A Swedish playmaking centre wing who displays a good two-way game. He hasn’t shown enough to be brought up from the MoDo Hockey J20 A program except for an 8 game period, but so many draft prognosticators have him off the board in the bottom third of round one or as an early second rounder. He won’t see much power play time as a pro. What he might lack in offensive dynamism, his advanced physical skill and habits made him a dominant J20 level player. He makes plays at a high pace, with inside drive, takes responsibility in the defensive end, and is strong in both breaking up plays and winning puck battles. Has a good presence in his details to make the big passes, and create good looks. He drives play with skating, good puck support and inside drive. His zone entries are good, and his the soft skills blend well with his hard ones, so you will see him forecheck middle zone puts away and set up entries, along with him being a tricky slick passer that increases his side’s game pace. lots of smarts and skill, and a driver on transition from his end. At the current level, he was difficult to move once planted in the crease area. On the attack he sees the situation well, is strong on the puck, and you observe the nice off-puck habits, in his driving the middle, upping pace to get into pockets to support wall-to-middle plays, and true dominance on the puck. He had his hard knocks, having a mid-season injury held him out of the World Junior A Challenge, and his production has tailed off since the injury, but he wasn’t going to miss last April’s World Junior U-18. At the World Under-18, I bet he happily jumped the boards knowing Ivar Stenberg would be his passing option. Stenberg’s presence make Gastrin the physicality that stirs the pot. The details in his defensive and offense sides are adequate. He killed off multiple rushes through good positional awareness and physical presence. As the designated f-2 on instances, he didn’t get back on defense b/c he was wandering too low. In attempts to help the defenseman, he has a tendency for overplaying situation that have led to advantages in the areas of ice he left open. If he becomes better at finding openings away from the puck, and start seeing his looks for give-and-go opportunities, that compensates for his lack of good playing speed. He must improve more creativity on the cycles, but has the vision to recognize open man who’s in better positions to take a shot. His But there is some pascifity where there is an opening to but his upright skating lack of ankle flexion is limited in its ability to dorsiflexion due to the tightness of the calf muscles, it may put more strain on the calf itself or the surrounding tissues. So the get up I want from him is a mystery, he is really good option of drafting your team’s 3rd line centre, or maybe a winger when needed. Gästrin abilities may transfer easily to the pro game, because there are glimpses of where he so impacts the result, but is nowhere on the scorecard side of play.
