NHL Draft Profile: Defenseman Lukas Gustafsson

Next up in our series of draft profiles is Lukas Gustafsson, an incoming defenseman who looks like he can do a little bit of everything for the Eagles.

Gustafsson has most recently been playing for the Chicago Steel of the USHL, where he’s been mostly a success. He chipped in 11 goals and 38 points in his 59 games in the 2021-22 season, really solid numbers for a defenseman. He’s also been used in a number of ways, playing both the right and left sides on defense and even taking some shifts as a forward.

On defense, Gustafsson reportedly has an active stick and is good at forcing his opponents into taking low danger shots. While he doesn’t necessarily do anything great, he’s got a very solid all around game that the scouts have noticed. Gustafsson looks like another pretty solid bet to be a mid round pick and should be someone who can come in and start contributing from day one. Some scouts do have him ranked significantly higher than others (closer to a round 3 pick than round 6), but the majority seem to agree that somewhere around the fifth round makes the most sense.