Prospect Info: Viggo Gustafsson - D | 77th Overall (3rd round) | 2024 NHL Draft

[AtlantaWhaler]

One of the youngest players in the draft, having been eligible by just days, Gustafsson continues to improve. He has more offensive ability than his offensive numbers (19 points in 41 games) for HV71's junior club in Sweden would lead you to believe. He wasn't expected to go anywhere near this high, so perhaps Nashville reached a bit (or a lot), but Gustafsson is an intriguing long-term lottery ticket for the Preds - CBS Sports

Gustafsson is rarely ever caught out of position and can easily be paired with someone less focused on his own end. He is projected to be a 6th/7th defender in the NHL and is a good d-man to match up against certain opposing players to shut them down. He will kill penalties and doesn't play on the power play. He competes well, is reliable, and is an above average skater who can take away ice quickly. - The Hockey News


Sounds like a reach, but super young. Lots of time left to learn the game.

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[PredsV82]

Gotta have faith in Preds scouting for D.

 

[101st_fan]

 

[herzausstein]

Sounds like a solid defensive dman. If we can help him find more offense then he could be a real gem

 

[Kat Predator]

Checks the Players named Viggo box too.

 

[BigFatCat999]

When I first saw the name, I thought to myself, “oh the guy from Lord of the rings”

 

[PREDy 4 the Cup]

Gotta have faith in Preds scouting for D.

Yeah we been slacking hard there for like 10 years now….

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

I wonder what it is that makes us good at drafting D? I doubt the scouting staff has remained continuous long enough to credit any individual scouts. Granted I don't keep track of the staff at that level. Tom Nolan has been around a while. Or something from Poile himself? Because Weber era was before even Nolan, and maybe he was just starting out circa Josi, so it doesn't seem like the scouting staff on any individual level has been around long enough for that reputation to hold up.

Or it may just be coincidence/luck that things turned out better for us on D.

 

[NoNecksCurse]

I wonder what it is that makes us good at drafting D? I doubt the scouting staff has remained continuous long enough to credit any individual scouts. Granted I don't keep track of the staff at that level. Tom Nolan has been around a while. Or something from Poile himself? Because Weber era was before even Nolan, and maybe he was just starting out circa Josi, so it doesn't seem like the scouting staff on any individual level has been around long enough for that reputation to hold up.

Or it may just be coincidence/luck that things turned out better for us on D.

Luck. That’s all it is.

 

[Predsanddead24]

If it wasn't luck that era is long gone anyways. We haven't done anything special D-man drafting and development wise since the Josi, Ekholm, Ellis years.

 

[triggrman]

If it wasn't luck that era is long gone anyways. We haven't done anything special D-man drafting and development wise since the Josi, Ekholm, Ellis years.

We haven't developed much of anything since then.....


I don't think it was luck.

Timonen
Weber
Suter
Hamhuis
Zidlicky
Ellis
Ekholm
Josi

and to a lesser extent, Franson, Klein and Skrastins.

That's not luck, they had a knack for finding dmen.

I do have a lot of hope for Molendyk and Gibson.

 

[herzausstein]

We haven't developed much of anything since then.....


I don't think it was luck.

Timonen
Weber
Suter
Hamhuis
Zidlicky
Ellis
Ekholm
Josi

and to a lesser extent, Franson, Klein and Skrastins.

That's not luck, they had a knack for finding dmen.

I do have a lot of hope for Molendyk and Gibson.

Let's say our last successful dman was Girard in 2016.

Since then we have drafted 17 dmen
1 in the 1st - Molendyk
6 in the 3rd
5 in the 4th
3 in the 5th
1 in the 6th
1 in the 7th

2017 was a complete miss
2018 had Stastney who looks poised to possibly break into the NHL
2019 had Del Gaizo and Chystyakov. Del gaizo is progressing nicely and Chistyakov looks real good in Russia. Not sure if he will ever come over
2020 has prokop and wilsby. It is too early to really make any determination here but meh.
2021 has ufko and matier. Ufko has alot of promise and maybe Matier can turn into something.
2022 has Kulonummi
2023 has molendyk and MacKinnon
2024 has Gustafsson

It js just far too early to turn the page on anyone from 2018 forward. Carrier was drafted in 2015 and became a regular in 21-22. So 6 years which is where we are with stastney. It makes sense given we havent spent a single high draft pick on a dman since Fabbro and Girard.

 

[Predsanddead24]

Let's say our last successful dman was Girard in 2016.

Since then we have drafted 17 dmen
1 in the 1st - Molendyk
6 in the 3rd
5 in the 4th
3 in the 5th
1 in the 6th
1 in the 7th

2017 was a complete miss
2018 had Stastney who looks poised to possibly break into the NHL
2019 had Del Gaizo and Chystyakov. Del gaizo is progressing nicely and Chistyakov looks real good in Russia. Not sure if he will ever come over
2020 has prokop and wilsby. It is too early to really make any determination here but meh.
2021 has ufko and matier. Ufko has alot of promise and maybe Matier can turn into something.
2022 has Kulonummi
2023 has molendyk and MacKinnon
2024 has Gustafsson

It js just far too early to turn the page on anyone from 2018 forward. Carrier was drafted in 2015 and became a regular in 21-22. So 6 years which is where we are with stastney. It makes sense given we havent spent a single high draft pick on a dman since Fabbro and Girard.

We’ve hit on some depth D and maybe there is still some hope for our other guys but we’re certainly not pumping out top pair defenseman like we have in the past either.

 

[PredsV82]

We’ve hit on some depth D and maybe there is still some hope for our other guys but we’re certainly not pumping out top pair defenseman like we have in the past either.

Well, that's presumably because we have had a desperate need for top quality forwards and thus where we have used most of our high draft picks. Up until last summer it looked like we were pretty set with Josi, Fabbro and Carrier all homegrown. Molendyk is our next projected top 4 defenseman.

 

[herzausstein]

We’ve hit on some depth D and maybe there is still some hope for our other guys but we’re certainly not pumping out top pair defenseman like we have in the past either.

Usually gotta spend some higher picks for that. As late as the 20-21 season, we still had Josi, Ekholm, Ellis, Fabbro with Carrier coming up. They didnt see the need to spend the draft capital on defense while our offense was questionable.

 

[Predsanddead24]

Well, that's presumably because we have had a desperate need for top quality forwards and thus where we have used most of our high draft picks. Up until last summer it looked like we were pretty set with Josi, Fabbro and Carrier all homegrown. Molendyk is our next projected top 4 defenseman.

Usually gotta spend some higher picks for that. As late as the 20-21 season, we still had Josi, Ekholm, Ellis, Fabbro with Carrier coming up. They didnt see the need to spend the draft capital on defense while our offense was questionable.

Yeah you know I hadn't realized that we haven't really drafted many d-men in the 2nd round either (Girard being the only one since 2015), which is really where almost all of our value picks have come from.

 

[herzausstein]

Yeah you know I hadn't realized that we haven't really drafted many d-men in the 2nd round either (Girard being the only one since 2015), which is really where almost all of our value picks have come from.

Even going all the way back to 2010, we have drafted only a handful of dmen in the top 2 rounds:

Seth Jones in 2013
Jack Dougherty in 2014
Fabbro and Girard in 2016
Molendyk in 2023

Most of our big name d core anchors in recent years were taken in the top 2 rounds: Suter, Weber, Ellis, Josi, Hamhuis. Ekholm being the notable exception. We have pulled some good depth players from the mid to later rounds though: Skrastins, Franson, Carrier but even Klein and Girard were 2nd round picks. We have just been comfortable where we were at but Fabbro hasnt developed as they anticipated leaving the RHD in limbo. If he would grow into the 1st pairing role like they anticipated, we would still be in a pretty good position.

 

[triggrman]

I had forgotten about Jones.

Isn't it crazy that Shea Weber was the 3rd defenseman we took in 2003.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Isn't it crazy that Shea Weber was the 3rd defenseman we took in 2003.

Our scouts suck.

They also liked Glazachev more than Weber.

 

[triggrman]

Our scouts suck.

They also liked Glazachev more than Weber.

Haha, maybe they didn't have the latest Central Scouting Combine List from Athlon.

 

[Kat Predator]

I, for one, am looking forward to Aragorn getting out there and taking down some of the orcs in the division.