Malte Gustafsson hasn’t allowed himself the luxury of dreaming about a future on the Islanders’ blue line alongside Matthew Schaefer. Both young talents, drafted in the first round and sharing left-handedness and the age of 18, are poised for significant roles.
Tom Jankovic, who coaches the HV71 under-20 team and assists Sweden’s under-18 national team, shared, “He’s remarkably down-to-earth and modest about his path.”
In Buffalo, during the introduction of Gustafsson as the Islanders’ 13th pick in the recent NHL draft, Schaefer’s presence by his side felt symbolic of their intertwined journeys.
It was a moment where one future cornerstone welcomed another, who could swiftly establish his presence.
Enthused about the prospect of skating with Schaefer, Gustafsson has made a name for himself in Sweden as a vital defenseman. He is set to continue with HV71 for the next season.
After that, though, the Islanders might have a decision to make with the 6-foot-4, 230-pounder who “came as advertised” to development camp last week, Islanders head coach Pete DeBoer said.
“I think he will be a top Swedish defenseman in the NHL someday,” Jankovic told The Post. “If it’s when he’s 24 or when he’s 28, I don’t know, but I think he will be there because he has all the tools. He has the right mindset.”
There’s no rush, either. Gustafsson planned to improve his offensive game and add muscle next season in the Swedish Hockey League.
Niklas Eriksson, his HV71 head coach who took over near the end of last season, said that he can use the larger rinks in Sweden to prepare for the smaller ones in North America.
It’ll force Gustafsson to simplify his game and to make first passes quickly, something on which he’ll get to work while likely logging 20-plus minutes a game and filling roles on both the power play and penalty kill.
Jankovic thought Gustafsson, a self-described “annoying” defenseman, would get picked earlier in the draft.
He can skate alongside both defensive and offensive defensemen, seamlessly complementing both and able to pick up either role when needed.
He constructed a two-way game where size, reach and an ability to carry the puck became his defining traits, and his movement near the blue line and passing ability could make him an option to quarterback a power-play unit in the NHL — perhaps the Islanders’ second one behind Schaefer, Jankovic said.
“He has so many tools when it comes to what he can do,” Jankovic said, “so I think that’s his biggest strength, and as a coach, you want that on the ice.”
Even before the draft, Gustafsson appeared in plenty of games with stakes attached.
He collected 12 points in 19 games with the under-20 team last season and added another three points in 27 regular-season games in the SHL.
He helped Sweden earn a gold medal at the U18 World Championship, skating over 28 minutes against Canada in the quarterfinals, over 29 against Czechia in the semifinals and another 26:39 against Slovakia in the gold-medal game.
Gustafsson helped HV71’s men’s team avoid relegation in the SHL, too, by contributing to their sweep in a best-of-seven series between the 13th- and 14th-place teams — with massive financial ramifications at stake if HV71 lost.
He quarterbacked the second power-play unit and impressed general manager Johan Hult with how he handled the pressure of those games.
“How I use my size and length to shut down players, play physical, really being annoying on the ice, showing that I’m there,” Gustafsson told The Post after the Islanders’ development camp scrimmage last week, “I think that’s the biggest part of my game.”
And if Gustafsson adds strength in his legs to become more explosive, Hult said, he’ll “be even more annoying, that’s for sure.”
Hult found it difficult to describe a ceiling for him because, in his eyes, “the ceiling is not set.”
Gustafsson could represent Sweden in the Olympics.
He could live up to Jankovic’s prediction as one of the best Swedish defensemen in the NHL.
He could make the five other teams who took other defensemen ahead of the Islanders in the first round look foolish.
That would all unfold years in the future.
That takes more than an initial introduction at development camp to actually achieve.
This — the draft, the HV71 games, the final SHL season before taking the leap to what’s next — has been just the start for Gustafsson.
“I think the sky’s the limit for this kid,” Jankovic said.