LOS ANGELES — With Adam Boqvist and Dennis Gilbert up from the AHL and eight defensemen on the active NHL roster, the Blackhawks’ healthy scratch monster has been particularly ferocious lately.
It claimed Brent Seabrook for the past two games, prompting the maligned veteran to declare he can “still be a good player for somebody.” Saturday against the Kings, Seabrook moved back into the lineup, but Erik Gustafsson (as well as Gilbert) slid out.
“Some guys are really angry right away, and some guys kind of know it’s coming,” Jeremy Colliton said. “It’s our job as a staff to try and help them through it.”
Gustafsson, talking after the morning skate, clearly fell in the latter category.
After tying for sixth among all NHL defensemen last season with 60 points, Gustafsson recorded zero goals and just four assists through his first 11 appearances and ranked third-worst on the Hawks in shot attempts and scoring chances allowed per minute.
“Defensively, [I’ve] got to be harder, that’s it,” he said. “With the puck and the power play too, I don’t think I created a lot. So I need to be better overall.”
Gustafsson was scratched once last January, a low point that he took to heart. He responded with one of the best stretches of his NHL career, improving his defensive play while maintaining his elite blue-line productivity.
A repeat scenario would be the ideal outcome from Saturday’s scratch, but Colliton admitted “there’s no magic wand that it’s just going to happen,” and the surfeit of defensemen on the roster will make Gustafsson’s road back into favor more difficult than before.
Still, the 27-year-old Swede seems to have the right attitude about it.
“Of course I’m frustrated, I want to play,” he said. “But you look at last year...and it might be a good thing.”
