TBone wrote: ↑28 Jul 2026 09:09 am
I like seeing that "C" on his uniform in that clip.
He’s been the C of the Swedish ‘07s for 2-3 years now. So yeah, he clearly has solid leadership qualities as well.
He’s absolutely more than a throw-in. And he’s a center through and through with an absolute dog on a bone work ethic/compete level. Decently skilled but he probably projects more as a 3C than a 2C but he projects to be a very good 3C that you want on your team, especially in the playoffs. I see him pretty close in caliber to Stenberg. Otto is just 2 years older so much closer to the NHL.
Some could say it's bias, but I don't see Steener taking sweeds on the team that he doesn't think will see it thru. We are pretty soon going to be the Swedish Blues Mafia. Which if it works could be a good thing as it could be a way to attract talent on the FA market wanting to play with their buddies.
Steen is going to take the best hockey players regardless of where they are from. They just went through an entire draft and didn't take 1 Swedish player.
that wasn't the point of my post, my post in response to it being "just another guy". I was trying to say, some fans might think it's a bias working for sweeds, I actually think that if he takes a guy from sweden, it's because he thinks they are the real deal. He is going to have a heavier finger on the trigger for those guys because he doesn't want to bring them into a bad situation since it will be harder to give them bad news and tell them they aren't good enough while still working with them on the national team stuff.
so yes i agree with you, but that wasn't exactly what the previous post was about.
TBone wrote: ↑28 Jul 2026 09:09 am
I like seeing that "C" on his uniform in that clip.
He’s been the C of the Swedish ‘07s for 2-3 years now. So yeah, he clearly has solid leadership qualities as well.
He’s absolutely more than a throw-in. And he’s a center through and through with an absolute dog on a bone work ethic/compete level. Decently skilled but he probably projects more as a 3C than a 2C but he projects to be a very good 3C that you want on your team, especially in the playoffs. I see him pretty close in caliber to Stenberg. Otto is just 2 years older so much closer to the NHL.
Some could say it's bias, but I don't see Steener taking sweeds on the team that he doesn't think will see it thru. We are pretty soon going to be the Swedish Blues Mafia. Which if it works could be a good thing as it could be a way to attract talent on the FA market wanting to play with their buddies.
Steen is going to take the best hockey players regardless of where they are from. They just went through an entire draft and didn't take 1 Swedish player.
that wasn't the point of my post, my post in response to it being "just another guy". I was trying to say, some fans might think it's a bias working for sweeds, I actually think that if he takes a guy from sweden, it's because he thinks they are the real deal. He is going to have a heavier finger on the trigger for those guys because he doesn't want to bring them into a bad situation since it will be harder to give them bad news and tell them they aren't good enough while still working with them on the national team stuff.
so yes i agree with you, but that wasn't exactly what the previous post was about.
Gotcha now. I'd agree - if he likes Gastrin as a Swede, it is a plus.
TBone wrote: ↑28 Jul 2026 09:09 am
I like seeing that "C" on his uniform in that clip.
He’s been the C of the Swedish ‘07s for 2-3 years now. So yeah, he clearly has solid leadership qualities as well.
He’s absolutely more than a throw-in. And he’s a center through and through with an absolute dog on a bone work ethic/compete level. Decently skilled but he probably projects more as a 3C than a 2C but he projects to be a very good 3C that you want on your team, especially in the playoffs. I see him pretty close in caliber to Stenberg. Otto is just 2 years older so much closer to the NHL.
That would be fantastic, I'll take a great 3c all day long.
It sounds like he has the skills and mindset to break in as a 4C, if Thomas, McTavish and Dvorsky are all ahead of him and playing well. Nothing wrong with that.
Yep, that seems logical. But we’re also likely talking 2-3 years from now so who knows what the Blues center core will look like then. My guess is it’ll look very similar as it does today but as we found out this summer, things can change quickly. We went from being super shallow at C to now having McTavish as the pretty obvious 2C, McMichael who can play C if we’re in a pinch and need him too and Suter is also probably at his best at C but can play all 3 forward positions well (and we may need him at RW more than C but again, we’ll see).
But back to Gastrin, he’s absolutely the type that should be able to fit pretty well up and down a lineup. Probably won’t end up an ideal 2C but would be the sort of guy that would be fine there if that’s all a team had or your everyday 2C is injured and you need a guy to step up for a couple weeks or months. But he’ll probably end up better suited for a bottom-6 C role. But he’s also still only 18 so he has a long runway ahead of him. I’m very interested to see how well he can develop his offensive game in the SHL this season. It’ll be hard but he’ll be in a good situation in Brynas.
And I bet he’ll have a big role for Sweden’s WJC team too. Considering he’s already wearing the C, he’s pretty much a lock to make the team (he made their team a year ago too so it’d be pretty shocking if he didn’t make it again). The Swedish team doesn’t look as loaded this season though. As least with assuming all of Frondell, I.Stenberg and Bjorck won’t be there. All 3 are eligible by age but none of the 3 are currently participating in the WJSS as they’re all expected to be in the NHL this season and thus unlikely to play in the WJC. So with no Frondell or Bjorck, Gastrin may just end up Sweden’s #1 C for the tourney. The Cs will likely be Gastrin, Command, Stockselius and…idk. Eric Nilsson maybe? But Gastrin and Command are the obvious 2. The rest of their options are a lot of guys that can play C but might also be better at wing…but they’re going to need some guys stepping up to play C with Bjorck and Frondell likely not there.
