach of the Finland men's national junior ice hockey team (U20).

[1] Wahlsten's sons Jali and Sami have also been representative level ice hockey players.