When you look at the body of work of the former bat boy for MLB’s Milwaukee Brewers, you think of a guy who steps in and takes his cuts. And they usually work out. Yes, Florida GM Bill Zito’s acquisitions of the likes of Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Brandon Montour, Sam Bennett, Vladimir Tarasenko and Seth Jones have indeed been works of art.
But you don’t often think a waiver pick-up during the pandemic would turn out the way it did. That Gustav Forsling went from a castoff to a vital cog on the Panthers’ blueline and a $5.75-million-a-year player is one of the more inspiring stories in the NHL.
The 28-year-old is with his fourth NHL organization, but the Panthers can’t envision life without the puck-moving stalwart, so much so that Zito signed Forsling to an eight-year, $46-million deal in March 2024.
That’s a far cry from being drafted by the Vancouver Canucks and being traded before even playing a game. And from toiling for the Chicago Blackhawks’ AHL affiliate in Rockford. And from being dealt to the Carolina Hurricanes, who don’t even bother to put you on their roster for the pandemic playoff tournament in the bubble.
“I went back to Sweden for COVID, and I came really close to signing with a couple teams there,” Forsling said. “I had a long summer that year. Looking back at it, it was very hard mentally. You really have to believe in yourself. I’m really proud of the journey.”
He should be. It was after the pandemic, during training camp in January 2021, that Zito saw almost no risk in picking up Forsling off waivers. Forsling was a restricted free agent with arbitration rights, so there wasn’t even any real commitment. But it goes back to long before that, all the way back to when Zito was the assistant GM in Columbus and was getting glowing reports from Blake Geoffrion, then the assistant GM of the Blue Jackets’ farm team.
Geoffrion probably knows a hockey player when he sees one since he, his father (Danny), grandfather (‘Boom Boom’) and great-grandfather (Howie Morenz) all played in the NHL.
“He kept telling us, ‘There’s this guy in Rockford I really like,’ ” Zito said. “So when we were looking at signing him, we had ‘Q’ (coach Joel Quenneville) and Ulfie (Samuelsson), who had coached him, and Paul Krepelka, who had him in Carolina. So, as we gather intel and collect information, you have seven yeses, two maybes and zero noes, plus he’s on waivers. So where’s the downside?”
As dejected as Forsling was about the way his NHL career was going, he used his time during the pandemic to put in the work on his strength and conditioning. And, suddenly, a player who seemed a little too slight to defend against the best players in the world was winning the conditioning competition in training camp with the Panthers.
“Everybody is competing for second now,” Zito said.
Forsling is now so durable he regularly logs 20-plus minutes a game in all situations. And when Aaron Ekblad was suspended 20 games for using a banned performance-enhancing substance, Florida leaned on Forsling and the newly acquired Jones to do the heavy lifting on the back end. As flawed a stat as plus-minus is, Forsling led the entire league with a plus-56 last season and was top 10 again this season with a plus-33.
But his finest moment came last spring, as he became something of the alpha male on the Panthers’ blueline on their journey to the first Stanley Cup in franchise history. Forsling led the Panthers in ice time and paced Florida D-men in scoring with four goals and 13 points in 24 games.
Forsling has definitely found his place and his NHL home in South Florida. Until last season, when he and his wife had a baby boy, Forsling would keep a fishing rod and tackle box in the back of his car and would often pull off the road on the way home from practice to do some pond fishing. He can’t do that anymore, but someday, he’ll be able to take his son with him. After all, he’s in town for another seven years.
“This business is a lot about getting the opportunity and taking the opportunity when you get it,” Forsling said. “And I think I’ve done that.”
This article appeared in our 2025 Top 100 NHLers issue. This issue focuses on the 100 best players currently in the NHL, with the Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon sitting atop the list. We also include features on Alex Ovechkin finally beating Wayne Gretzky’s goal-scoring record, and former CFL running back Andrew Harris’ switch to semi-professional hockey. In addition, we provide a PWHL playoff preview as the regular season nears its end.
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