Johan Gustafsson (born 28 February 1992) is a Swedish professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as goalie or netminder) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their own team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays ...

who is currently an

unrestricted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

Playing career

Johan played for Västerås HK in the 2010–11 season, with

Luleå HF Luleå Hockeyförening, also known as Luleå Hockey, is a professional ice hockey club from Luleå, Sweden. The club has been playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the top tier of ice hockey in Sweden, since the 1984–85 season. They are ...

for the next two seasons and has also played 3 SHL games with

Färjestad BK Färjestad Bollklubb (; abbreviated as FBK) is a Swedish professional ice hockey team based in Karlstad. Färjestad has had 21 Swedish Championship final appearances, winning ten times since the Swedish Hockey League (SHL; formerly Elitserie ...

. He was drafted 159th overall by the

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Confer ...

in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. After an SHL rookie season where Gustafsson had five shutouts in his first 20 games with Luleå, he was nominated for the 2011–12

SHL Rookie of the Year SHL Rookie of the Year () is an annual award in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), presented by Svenska Spel since the 1989–90 season. Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), an ...

award. Approaching the deadline to retain Gustafsson's rights, the Wild signed Gustafsson to a three-year, entry-level contract in May 2012. He was returned on loan to Luleå for the first year of his contract. In his first North American season, Gustafsson was assigned to

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...

affiliate, the

Iowa Wild The Iowa Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Des Moines, Iowa. They are the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Wild play their home games at Wells Fargo Arena. The ...

. Over the duration of his tenure with the Wild, Gustafsson was recalled to the NHL; however, he never appeared in a game. On May 4, 2015, as an impending restricted free agent, Gustafsson opted to return to his native Sweden and played for

Frölunda HC Frölunda Hockey Club, previously known as the Frölunda Indians, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Gothenburg. They currently play in the highest Swedish league, the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), formerly the Elitserien, where th ...

of the SHL. After claiming his second

Le Mat Trophy The Le Mat Trophy (, ) is the trophy awarded to Swedish champions in ice hockey. The trophy has been awarded since the 1926 season and starting with the 1975–76 season – it has been awarded to the winners of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) p ...

in his four year tenure with Frölunda HC, Gustafsson left the club at the conclusion of his contract upon the end of the 2018–19 Championship-winning season. As a free agent, Gustafsson left Sweden, signing a one-year deal with newly crowned DEL champions,

Adler Mannheim The Adler Mannheim (English: ''Mannheim Eagles'', formerly Mannheimer ERC) is a professional ice hockey team of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, the highest-level ice hockey league in Germany. The team is based in Mannheim, a city in the northern par ...

, on May 7, 2019. In 2020-21, he signed with

Rögle BK Rögle BK (Rögle Bandyklubb) is a Swedish professional ice hockey club from Ängelholm that has been playing in the SHL since the 2015–16 season. Rögle has previously played in the SHL (previously named Elitserien) in 1992–1996, 2008–20 ...

of the SHL, splitting starts with Christoffer Rifalk as they won a SHL Silver Medal. For the next two seasons, Gustafsson started for

Västerås IK Västerås IK (''Västerås Ishockey klubb'') is a professional ice hockey club from Västerås, Sweden. The team is currently playing in the second-tier league in Sweden, HockeyAllsvenskan. Västerås IK played 12 seasons in the top Swedish leagu ...

HockeyAllsvenskan HockeyAllsvenskan (previously Allsvenskan and SuperAllsvenskan) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league, and the second-highest league in the Swedish ice hockey system, after the Swedish Hockey League, SHL. Since the 2009–10 season, t ...

. In December 2023, Gustafsson was signed to

Pelicans Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before ...

of Liiga to serve as the backup for Jasper Patrikainen after the transfer of Jussi Olkinuora before the arrival of Niklas Kokko bumped him to 3rd string goaltender.

International play

Gustafsson was Sweden's starting goalie in the

2010 IIHF World U18 Championships The 2010 IIHF World U18 Championships was the 12th edition of the IIHF World U18 Championship. The tournament was held in Minsk and Babruysk, Belarus, between April 13 and April 23, 2010. Tournament games were played at the Minsk Sports Palace in ...

where the team won the silver medal. Gustafsson was part of the Gold medal winning Swedish 2013 World Championship team; however, he was unable to feature in any game.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gustafsson, Johan 1992 births Adler Mannheim players Alaska Aces (ECHL) players Färjestad BK players Frölunda HC players Iowa Wild players Living people Luleå HF players Minnesota Wild draft picks People from Köping, Sweden Rögle BK players Swedish ice hockey goaltenders VIK Västerås HK players Ice hockey people from Västmanland County