Blueland Guest Goalie: Jonas Gustavsson

In the summer of 2009, Gustavsson fever was sweeping North America. Several teams with goal tending needs were trying to woo a young wonder from Sweden. Before deciding on Toronto, Jonas visited Colorado, San Jose, and Dallas.



Want to know why they call him "The Monster?" Just look at him! That's Vessa Toskala on the right. While body position is a little different in the side-by-side, you can at 6'3'' The Monster fills the crease.



Jonas Gustavsson was born on October 24 1984 in Danderyd, Sweden.



Jonas began his pro career in 2002 with Allmänna Idrottsklubben Ishockeyförening (AIK). He played there for 4 seasons.



After playing in the AIK, he moved on to play with the Färjestads BK



While in Färjestad, he was the top goalie in in 2008-09, posting a 1.96 GAA and a SV% of .932 in the regular season.



In the playoffs, he posted a 1.03 goals against average, a SV% of .961, and five shutouts in 13 games. Having allowed only 14 goals in 13 playoff games, he led Färjestad to the league title. He was also named the MVP of the playoffs. Along the way, he broke Henrik Lundqvist's (NYR) SEL playoff shutout record of 180 minutes.



On July 7, 2009, Jonas ended weeks of speculation about where he would played and signed a one year contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs.



Jonas has a scary setback at training camp due to an elevated heartbeat. It was discovered he had an irregular heart beat and had a surgery called an "ablation."



Gustavsson made his NHL debut with Toronto on October 3, 2009 against the Washington Capitals. On October 26, 2009, Gustavsson recorded his first NHL win against the Anaheim Ducks making 25 saves on 28 shots in a 6-3 win.


On December 1, in a game against the Montreal Canadiens, Jonas left the game in the first period due to a heart murmur. Gustavsson later received Radio Frequency ablation to treat a re entrant tachycardia.



With health problems, a new country and a new language, Jonas faced a tough rookie NHL season in one of the most scrutinized hockey markets in the world. Jonas played in 42 games in his first season with Toronto, putting a up a SV% of .902 and a GAA of 2.87. HIs struggles where rewarded when the Toronto chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association announced Gustavsson as the Maple Leafs nominee for the 2010 Bill Masterton Trophy, awarded for "perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey".



Hopefully the Monster's heart issues are a thing of the past and he can get on with kicking ass in the NHL.

Atlanta Thrashers vs Toronto Maple Leafs

For the second time this season, the Toronto Maple Leafs blew into town. We really needed a win. We were still in mathematical reach of the 8th playoff spot. Also, very selfishly, I wanted us to beat Toronto so I could see that crazy Leafs guy over on youtube lose his mind. Oh well.


When Toronto comes to town, that means Gretchen, Garnet Exelby's #1 fan will be lining the glass with signs for him. Gretchen is hard at work! My friend Kerry took this picture, I'm in the bottom corner. A friend of Gretchen took a picture from the other side, I'd like to see what it looked like from there.





I'm excited about seeing the Monster again! It looks like he is excited about seeing me, too.





Francois Beauchemin stretching out. Gee, wonder if he's French-Canadian?





The Monster in the net, you can barely see the damn net.





Awwww, Moose is looking for a chat friend! Don't leave him hanging guys!





It's the first time for me to see Phaneuf in his Leafs jersey.





Yay! Moose found a friend! It's his old buddy Garnet Exelby.
Ex: Hey man, good to see you! How are you?
Moose: Good!
Ex: I see your girl is still going over to the visitor's side.
Moose: Only some times. She still wears my jersery.
Ex: Dude, she's wearing and Oduya jersey.
Moose: WHAT?





More Phaneuf. It just seems weird seeing him in Toronto.





Hmmm, guess this guy isn't a Leafs fan.





I was also excited to see Jiggy again! It's not often that I get to see one goalie twice in a season wearing different uniforms. J.S. Giguere came through Blueland the first time in a Ducks uniform.





Ex doing his ritual stretching. I have like a million pictures of him doing this in a Thrashers jersey.





Tomas Kaberle warming up.





American Olympian and Silver Medal winner, Phil Kessel takes it all in.





Yes Jonas, I'm still here taking pictures. Is that okay?





Jiggy had the night off and was laughing and chatting. He of course refused to look at Kerry's sign. When you are a Leaf and games aren't going well, you don't look at signs. They are probably terrible and might make you cry.





WTF is this guy doing now? The chicken dance? Castanets?





Swarming the goalie.



First period! Not a lot of first period pictures because I was stuffing my face with over priced yet delicious chicken tenders and fries.


Oh God, yes please! Artyukin vs Exelby??





Woo Hoo! The Thrashers get on the board with a power play goal from Zach Bogosian!





Monster is one of the few goalies that doesn't have too much trouble seeing around Antropov.





Mac trying to make something good happen.





Monster turning aside a puck.

Zach put us on the board, but unfortunately the Leafs answered right back with a goal from Phil Kessel.


Second period!


Does anyone NOT like the Moose? He's the nicest guy around and handsome to boot. Look at her winking at him! I can't compete with that level of cute! She told me that Moose gave her some gum. He passes it through the opening of the glass to her. A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!!





Face off.





MacArthur likes it in front of the net. That's a good quality!





Zach introduces Viktor Stalberg to the ground, HARD.





Beat his ass, Zach! I was hoping that Bogo would get an assist so he could get a Gordy Howe hat trick.





Not even "Some Other Guy" could get one in on the Monster.





Some chaos in front of Pavs.

The score remained the same in the 2nd period, neither team scored. We went into the 3rd period still tied at 1-1.


Third period!


Fuck father time! Chelios is still a bad ass.





I love getting a "puck in the air" shot, too bad it's not going in the net.





My buddy Sonya had a camera misfortune, her battery died. During the 3rd period, she asked me if I'd like to use her big honking lens (a 70-200mm f2.8 for those that know about cameras). For those of us that don't, it's huge, it's fast and it lets an ass load of light in. It also weighs almost 4lbs. That doesn't sound like a lot right? Pick up a 4lb weight and hold it in front of your face for about 5 minutes. I seriously had to put my carpal tunnel brace on when I got home.


The difference in speed was amazing! After looking at the pictures when I got home, you could really see a difference. The pictures were much brighter. All of the following pictures are SOC (straight out of the camera) and haven't been edited. You might not be able to tell a difference, but man I can.


Pavs looks behind his back for the puck.





Oduya guarding the net.





Pavs watching the action.





Taking it hard to the Monster!





Max talking to the ref.





Pavs keeping an eye on the puck.





Monster filling the net with his big frame.





Monster says no! (again)





The third period ended with the teams still tied at 1-1, so we went to OT. Thirty nine seconds into over time, Mikhail Grabovski put one in the net to win it for the Leafs. You can just see a hint of the puck in the net under the arrow. Pavs is looking at it.





Leafs win. Boo.





Jiggy comes out to congratulate Monster.