Jordan Gustafson was born and raised in Ardrossan, Alberta - a small town of less than 500 people close to Edmonton. He started playing hockey with his grandpa when he was just two years old.
Gustafson has fond memories of his early hockey days.
“I’d tell him to bring his whistle and put me through some drills at two years old,” Gustafson said. “I definitely fell in love with the game pretty early, and I think I started playing when I was three years old. So that’s kind of how I got introduced to hockey.”
Gustafson has been looking to make an impact on Golden Knights coaches this summer with his skills and strength as he attended Development Camp presented by Martin-Harris Construction.
“It’s definitely nice to come here and to see everybody and meet the new draft picks,” he said. “I’m just working as hard as I can in the gym. There’s a lot of great trainers here and the cooks are great. I’m eating unreal food and putting on weight. Trying to learn as much as I can.”
The 19-year-old forward won the WHL Championship with the Seattle Thunderbirds in May 2023. The Thunderbirds defeated the Winnipeg Ice, 3-1 in the best-of-five series.
“[Winning the championship] was awesome. It was unreal,” Gustafson said. "I’ve been working for that for a long time, and it took the whole team. It took everybody. It took all of our fans and our whole organization. It was a pretty special day, to win that.”
The Thunderbirds were eventually defeated by the Quebec Remparts in the battle for the Memorial Cup. Gustafson finished the 2022-23 season with 36 points (16G, 20A).
Now, his focus is not only on his WHL team, but the NHL club he was drafted to in 2022. He has high praise about the Golden Knights organization as a whole.
“All of the people are so welcoming,” said Gustafson. “It’s nice coming into a [development] camp where the boys just won the [Stanley] Cup. It’s a bunch of champions, a pretty good vibe here this year. There are so many great people, so approachable. You can ask questions and you’re always going to get a good top-notch answer. So, it’s great to learn from these guys.”
Gustafson tries to model his game after Detroit Red Wings legend and his favorite NHL player, Pavel Datsyuk. He also looks up to Tampa Bay Lightning centerman, Anthony Cirelli.
“I’ve always loved watching [Datsyuk],” Gustafson said. “I watched a lot of his clips… He’s probably my favorite player. If I had to model my game after somebody, it would probably be Cirelli. I think he’s a good two-way centerman, he can contribute offensively but also really responsible defensively. And he’s a Stanley Cup Champion.”
Off the ice, Gustafson wants Golden Knights fans to know that he works hard and loves music.
“I’m a super hard worker in anything I do,” he said. “I have a lot of interests away from hockey, too. I love music a lot, I love to play guitar and I love spending time with my family. A perfect night would be just spending time with family, playing some cards, or picking up a guitar and singing with my grandpa, brother, or dad.”
Gustafson emphasized how special it is to be amongst Stanley Cup Champions after watching the Golden Knights’ playoff run on TV.
“It was awesome,” he said. “I watched the whole run. It was pretty cool coming into camp last year and seeing all those guys and you get an idea of what it looks like to put in all the hard work... It was an unreal feeling. It was awesome.”
The 19-year-old will be participating in the 2023 Rookie Faceoff presented by Martin-Harris Construction in Las Vegas beginning September 13.
