The Swedish defenseman has officially signed his entry-level contract, but the 13th overall pick remains committed to SV71 for another season of overseas development before debuting stateside.
On Tuesday morning, the New York Islanders announced they had signed No. 13 pick Malte Gustafsson to a three-year entry-level deal.
As mentioned in the story above, the plan, since we spoke with Gustafsson at the podium on night one of the NHL Draft, was for him to return to the SHL for a second season with SV71 before coming over to join the organization.
The Hockey News has been told, despite signing his ELC, that plan has not changed.
Gustafsson is eligible to come over and join the Islanders organization, whether that's at the AHL or the NHL level, when his season comes to an end, like we saw with Victor Eklund this past season.
Like with Eklund, though, don't expect Gustafsson to take part in Islanders training camp this fall.
SV71's first game is on Sept. 19.
