Malte Gustafsson hasn’t allowed himself to think about it yet, to envision a future Islanders blue line with him and Matthew Schaefer — both first-round picks, both left-handed, both just 18 years old — in prominent roles.
“He’s very, very grounded and humble when it comes to his journey,” recalled Tom Jankovic, his head coach with the HV71 under-20 team and assistant coach with Sweden’s under-18 national team.
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When Schaefer introduced Gustafsson in Buffalo as the Islanders’ selection at No. 13 in last month’s NHL draft, there was something fitting about the duo overlapping.
One obvious piece of their future welcomed another one who could possibly — and rapidly — play his way into it.
Gustafsson, who said it’d be amazing to skate with Schaefer, rose quickly through the ranks in Sweden as an indispensable defenseman and plans to play for HV71 again 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.
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“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.
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Jankovic thought Gustafsson, a self-described “annoying” defenseman, would get picked earlier in the draft.
Malte Gustafsson looks to move the puck during the Islanders’ development camp scrimmage July 1. Dennis A. Clark for the NY Post
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.”
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Even before the draft, Gustafsson appeared in plenty of games with stakes attached.
Malte Gustafsson is pictured after getting drafted June 26. NHLI via Getty Images
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.
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He quarterbacked the second power-play unit and impressed general manager Johan Hult with how he handled the pressure of those games.
Malte Gustafsson is pictured at the NHL Scouting Combine June 6. NHLI via Getty Images
“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.”
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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.
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