Gustafsson’s patience pays off

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This article was published 16/12/2021 (1389 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There was no pouting from David Gustafsson when his immediate big-league hopes were dashed at training camp and he was demoted to the Manitoba Moose. That’s just not his style.

Maintaining a positive approach, along with putting in some hard work on the farm and exhibiting plenty of patience, has finally paid off.

The 21-year-old Swedish forward will make his 2021-22 NHL regular-season debut Friday night with a Winnipeg Jets team in need of both a healthy body and a bolt of energy after some recent struggles.

“I was very happy. I mean, this is what I want, this is what I’m playing for. I want to play in the NHL,” the always-smiling Gustafsson said Thursday following practice at Canada Life Centre. “I know what the expectations are. I just want to be up here, do as good as I can and, hopefully, stay up here.”

Winnipeg (13-10-5) has lost two consecutive games, including a lousy 4-2 effort on Tuesday night against the bottom-feeding Buffalo Sabres. Gustafsson will try to help them get back on track against one of the NHL’s best in the Washington Capitals (17-5-7).

Many fans and pundits had Gustafsson pencilled in for the opening-night roster. But veteran Riley Nash won the fourth-line centre job, as Jets coach Paul Maurice figured he’d be a good fit in a checking and penalty-killing role.

“We want those young players to play big minutes… the fourth line in the NHL isn’t a big-minute role. When they’re young and they’re developing their game, that’s where we want them playing as much as they possibly can,” Maurice said.

Nash was a non-factor and eventually placed on waivers, where he was recently claimed by the Tampa Bay Lightning. Throw in a serious knee injury last week to captain Blake Wheeler and the Jets were suddenly down to just 11 healthy forwards. That opened the door for Gustafsson, who played 22 games with Winnipeg in his 2019-20 rookie season, and another four last year during the truncated 2021 campaign.

“It didn’t really affect me that hard when I got sent down. I feel like there was definitely a chance for me to be up there already. I didn’t have any problem with it. I just went down and did as good as I can. I just know that if I do my best I’ll eventually get my chance,” said Gustafsson, who leads the Moose in scoring with seven goals and nine assists in 23 games.

“I feel like you always have to be ready. As soon as something happens up here, I’ve got to be ready that I might be called up. I feel like I have been all season. I’m definitely ready now.”

He would have joined the Jets earlier this week — they played with just 11 forwards and seven defencemen against the Sabres — but had to wait for additional COVID-19 testing after a Moose teammate was stricken over the weekend. Gustafsson, the 60th-overall pick in the 2018 draft, will centre a fourth line with wingers Jansen Harkins and Kristian Vesalainen, with whom he previously enjoyed plenty of chemistry and success in the AHL.

“We’ve been through development camps together. It’s nice to see the three of us up here playing together now,” Gustafsson said. He could also eventually find his way into the mix on one of the NHL’s worst penalty-killing units, especially since Wheeler was taking a regular shorthanded turn, and Gustafsson has been leading a Moose group that is among the best in their league.

“I feel like if I’m up here for a while there might be a chance for me to get a spot there,” he said. “(On the Moose), I think we have a real clear frame of mind of what we want to do on the PK. Everybody is really taking great pride in playing on the PK. Everybody is giving it their all, and we take great pride in being one of the best penalty killing teams in the AHL.”

Gustafsson, at 6-2 and 196 pounds, certainly has the size to play in the NHL. But speed has always been a bit of a concern, something he worked tirelessly on last summer with encouraging results so far this season.

“We’ve done some testing, mostly off ice, and I’ve seen my speed really getting better. I feel like when I’m watching myself on the ice, I feel like I see that I’m faster. I feel faster, too,” he said. “It was a year ago since I was here. I feel like I’ve grown a lot since then and got more comfortable with everything on the ice and outside the ice. I just feel like I have a much better opportunity this year.”

Maurice said there have been glowing reports about Gustafsson, both in his performance and his mindset. And his foot speed is now starting to catch up to a strong hockey brain that processes the game at a high level.

“We saw what we wanted to see almost the very first time he hit the ice in development camp years ago. You’re going, ‘I think that guy is going to play,'” he said. “It was a hard practice and right before the very end he was the only guy left that could go hard and he was still smiling. So, he likes the work, he likes to work hard, and he has the capacity to work hard.”

Winnipeg’s bottom-six forward group has been a bit of a mish-mash this season, but Maurice believes that is going to change. He’s reunited Andrew Copp and Adam Lowry, and put defensively responsible Dominic Toninato with them for a true checking line he can deploy against NHL stars such as the incoming Alex Ovechkin of the Capitals.

Now, the fourth line should have plenty of excitement, too, with three young players all trying to prove their worth and earn more ice time.

“I think there is going to be energy for all three of them. They should be able to drive,” said Maurice. “I just hadn’t felt our bottom six was particularly defined. I’ve spread it out a little bit, and that in part, that’s because (Mark Scheifele) and (Blake Wheeler were) gone (with COVID-19) and then Wheeler goes back out of our lineup, (Paul Stastny) was out for a bit, so we haven’t been able to structure a whole lot. But I like, a little bit more, that definition in our bottom six so I have an idea of what is coming off the bench.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg