Gustafsson hungers for success

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This article was published 22/10/2021 (1539 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

David Gustafsson possesses many of the characteristics of an everyday NHL player, yet the Swedish-born forward’s name is often missing from a list of the Winnipeg Jets’ highly regarded youngsters.

Cole Perfetti, Ville Heinola, Dylan Samberg and even 2021 first-rounder Chaz Lucius get no shortage of attention.

Yet, it’s an overflowing toolbox that heightens Gustafsson’s allure as a blue-chip prospect, maintains the PR firm of Nelson Nogier and Associates.

“If you ask me, personally, I think he’s a really underrated prospect, league-wide. You look at him and he has all the attributes that a full-time NHLer has,” Nogier, who suits up with Gustafsson on behalf of the Manitoba Moose, said Friday morning from the Iceplex.

“He’s a strong skater, he’s strong on his stick, he has a great shot, he thinks the game extremely well and, systematically, he’s sound, too. Each day he’s out there… trying to get better, trying to work on his craft just a little bit more, so that when he does have the opportunity to make the transition full time, he’s completely ready to go.

“So, credit to him. He’s come a long way and I think he’s got a pretty bright future in front of him.”

Gustafsson, listed at 6-2, 196 pounds, already has 26 NHL games on his resume and has kicked off a third season with the Moose in top form. While he was held in check offensively in Manitoba’s first two games of the 2021-22 campaign, he collected a goal and three assists in the squad’s most recent contest, a 5-4 road defeat to the Laval Rocket.

Moose head coach Mark Morrison all but pulled out a bullhorn to proclaim the 21-year-old centre his most versatile and reliable performer.

“He was (1G, 3A) last game and had lots of minutes, so he’s going to continue to log minutes and continue to get better. He’s in a real good mindset and he realizes this is a good place for him right now,” said Morrison, in his first season behind the bench of the Jets’ minor-league affiliate.

“(Using Gustafsson in all situations), that’s the plan. He takes (defensive)-zone faceoffs to get us out of the zone, he kills penalties… he’s on the power play and when we’re in trouble we throw him on the ice. So, we rely on him a lot and so far he’s responded.”

No attitude adjustment was required from the 2018 second-round pick, who contended for a job on the Jets’ bottom-six forward group in training camp but failed to land on the NHL roster. The reassignment was, indeed, surprising because he looked to have a clear flight path, following the exits of Mathieu Perreault, Nate Thompson and Trevor Lewis to free agency, and Mason Appleton to the Seattle Kraken via the expansion draft.

But head coach Paul Maurice turned to veteran Riley Nash, 2017 draft pick and seemingly pet project Kristian Vesalainen, and newly inked free agent Evgeny Svechnikov, instead.

Gustafsson said while the demotion stung, he harbours no resentment toward the organization’s tall foreheads.

“It’s not the thing you want to hear, of course, but I think it’s a good thing for me,” he said, just hours before the Moose home-opener against the Grand Rapids Griffins. “I’m still young and I need to play a lot. These last two seasons have been a lot of just being in the stands, watching a lot, and I feel like the more games I can get, the better it is for my development.

“Just gotta be patient with the process.”

The 2021 calendar year has, indeed, been a trying one. Gustafsson returned to North America in January and wasn’t at his best after suffering an injury back home. He flipped back and forth between Winnipeg’s taxi squad and the Moose, finishing with seven tallies and 12 assists in 22 AHL outings.

Now, he’s applying himself with extreme vigour to help lead the Moose right now, with the ultimate goal of rejoining the gang he went to battle with for a long stretch of the 2019-20 NHL season and a quick stop during the abbreviated ’21 campaign.

Increasing his overall quickness and utilizing his smarts and large frame to protect the puck are areas of his game that require perpetual time and attention.

“My skating, that’s the main thing I work on. Take those quick few first strides as fast as possible, that’s something you need every day, in games. And try to not lose the puck, keep puck possession, because I feel like that’s a huge thing up there (in the NHL),” he said.

Gustafsson only has one NHL point, but that goal proved to be the game-winner Nov. 27, 2019 in San Jose. He picked up the puck in his own end, cruised down the left wall and let a wrist shot go that glanced off goalie Aaron Dell’s mitt and sailed into the top corner at the 18:09 mark of the first period.

“It seems like a long time ago now… I’m getting hungrier for it every day. That feeling is what I’m fighting for,” Gustafsson said.

He’s been dubbed the heir apparent to Adam Lowry, however, the big, checking centre — an eight-year veteran signed through the 2025-26 season — is a key element of Winnipeg’s current blueprint for success.

Thus, Gustafsson becomes the de facto fourth-line middle man, with a heavy emphasis on shutdown duties and penalty killing. But when?

“I’m having a good time right now here with the boys, and I like to play as much as I can, feel like I’m a presence, and just take things day by day,” he said. “I feel like I have the trust of coach and from the other guys, and I feel like it’s a role I want to have later in my career.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @WFPJasonBell