Photo Credit: Colby Spence
The conventional wisdom regarding Jets 2018 2nd rounder David Gustafsson, who was loaned by Winnipeg to Team Sweden on December 13th for the World Junior Tournament, was that once it came to an end he would head back to Sweden to play for HV71 Jonkoping.
But today in a 45 minute chat with scribes Scott Billeck (Winnipeg Sun), Mike McIntyre (Winnipeg Free Press) and Ken Wiebe (The Athletic Winnipeg) over in Denver, one of the things that Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff indicated was that Gustafsson could head to the Manitoba Moose when the World Junior tournament ends. Here is what the three tweeted:
One of them is that David Gustafsson could join the Manitoba Moose following the WJC. Grey area CBA. He played long enough here before going to the WJC that he could get to the Moose.
— Scott Billeck (@ScottBilleck) December 30, 2019
I misinterpreted the clause Cheveldayoff had referenced. He was talking about the agreement the #NHLJets have with HV71 Jonkoping, not a clause in the CBA. Nothing has been decided about where Gustafsson will play after the world junior. NHL, AHL and Sweden are all options
— Ken Wiebe (@WiebeAthletic) December 30, 2019
One of several news items from #NHLJets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff today is the fact there’s a clause in David Gustafsson’s contract which could see him assigned to the #MBMoose once the World Juniors are done.
— Mike McIntyre (@mikemcintyrewpg) December 30, 2019
That would be a big boost for the Jets farm club. Gustafsson had one goal in 22 games with Winnipeg in his first taste of the NHL. Manitoba could use the depth at centre and the prospect would get the benefit of playing within the same system as the parent club.
Update:
Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff was chatting with the Jets TV crew and said this “what holds in store for him after the World Juniors is still a little bit up in the air because he was in the NHL beyond December 1st we have the ability to potentially send him to the American League now. So we’ll look at that and we’ll discuss what the future is best in store for David once the World Juniors are over.”
