The Gus Bus Comes to Long Island

Team: 2021-22 New York Islanders

Initial Creation Date: Sep. 16, 2021

Published: Sep. 16, 2021

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Copy and pasted my reply to a post on another Isles ACGM, sums up my feelings on Gus pretty well:

You would think that but he's a different type of player than Leddy. He's much better on the power play since he's actually a threat to shoot, which Leddy wasn't. He's more aggressive in the offensive zone 5v5 too. Defensively, yes, he's a liability, perhaps more so than Leddy. With Leddy I felt it was more he's just a low IQ player, while Gus just didn't really care about defense (relative to how much he cares about offense). I actually think he'll see some improvement defensively under Trotz if he can have it drilled into him and be trusted with a greater role defensively, whereas Leddy was just kinda incapable of playing that role.

If all goes well, there's no reason why Gustafsson can't be a competent second pairing defenseman imo, who makes up for his defensive deficiencies with production on the power play. I know that sounds like Leddy, but I think the way Gus will go about doing it (if he makes the team of course) will be much different.


Overall, it doesn't hurt to at least give him a look. He seems like the antithesis of a "Trotz player," but then again, so does Mat Barzal. Maybe the Isles' system will be good for him