Gustafsson signed a one-year contract Oct. 12, one week after Niskanen retired.
"Gustafsson] has tremendous deception with the puck, tremendous poise," general manager Chuck Fletcher said. "We don't have a defenseman that sees the ice like he does, he can play on the power play. It's a different type of skill set than Matt ... there wasn't going to be that ability to replace Matt per se with the same style."
***[RELATED: [Complete Team Reset coverage]*
Niskanen was second among Flyers defensemen last season with 33 points (eight goals, 25 assists) and averaged 21:54 of ice time in 68 games playing the right side with Ivan Provorov (36 points; 13 goals, 23 assists) on the top defense pair and getting significant time on the power play and penalty kill.
Gustafsson scored 29 points (six goals, 23 assists) in 66 games for the Calgary Flames and Chicago Blackhawks last season. In 2018-19, he tied for third among NHL defensemen with 17 goals for Chicago.
"We think his skill set meshes really well with what we need," Fletcher said. "We think we have a lot of strong defenders on our team and we're very structured defensively as a group. His skill set, his ability to go back on pucks and make good decisions and transition the puck up the ice, we thought was a very important element to add to our group."
Gustafsson was the only significant addition for the Flyers after they finished with the sixth-best points percentage in the NHL (.645; 41-21-7) and won a Stanley Cup Playoff series for the first time since 2012, defeating the Montreal Canadiens in six games in the Eastern Conference First Round.
They allowed bottom-six forwards Tyler Pitlick (Arizona Coyotes), Derek Grant (Anaheim Ducks) and Nate Thompson (Winnipeg Jets) to sign elsewhere and likely will replace them from within the organization, especially with forwards Oskar Lindblom and
Nolan Patrick
expected to be fully healthy this season.
Lindblom returned from cancer treatment to play against the New York Islanders in Games 6 and 7 of the second round. Patrick missed all of last season because of a migraine disorder but has been skating and working out near his home in Winnipeg, including recently participating in a scrimmage. Fletcher said he remains confident that Patrick, the No. 2 pick in the 2017 NHL Draft, will be a key contributor.
The Flyers also have several forward prospects expected to compete for jobs, among them
Wade Allison
,
Tanner Laczynski
,
Linus Sandin
, Morgan Frost and
Isaac Ratcliffe
.
"I think our forward group right now is more talented and deeper than what it was at any point last year," Fletcher said. "And I think that we have pretty good depth on defense now and we have good depth in goal. We have a good team."
Here is what the Flyers look like today:
