The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted an article which discusses the Red Wings’ defense’s offensive “pop” since Todd McLellan took over behind the Wings’ bench, as evidenced by Erik Gustafsson’s play:
Among the keys to the Detroit Red Wings’ resurgence is how much more their defensemen have been engaged in the offense.
Nobody on the back end epitomizes this more than Erik Gustafsson, who has taken strides towards looking more like the guy the Wings thought they were getting when they signed him in the offseason with every game since Todd McLellan was named coach on Dec. 26.
Gustafsson is coming off his first multipoint performance of the season as the Wings take a seven-game winning streak up against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena.
“I didn’t know Gus coming in,” McLellan said. “I wasn’t sure how he would react to what we wanted to do. But he’s been outstanding. The knock on him will always be, can he defend? He’s doing an outstanding job of that. He’s bought into taking care of that first, and when you do that, it opens up the other end, as well.”
Gustafsson was at five points — all assists — and a minus-11 rating in 26 games at Christmas, having struggled to establish himself as a regular. It was not what was envisioned when he was signed for two years at $2 million per season in July to ameliorate the loss of Shayne Gostisbehere, the offensive defenseman and power-play specialist who bolted for the Carolina Hurricanes.
In the eight games since Christmas, however, Gustafsson, a 32-year-old journeyman on his eighth NHL team, has two goals, four assists and a plus-3 rating.
Continued (paywall)
