The Detroit Red Wings are adding to their defence. Reliable defender Erik Gustafsson signs with the club for the 2024-25 season. Gustafsson, who played for the New York Rangers, is an ideal depth defender, who comes in cheap and is versatile in his role. He can give you a reliable third-line shift and also play the power play if the opportunity so presents itself. This is the type of signing a playoff team makes to help shore up their backend.
Erik Gustafsson has signed a two-year deal with Detroit 🪽 pic.twitter.com/95mXCUSzFS
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) July 1, 2024
Defenceman Erik Gustafsson Signs With Detroit
One season in particular stood out as a statistical outlier for Erik Gustafsson’s career, his 2018-19 campaign. That year, as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks, Gustafsson had an excellent total of 60 points in 79 games. He also had a career-high 22:35 of average ice time a game. However, at this point in his career, he is more of a third-pair guy. In 2023-24 with the Rangers, he skated 17:24 a game. Furthermore, he had six goals and 25 assists for 31 points in 76 games.
He is a solid depth defender and can fill in on the power play with ease. In fact, that was the main contributing factor to his huge 2018-19 season. He played top power play minutes that season, and he more than backed up the coach’s decision with his productivity. Moreover, one item to keep in mind with Gustafsson is his usage as an offensive defenceman. He has a career oZS% of 66.4. Therefore, he almost needs to produce on the scoreboard, or he is not performing up to his expected value.
What Does Gustafsson Bring to his Club’s Defence Core
Gustafsson is a great utility guy on the blueline. For example, with the Rangers in 2023-24, he did play primarily with Braden Schneider. According to moneypuck, they did have a decent season with a 50.3 xGoals% in 581 minutes skated together. However, that in itself wasn’t what made Gustafsson so versatile. If you filter on defensive pairs that played 80 minutes or more together, the Rangers had nine such pairs.
Amazingly, Gustafsson found himself a part of five of those unique pairings. If that doesn’t scream a willingness to do whatever he will for the team, nothing does. Gustafsson is an excellent player to have because he is always ready for the coach’s shoulder tap. That is especially so in an offensive role. This is the type of unheralded move, that could end up paying off with huge dividends come late in the season.
Main photo credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
