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The post It Won’t be With Red Wings, But Gustafsson Will Play in NHL Again appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now.
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Detroit Red Wings defenseman Erik Gustafsson will be a UFA on July 1. He’ll be signing with an NHL team once he becomes a free man.
No, that team won’t be the Red Wings.
Gustafsson played just two games with Detroit during the 2025-26 NHL season. He spent the bulk of his time buried in the minors with the AHL Grand Rapids Griffins. In 39 games there, Gustafsson put up 4-33-37 totals.
He also made a lasting impression, one that will extend far beyond the Red Wings organization.
When the Red Wings assigned the 34-year-old veteran of 517 games to the AHL, he could have pouted. Gustafsson might have opted to simply play out the string.
He chose neither path.
Seeing his first AHL action since the 2017-18 season, instead, he was fully embracing his role as a team leader. Gustafsson became someone the younger players could rely on when on the ice and turn to for advice when not between the boards.
“His attitude,” Grand Rapids coach Dan Watson said of what impressed him the most about Gustafsson this season. “The way he conducted himself, even not during the games, practice days, off days, just being around the guys.
“He’s a true professional, and that was rubbing off on a lot of our players. He’s a special and elite defenseman at this level, but yeah, we were very lucky to have him.”
Gustafsson Will Move On From Red Wings
Gustafsson describes this year as having been “a lot of fun.”
The way he was choosing to embrace his role in what originally must have felt like a kick in the teeth will resonate around the hockey world.
NHL teams are always seeking out defensive depth. Gustafsson is someone who is still capable of playing in a third pairing. He’s skilled enough to anchor a team’s second power-play unit.
Some team will see that, plus what Gustafsson did for the Red Wings organization, and offer him a pact for next season.
Gustafsson won’t be the biggest signing of the summer, but count on him signing somewhere.
The post It Won’t be With Red Wings, But Gustafsson Will Play in NHL Again appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now.
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