How Erik Gustafsson sees himself helping Detroit Red Wings: 'Feel very confident'

Patrick Kane's scouting report on Erik Gustafsson gives hope to a Detroit Red Wings team eager to keep progressing.

Gustafsson's arrival on the opening day of free agency on a two-year, $4 million deal was the result of events that shaped the Wings as they chased a playoff spot all the way to Game 82 only to come up short. The Wings needed a defenseman who could help ameliorate the offense lost when Shayne Gostisbehere signed elsewhere, and someone who was cheaper than Jake Walman, whose status as a healthy scratch down the stretch made his $3.4 million salary cap hit untenable.

Enter Gustafsson, a 32-year-old joining his eighth NHL team in a decade.

"I played with him a year in Chicago, he had 60 points," Kane said earlier this month. "He was a key component to our power play. He was so deceptive up top. Really knows how to run the top. Maybe as good as anyone I’ve played with, to be honest."

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Kane's endorsement speaks to the possibility Gustafsson will keep the Wings' power play among the league's top 10, as it was last season. The evidence will come during exhibition season, which will enable the Wings to see if Gustafsson can run the power play unit not run by Moritz Seider. Gostisbehere was a master at that, leading the Wings last season with 29 power play points in addition to leading team defensemen with 56 points (which ranked fourth on the team overall). Defensively, Gostisbehere was a liability, but the Wings knew that when they signed him a year ago.

When he signed a three-year deal with the Carolina Hurricanes, it further depleted a defense corps that already was down a man when general manager Steve Yzerman traded Walman to the San Jose Sharks in mid-June. That trade was necessary after 2021 first-round pick Simon Edvinsson was called up in March, which eventually led to Walman being bumped from the lineup. The Wings couldn't afford to have both Walman and Justin Holl, who also carries a $3.4 million salary cap hit, on the sidelines.

Gustafsson did record 60 points in 79 games back in 2018-19 while with the Chicago Blackhawks. The best he's done since then, however, is 38 points in 61 games in 2022-23 with the Washington Capitals, who used him in a bigger role after John Carlson was injured. Last season, Gustafsson had 31 points in 76 games with the New York Rangers. He had a career-best 18 power play points in his 60-point season with the Blackhawks and had nine last season.

"I have been playing power play ever since I came over here," Gustafsson said. "It’s something I like to do and something my game is. I like to run it from the blue line and try to get the puck to the forwards or shoot the puck and try to create lanes. I feel very confident in playing the power play."

Gustafsson, from Nynåshamn, Sweden, grew up idolizing Nicklas Lidström and is friends with Niklas Kronwall — both of whom moved into the Wings front office after retiring. Gustafsson, in fact, is close enough with Kronwall that the hard-hitting defenseman was one of the first people Gustafsson texted after signing with the Wings.

"He was very happy that I was part of the organization, that I signed here," Gustafsson said. "I worked out with him for a couple of years, and he’s a part of the team, too, so it’s going to be fun to see him again."

Gustafsson knows several of the current players, too, beyond Kane: There's fellow newcomer Cam Talbot, a teammate with the Calgary Flames in 2019-20; fellow defensemen Ben Chiarot and Jeff Petry, teammates with the Montreal Canadiens in 2020-21.

For the Wings, the Gustafsson deal appears low risk: Short term, a reasonable cap hit — and a history that shows he's at the very least a dependable defenseman.

Contact Helene St. James athstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter@helenestjames. Her books, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” and “The Big 50: The Men and Moments that made the Detroit Red Wings” are available from Amazon,Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.

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