Erik Gustafsson (ice hockey player, 1992)

Erik Gustafsson
Date of birth	March 14, 1992
place of birth	Nynäshamn , Sweden
size	183 cm
Weight	80 kg
position	defender
number	# 56
Shot hand	Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft	2012 , 4th round, 93rd position Edmonton Oilers
Career stations
2008-2013	Djurgårdens IF
2013-2015	Frölunda HC
2015-2018	Rockford IceHogs
2015-2020	Chicago Blackhawks
since 2020	Calgary Flames

Erik Gustafsson (born March 14, 1992 in Nynäshamn ) is a Swedish ice hockey player who has been under contract with the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League since February 2020 . Previously, the defender spent five years in the Chicago Blackhawks organization . With the Swedish national team , he won the gold medal at the 2018 World Cup .

Career

Erik Gustafsson went through in his youth, among other things, the junior departments of the Huddinge IK before he moved to the junior division of Djurgårdens IF for the 2008/09 season. From the 2009/10 season he took part in the J20 SuperElit , Sweden's highest junior league. The defender then established himself in the club's men's team in the course of the 2011/12 season and was thus regularly on the ice in the Elitserien , the highest professional league in his home country. However, he rose with the Djurgårdens IF after his first professional season from the Elitserien. As a result, the Swede was selected in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft in 93rd position by the Edmonton Oilers .

After a year in the second-class Allsvenskan , in which the team missed direct promotion, Gustafsson returned as part of a transfer to the top division now known as Svenska Hockeyligan (SHL) by joining Frölunda HC . At the club from Gothenburg he stood out as an attacking defender, so in the 2014/15 season only Cory Murphy and Tim Heed provided more assists among the defenders across the league . In addition, he reached the final of the Champions Hockey League with the team , but lost there to the league competitor Luleå HF .

Gustafsson then decided to move to North America and signed a two-year contract with the Chicago Blackhawks from the National Hockey League (NHL) in April 2015 - the Edmonton Oilers' draft rights had already expired. The Blackhawks used him for the time being with their farm team , the Rockford IceHogs , in the American Hockey League (AHL), but the Swede managed to jump into the NHL squad a little later, where he played 46 games by the end of the season. He lost this regular place in the following season 2016/17, which he spent exclusively in Rockford. Nevertheless, his contract in Chicago was subsequently extended for a year. With the start of the 2017/18 season, Gustafsson will return to the NHL regularly and subsequently received a new two-year contract in March 2018.

In the following season 2018/19, which the Swede spent exclusively in Chicago for the first time, he made his breakthrough in the NHL, recording 60 scorer points in 79 games and placing himself sixth among the defenders of the league. At the following trade deadline , in February 2020, the Swede was transferred to the Calgary Flames after five years in Chicago . In return, the Blackhawks received a third-round vote in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft .

International

Although Gustafsson was on the ice for the Swedish youth national teams, he never represented them at a major tournament. The defender made his debut for the senior national team at the 2016 World Cup , where he finished sixth with the Tre Kronor . At the 2018 World Cup , he was again part of the Swedish squad and won the gold medal with the team.

Achievements and Awards

• 2018 gold medal at the world championship

Career statistics

Status: end of the 2019/20 season

				Regular season							Playoffs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	+/-	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	+/-	SM
2009/10	Djurgårdens IF J20	J20 SuperElit		24	0	8th	8th		26th		-	-	-	-	-	-
2010/11	Djurgårdens IF J20	J20 SuperElit		38	2	21st	23		104		4th	0	1	1		6th
2011/12	Djurgårdens IF J20	J20 SuperElit		21st	3	11	14th	+3	14th		-	-	-	-	-	-
2011/12	Djurgårdens IF	Elitserien		41	3	4th	7th	-3	15th		10 1	0	1	1	+1	6th
2012/13	Djurgårdens IF	Allsvenskan		49	7th	16	23	+12	52		6th	1	0	1	-3	30th
2013/14	Frölunda HC	SHL		50	2	18th	20th	± 0	16		-	-	-	-	-	-
2014/15	Frölunda HC	SHL		55	4th	25th	29	+2	22nd		12	1	2	3	-3	31
2015/16	Rockford IceHogs	AHL		27	3	8th	11	+1	38		-	-	-	-	-	-
2015/16	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL		41	0	14th	14th	+11	4th		5	0	1	1	-1	0
2016/17	Rockford IceHogs	AHL		68	5	25th	30th	-27	40		-	-	-	-	-	-
2017/18	Rockford IceHogs	AHL		25th	3	14th	17th	-3	18th		-	-	-	-	-	-
2017/18	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL		35	5	11	16	+1	6th		-	-	-	-	-	-
2018/19	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL		79	17th	43	60	–6	34		-	-	-	-	-	-
2019/20	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL		59	6th	20th	26th	-8th	25th		-	-	-	-	-	-
2019/20	Calgary Flames	NHL		7th	0	3	3	-1	2		10	0	4th	4th	+1	2
J20 SuperElit overall				83	5	40	45		144		4th	0	1	1		6th
Elitserien / SHL overall				146	9	47	56	-1	54		22nd	1	3	4th	-2	37
AHL total				120	11	47	58	-29	96		-	-	-	-	-	-
NHL overall				221	28	91	119	-3	71		15th	0	5	5	± 0	2

International

Represented Sweden at:

• World Championship 2016
• World Championship 2018
• World Championship 2019

year	team	event	result		Sp	T	V	Pt	+/-	SM
2016	Sweden	WM	6th place		8th	0	2	2	-1	0
2018	Sweden	WM			6th	0	1	1	+3	2
2019	Sweden	WM	5th place		8th	2	2	4th	+5	2
Men overall					22nd	2	5	7th	+7	4th

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; ¹  play-downs / relegation )

Personal

His brother Glenn Gustafsson (* 1998) is also a professional ice hockey player.

Web links

Commons : Erik Gustafsson  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Player biography on the Calgary Flames website
• Erik Gustafsson at eliteprospects.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Blackhawks agree to terms with Gustafsson. nhl.com, April 30, 2015, accessed March 6, 2018 . 
2. ^ Blackhawks agree to terms with Erik Gustafsson and Tyler Sikura. nhl.com, February 6, 2018, accessed February 7, 2018 .