- Islanders signed 6-foot-4 defenseman Malte Gustafsson to a three-year, entry-level contract
- The 13th overall pick carries a $1.075 million cap hit and stays in Sweden next season
- Read below for the full breakdown on New York’s newest blue-line prospect
The Islanders locked up one of their prized first-rounders.
New York signed defenseman Malte Gustafsson to a three-year, entry-level contract on Tuesday, the team announced. The deal pays him $3.23 million total and carries a $1.075 million cap hit.
The Islanders drafted Gustafsson 13th overall in the 2026 NHL Draft last month. Signing him now gets the paperwork out of the way, but the 18-year-old isn’t coming to Long Island right away.
He’ll spend at least one more season in Sweden. If Gustafsson heads to North America next year and doesn’t play 10 NHL games, the first year of the contract slides to 2027-28.
Gustafsson made his Swedish Hockey League debut with HV71 at 17 and stuck there for most of last season, posting three assists in 27 games against grown men. He piled up 12 points in 19 games with the club’s U20 team.
The teenager also stood out on the international stage. He won gold as an alternate captain at the 2026 U18 World Juniors, adding five points in six games and landing on the tournament’s All-Star team. The year before, he took silver at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
Size is the calling card. Gustafsson stands 6-foot-4 and plays a heavy, minute-eating game that his Swedish coaches trusted in big spots. Scouts peg him as a shutdown defender with enough skill in transition to project as a top-four piece if the skating comes along.
GM Mathieu Darche has refused to break up his core this offseason, so adding a big left-shot defender to the pipeline lines up with how New York wants to grow. Gustafsson won’t crack the roster this fall, but he’s exactly the kind of prospect the Islanders have been chasing on the back end.
