Gustafsson Starring for Sweden at Worlds
The selection of Flyers defenseman
Erik Gustafsson for Sweden's World Championship team came as a surprise to some in his native country. The 24-year-old, who has dressed in 60 NHL games and had no previous national team experience at either the junior or senior levels, has thus far rewarded the faith shown in him by SIF (the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation) and coach Pär Mårts.
In three games to date, Gustafsson leads his team both in ice time (21:58 per game) and plus-minus at even strength (plus-four). Although his one assist in three games does not jump off the page, Gustafsson has moved the puck with great efficiency and has defended well. Along with partner Henrik Tallinder, Gustafsson has not been on the ice for any opposing goals.
If there is one thing he could be doing more or better, it's being more aggressive on the power play. He's been holding the puck a little too long and passing up open point shots to try to work the puck down low. Gustafsson has just one shot on goal about three or four missed nets (the IIHF doesn't track missed shots) in the three matches to date.
The preliminary round of the tournament has been a bit of a rocky road for Tre Kronor. The team is 2-1-0, losing in regulation to Switzerland (which is now 3-0 after also beating Canada via shootout and the Czech Republic in regulation) and then beating the Czechs and Belarus in regulation. The latter two games were very much up for grabs, however.
In yesterday's 2-1 win against Belarus, the Swedes trailed 1-0 and battled uphill to tie the game early in the second period on a goal by Oscar Lindberg. Tre Kronor finally forged ahead midway through the third period on a bang-bang goal by Fredrik Pettersson off the faceoff. Gustafsson logged a team-high 24:49 of ice time, and was on the ice for much of the final five minutes as the Swedes defended their narrow lead. In the waning seconds of the game, Gustafsson made a good play along the end boards to occupy the puck and allow two precious seconds to tick off the clock before two Belarusian players finally dug the puck free.
Gustafsson's strong play and heavy ice time thus far at the World Championships is a continuation of his performance for the Flyers in his second callup of the season. The Swede's play was the silver lining to a massive wave of injuries that consumed 5/6 of the team's projected starting blueline at the beginning of the season.
Over the final 10 games of the Flyers' season, Gustafsson had a pair of goals and three points, while averaging 23:18 of ice time per game. He was plus-three in that span.
A restricted free agent this summer, Gustafsson is a shoo-in be re-signed by the Flyers. It should not be too difficult of a signing. The player, who is no longer waiver exempt if the team were to choose to send him to the Phantoms, is likely to seek a one-way contract.
Gustafsson's entry-level contract paid $900,000 per season at the NHL level ($67,500 at the AHL level), including three $90,000 installments of a $270,000 signing bonus when he left Northern Michigan after his junior year to sign with the Flyers. Gustafsson collected only a fraction of his NHL salary, as he spent much of his first three seasons with the Phantoms while getting paid at the AHL rate. As a restricted free agent, it would not be surprising if his new contract has a somewhat lower NHL base salary than his unrestricted free agent rookie deal -- but it would still represent a real-life raise in what Gustafsson actually nets from his paychecks.
As a result of his strong play this spring and his loss of waiver exemption, Gustafsson will get a legitimate crack at winning a full-time starting job with the Flyers. His puck-moving skill set matches up to one of the team's primary needs, and his lack of size is not currently a significant concern because the other projected defense starters except for Kimmo Timonen are all huge-framed players.
Team Sweden is idle today. They take on Norway tomorrow at Stockholm's Globe Arena.
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Bryzgalov Likely to Start vs. USA
After recording a 15-save shutout of Latvia in Russia's 6-0 opening game at the World Champions,
Ilya Bryzgalov had the next day off in Russia's 4-1 victory against Germany. Today, the Russians take on Team USA at Helsinki's Hartwall Arena. Bryzgalov is likely to get the start in goal over Semyon Varlamov.
The Americans are 2-0-0 in the tournament after beating Austria (5-3) and Latvia (4-1). Today's game will be a much tougher challenge for Team USA, which mostly has youngsters and NHL role players on its roster. The leading scorers on the team through two games are Colorado Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson and Dinamo Minsk forward Tim Stapleton, who have two goals and an assist apiece.
Adirondack Phantoms goaltender
Cal Heeter will be scratched again today as the Americans' third goaltender. Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop is the likely starter, backed up by Anaheim Ducks prospect John Gibson.
Today's game starts at 1:15 p.m. EDT. It will be televised on NBC Sports Network.
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Team Canada, Flyers Contingent Return to Action
Team Canada has had a day to recover from its 3-2 shootout loss to undefeated Switzerland on Sunday. The team, which features Flyers players
Claude Giroux (one assist in 2 GP),
Matt Read (one goal),
Wayne Simmonds (no points) and
Luke Schenn (one assist), returns to the ice today against Norway.
The game in Stockholm starts at 2:15 p.m. EDT. It will be televised in Canada on TSN. For those in the United States and elsewhere who are unable to watch TSN, an online stream will be
available here.
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Lauridsen, Danes Return to Action
Team Denmark has put up valiant fights against Canada and arch-rival Norway in its first two games at the Worlds, but has nothing but a pair of regulation losses to show for it. Today at 10:15 a.m. EDT, the Danes take on Slovenia in Stockholm.
Flyers defenseman
Oliver Lauridsen has played solidly in his two games to date. He was very involved in physical play against the Norwegians and logged 20 mostly sound minutes against Canada in the opener. Overall, he's minus-one and has three shots on goal. The IIHF does not track giveaways as a statistic but he's had four turnovers in the two games that likely would have been charged as such. Otherwise, he's played well.
A stream of today's Denmark-Slovenia game will be
available here.
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Voracek Has Points in Every Game
The Czech Republic is off to a slow start at the 2013 Worlds, dropping two of its first three games. However, Flyers forward
Jakub Voracek has points (one goal, two assists) in each of the three games played to date. He has figured in half of his team's six goals.
In yesterday's 5-2 loss to Switzerland, Voracek had the secondary assist on a Jiri Hudler power play goal that trimmed a 2-0 deficit in half in the middle stanza. Working a point on the man advantage, Voracek sent the puck down low to Jiri Tlusty. The puck was then passed to an open Hudler, who one-timed a shot past Reto Berra. Hudler later tied the game before the Swiss generated three unanswered goals in the third period, including a late empty-netter to seal the outcome.
Voracek was the best player on the ice for either team in the Czech's opening 2-0 win over Belarus. He also played a solid game overall in a 2-1 loss to Sweden. He was not as noticeable in yesterday's tilt despite the assist.
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Noebels Playing Sparingly
Adirondack Phantoms forward
Marcel Noebels has dressed in two Germany's three games to date. That's the good news. The bad news for the young winger is that he's been used very sparingly on the fourth line in both games he's played. In yesterday's 3-2 loss to Slovakia, Noebels skated just five shifts and 2:48 of ice time.
Germany is 0-2-1 in the tourney to date, having lost in overtime to Finland and in regulation to Russia and Slovakia. The Germans are idle today. They'll take on their main rival, Austria, tomorrow.
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