Sergei Bobrovsky and Matthew Tkachuk have received most of the attention for the Florida Panthers during their playoff run. But Gustav Forsling has quietly been a crucial part of their success along the way.
LAS VEGAS – Gustav Forsling was claimed off of waivers.
Waivers. You know, the avenue NHL clubs take when they have no immediate use for a player and decide to offer up his services to all 31 rivals for precisely zero asset cost? Yeah, those waivers.
That was two seasons ago.
Fast forward to the present day, and Forsling is a perfect modern-day defender.
Ever since getting punted to the curb by the Carolina Hurricanes, the 26-year-old has ascended into a top-pairing pillar for a Stanley Cup contender, a high-leverage stopper who comfortably logs nearly 27 minutes in ice time per night against the best his opponents have to offer in the playoffs for a Florida Panthers club that sits four wins out from the peak of hockey's highest mountain.
And, for dramatic effect, the path up that mountain included a sweep of those very same Hurricanes – the team that exiled him for nothing.
How can you not get romantic about hockey?
"That's hockey – it can go very quick," explained Forsling, surrounded by a modest collection of reporters at his podium during Friday's media day.
"So, you've got to stay with it. Work hard, so that when your chance comes you're able to take it."
Safe to say he's done just that.
Somewhere out in the multiverse, Forsling's regular-season nightly workload of 23:26 led all Hurricanes defenders in 2022-23. In this reality, his 41 points in 82 games would have landed him second to only Brent Burns on Carolina's blueline. And, if given Burns' share of power-play time and offensive zone starts, perhaps Forsling outpaces him in those offensive categories, as well.
"He's kind of, like, the perfect human," laughed Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad, Forsling's partner on Florida's top pair.
"All of those Swedes are, right? They just do everything right. They work out hard. They take care of themselves more than anybody. With everything he does, he's a role model for me. I love watching him and love doing the things that he does."
That Forsling-Ekblad duo has been a godsend for the Panthers since the two teamed up at the start of the regular season. In the pair's nearly 1,000 minutes together at 5-on-5, they ended up outscoring and outshooting their opponents in decisive fashion en route to their dramatic playoff appearance. The duo generated 53.94 percent of the scoring chances and controlled 51.39 percent of the expected goals as well, according to naturalstattrick.com.
Given that Forsling and Ekblad finished first and third on their roster in even-strength ice time per game this season, saw the most difficult usage of all Panthers defenders and helped the Panthers make the playoffs by a single point, those contributions seem pretty crucial in hindsight.
All from a guy who spent the entire 2019-20 season riding buses in the AHL.
"He stepped into our locker room and has been doing giant strides ever since," said a gloriously-bearded Radko Gudas of Forsling, his defense partner throughout the 2021-22 season when the Panthers captured the franchise's first Presidents' Trophy.
"It's great to have him and have him play like that. Obviously, someone did some wrong scouting in his teams back then, and I'm glad we did the right one and picked him up. He's done nothing but look forward ever since, and he's a force out there."
He's a force indeed.
While Matthew Tkachuk and Sergei Bobrovsky have swallowed up most of the oxygen around the Panthers throughout their miracle run, Forsling has been quietly playing some of the best hockey of his career on the biggest stage in the sport.
Averaging 27 minutes per night is no easy feat, mind you. Emerging victorious from those 27 minutes while toppling the three giants of the Eastern Conference, including a 3-1 series comeback against the greatest regular-season team of all time, is another thing entirely. And if a mere 27 minutes aren't enough to whet your whistle, Forsling ended up logging a whopping 55:41 during the Panthers' four-OT victory over the Hurricanes in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final, all while avoiding being on for a goal against.
How does he do it? His teammates have the answer.
"He's really easygoing, but his fitness level for being able to recover from some of his partner's mistakes (is amazing)," chuckled Gudas.
"I was his partner last year, and he had to recover many times last year for myself. So, he's growing as a player and understanding these things. He's a very smart, smart guy, so he knows what his abilities are. And just understanding his abilities is a big thing for him."
Forsling, though, is not ready to let Gudas foist the credit onto him.
"That's not true," he laughed when told of Gudas' self-deprecating compliment.
In fact, Forsling lists Gudas as the player who helped make his transition to the Panthers as smooth as it could be.
"He's the one I started playing with when I got here," Forsling said. "And he's just a great guy, never stressed out, always relaxed, always a smile on his face. He's been pretty huge for me."
Forsling might be content to let the accolades go elsewhere, but the hockey world shouldn't be. This is a terrific player playing incredible hockey at the most important time possible. And if he keeps this up, Forsling's time outside the spotlight might come to an end for good.
Stanley Cup championships tend to do that to you. And if that's the case, there's a good chance he'll be fine with it.