Photo by LHC1976, CC BY-SA 4.0
Gustav Forsling
Florida Panthers Defense #42
A hundred and twenty-sixth overall, twenty-two and a half minutes a night, and two goals.
| Season | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | PP | SH | GW | S | S% | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 80 | 2 | 26 | 28 | -5 | 51 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 112 | 1.8 | 22:38 |
| Career | 557 | 59 | 161 | 220 | +153 | 218 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 1102 | 5.3 | 21:07 |
Last Season
Two goals and 26 assists in 80 games — 28 points, minus-five, at 22:38 a night with 1,458 five-on-five minutes, the most on the club.
The Finesse Game
Almost no shooting and a great deal of skating. A hundred and sixty-six unblocked attempts from a median of 54 feet, four per cent inside twenty, and two goals — he is not a scorer and the club does not want him to be one.
What he does is leave the defensive zone with the puck. The first pass is quick and the feet make it possible under a forecheck that has taken away the easy option.
The Physical Game
Six foot one, 199, and he defends with position and stick rather than force. Fifty-one penalty minutes across a full season of the hardest minutes available.
He is not clearing his crease against a heavy winger, and on a club whose goaltending was the league’s worst that mattered more than it should have.
The Intangibles
Fifty-three per cent of the expected goals, 77th percentile, and 53.9 per cent of the shot attempts, 86th — the best figures on the club, in the most minutes, against the other team’s best.
A hundred and twenty-sixth overall pick who was waived by two organisations before Florida claimed him, and who has since played the toughest minutes on two Stanley Cup teams. That is one of the great scouting stories of the decade and almost nobody outside the state knows his name.
The goals went 55-41 in his favour, the best margin here. He is 30.