We move on to the defensemen in our Chicago Blackhawks postseason grades, and that list will start with youngster Erik Gustafsson. We knew how much trouble the Blackhawks’ blue line was in this season when Gustafsson came up for a second time in late 2015 and never went back to the AHL, although he played well enough at times to earn that right.
Gustafsson was one of the few defensemen (Duncan Keith and Christian Ehrhoff being the others) who the Blackhawks could use to actually move the puck from the defensive end.