With the 2026 NHL draft complete, the Edmonton Oilers have now added another five prospects to their prospect pipeline. We here at the Oil Rig will be publishing in-depth player profiles for each of Oil Country’s newest additions, while also giving a brief projection of where they fit into the organization’s future.
This iteration looks at the Oilers’ third round selection, the Swedish forward Malcom Gästrin. Drafted out of the Modo U20 system, the forward was initially projected to be selected within the second to fourth rounds. Pre-draft projections for Gästrin had him in the #55-#107 range, with him eventually going 84th overall to Edmonton.
Who is Malcom Gästrin?
| Position | Handedness | Height | Weight | 2025-26 TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Left Wing | Left | 6’00 | 174 |
Gästrin’s on-ice production
The Swedish-born forward grew up within the Jarveds IF youth program. From there, Gästrin made the jump to the Svedjeholmens IF program for the 2022–23 and then finally MoDo the season after. The 6’0” forward has represented MoDo’s J18, J20, U18, U20, and Allsvenskan teams in the past couple of seasons.
Gästrin has yet to represent Sweden at any level, but over the next couple of years, do not be surprised if the Oilers pick appears at the U-20 WJC.
| Year | League | Team | GP | G | A | P | Playoff GP | Playoff G | Playoff A | Playoff P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | J18 Region | MoDo J18 | 22 | 10 | 15 | 25 | – | – | – | – |
| 2024-25 | J18 Nationell | MoDo J18 | 18 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 2024-25 | J20 Nationell | MoDo J20 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | – | – | – | – |
| 2025-26 | J18 Region | MoDo J18 | 15 | 9 | 14 | 23 | – | – | – | – |
| 2025-26 | J18 Nationell | MoDo J18 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 7 | – | – | – | – |
| 2025-26 | J20 Nationell | Modo J20 | 24 | 9 | 16 | 25 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 2025-26 | Allsvenskan | MoDo | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | – |
Gästrin is known for his point production, and is primarily an offensive driver for his respective teams as a central playmaking force. The 2026 draftee uses smart timing, clean passes, and his acute hockey sense to generate numerous opportunities in transition and established zone play.
As he ages up, expect Gästrin to maintain this role as a scorer at both the Allsvenskan and possibly SHL levels before he makes any possible jump to North America in the future.
Malcom Gästrin’s player profile
Gästrin is a pure soft-skill playmaker who thrives with smart timing, quick passes, and a high offensive motor. The Swede’s skill set is defined by smooth passing, quick-thinking hockey sense, and smart space management (a mix of compete level and skating). The areas of improvement for the young draftee include lacklustre physicality, limited defensive instincts, and average shooting.
Gästrin largely served as a premier U20 forward, with a long stint at the U18 Region level and brief stints with MoDo’s U18 Nationell and Allsvenskan teams. Considering Gästrin’s stints at multiple levels, the 16:13 TOI per game is a bit deceiving, as the playmaker was a star forward for the U18 Region and U20 portions of the 2025–26 campaign.
The draftee’s playmaking skills were also put to use on special teams, where the third-rounder averaged 2:23 on the man advantage, primarily as a half wall connector and pass distributor from low-high or setting up cross crease opportunities. Gästrin was not a regular feature on the penalty kill.
Gästrin’s strengths
Hockey sense
One of the elements that set Gästrin apart from his teammates was his hockey IQ, through advanced offensive instincts, strong offensive play reads, and high-end creativity. These previously mentioned elements made the Swede a continuous contributor in transition efforts, where, through his advanced scans and offensive awareness, Gästrin was a threat every single rush transition.
This hockey sense was further amplified by his sheer ability to always be in the right place at the right time, hinting at advanced play anticipation, positioning, option creation and timing.
The 2008-born forward was particularly apt at being a pace opportunist, where he used lane creation, slip passing, and smart timing to generate chances that routinely ended up in and around the opponent’s slot.
Gästrin pace manipulation and opportunism also demonstrated that the third-round prospect employs not only a high offensive scan rate, but equally fast play processing, which really allowed him to thrive as a playmaker and routinely push plays forward for MoDo.
His hockey IQ is still growing and with his current creativity, and play manipulation ability across the 2025–26 campaign Gästrin generated 1.09 scoring chances per game, and enjoyed a 15% conversion rate on those chances.
Gästrin’s hockey sense (opportunistic timing, creativity, and instincts) is further amplified by his passing ability.
Puck skills
Gästrin’s is a trustworthy forward with the puck, as the on-puck vision is immaculate, highlighting once again his scanning efficiency that allows for quick decision making, slick option identification, and seamless playmaking efforts, all to the benefit of his teammates.
This passing upside makes the MoDo forward an ideal puck carrier on breakouts as he can quickly adapt to any situation and shift defensive pressure against with a single pass. The passing itself is also effective, as Gästrin initiates 18 passes per game and has a stellar 86% accuracy rate, employing smooth pass placement and clean lane awareness.
Gästrin’s vision is one of the key tools to his point production and success, as the forward is constantly aware of all of his offensive options, leading to lightning quick give and goes that often end up in the back of the opponent’s net.
Handling wise Gästrin does need some minor tweaks with puck protection mechanics and confidence as he generated 4.9 give aways per game, compared to just 2.9 take aways. Part of these handling issues is simply because he has the puck so often with 68 puck touches per game, 3.4 O-zone entries, and 2.8 breakouts.
Even when Gästrin does not have the puck, he still puts his stick to use on the defensive backcheck with a routinely active stick, and the wherewithal to clog opponent passing lanes with smart stick angling.
Overall the soft skill playmaker thrives more as a passer then as a handler.
Compete level
Gästrin is simply never sitting still, and this is one of the most notable aspects of his game. His offensive compete level is rampant due to a quality offensive motor, hustle, and frequent o-zone play engagement. There is rarely an offensive shift that the Swede takes off, and this demonstrates a consistent intensity, desire to exert offensive pressure, and to create space for himself.
This compete level complements his hockey IQ quite nicely, as it amplifies the effectiveness of his positioning and further articulates just how smart his route creation and changes of pace are too. The sheer changes of pace that Gästrin introduces in transitional play demonstrate his mastery of play processing and inject some deception into the 2026 draftee’s puck skills.
When MoDo is in the offensive zone, the intensity that Gästrin brings is that of a stalwart offensive creator as he has the endurance, and sheer willpower to never give up on any play. This intensity is especially potent since the 2026 draftee starts 44% of all of his shifts in the offensive zone too.
Gästrin’s compete level is directly transferable to the higher levels of both European professional hockey, as his level of engagement and care to every offensive play and it’s amplification of MoDo’s offensive pressure exertion of both him and his teammates.
Expect Gästrin’s compete level and endurance to grow as he ages up, and if he can unlock more defensive engagement, defensive pressure exertion, or a defensive motor it could better round out his game and increase his usefulness at the NHL level.
Gästrin’s areas of improvement
With improvements to Gästrin’s skating, physicality, shooting, and defensive zone play, he could elevate his game to another level and shorten what will be an extensive developmental period for the young forward. None of these areas outside of his defensive play are glaring issues, so the 2008 born forward does have lots of runway.
Skating
Fundamentally Gästrin’s skating projects closer to average, and does have positive elements like his lane creation, pace management, and route creation.
The mechanics, however, aren’t super pretty. Starting from his gait, which looks awkward at best, and when paired with problematic lower body flection it does not set the newest Oilers prospect up for success. This gait and flexion issue then compound into a slightly below-average stride, clunkier stride recovery, and less skating power.
Additionally, Gästrin has minor issues with agility and less-than-ideal edgework, which can hamper his game in tight spaces of the ice.
Now none of this should be discouraging entirely, the MoDo forward has never experienced an NHL-level skating coach, and is still getting use to his (what looks like smaller than his billed 6’00) body. Expect the large portion of these skating issues to sort themselves out as he ages up and advances to the Allsvenskan and possibly the SHL in the coming years.
Gästrin will refine his skating over the next few years, and this should actually amplify his speed and creation based game as well.
Shooting
Shooting is another area where Gästrin is not particularly bad at, but can use further refinement as he ages up. Although his shot comes from quick playmaking and pace control, the shot release itself is not especially accurate (63%), nor is it deceptive. This is largely because his shot placement is slightly predictable, and while he enjoys a 0.36 goals expected rate, at his current level its quite possible his shooting above his pay grade.
The Swede’s shot mechanics are slightly stiff, struggles with puck placements and has issues securing a clean weight transfer in most instances. Gästrin does also have the tendency to rush his shots off in most situations, even when he does not particularly need to.
As Gästrin transitions to higher levels, expect his passing and timing to be the main contributors to his point production rather than his shooting itself.
Physicality/defensive play
Physicality and defensive zone play are the two biggest issues with the current state of Gästrin’s game.
Physicality problems arise from the fact that Gästrin simply gets overpowered in grittier areas of the ice, which displays shortcomings in muscle mass, ineffective body leverage in board play, and a slight physicality avoidance underlying his entire game.
Additionally the Swede also showed limitations in physical/defensive pressure exertion, and poor hit absorption that often led to any momentum in his current play being lost, as he is essentially stopped in his tracks once contact comes out (much like an F1 driver).
Unless Gästrin can add more muscle or employ a more centred hitting form, this physical weakness will cause problems for him as he ages up. Even at the forward’s current level, he only dished out 0.37 hits a game and takes 0.67 hits against per game, and yet it has a noticeable influence on the flow of his play.
Now Gästrin will never be a physicality/energy player, nor should he, but if he can’t show growth in this area to even a mediocre level, opponents can and will expose this weakness/avoidance of his.
Defensively, Gästrin plays an incredibly passive game in his own zone and is prone to puck watching at times.
These defensive habits he employs show major issues around defensive instincts, risk awareness, and absent defensive pressure exertion. Now these issues are partially tied to his unwillingness to engage physically, as his level of engagement in tie-ups, board play, and gritty elements directly correlates to fewer instances of risk reduction.
This element is a bit surprising, but his offensive and defensive motors are polar opposites, which does harm his overall effectiveness in all three zones of play.
Gästrin’s next steps
Expect Gästrin to return to MoDo next season, where he is projected to serve in a starring role for their U20 Nationell team. This 2026–27 campaign aims to be a breakout season for the young Swede. If Gästrin can build momentum at the 2026–27 campaign goes on it would not be a shock to see him play a fair share of games with MoDo’s Allsvenskan team too.
The soft-skill playmaker remains quite a raw prospect and is at a minimum four or more seasons away from being ready for the jump to North America.
Projection with the Oilers
Gästrin is an interesting selection for the Edmonton Oilers as the MoDo forward is one of the few soft-skilled players that the Oilers have spent a draft selection on in the past few years. The Swede fits a different role within the system than the large portion of their prospect pool, which could allow him to separate himself from players like David Lewandowski, Tommy Lafrenière, and Berzkalns.
If Gästrin can improve his skating mechanics, and round out his defensive game that should give him a better chance of making the NHL as a depth scorer. The forward certainly has the pace, smarts, and passing skill to be a contributor at the NHL level.
Gästrin enters the 2026–27 campaign as one of the Oilers rawest prospects, and likely would not compete for a roster spot for at least four to five years.
Oilers Comparable: Quinn Hutson
NHL projection: top nine scoring forward
NHL ETA: four to five years
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