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Journeymen Red Wings Discuss Life on The Move

Detroit eighth NHL team for Talbot, Gustafsson

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Cam Talbot, Red Wings
The Red Wings will be the eighth NHL team for goalie Cam Talbot.

On the surface, playing in the NHL for the Detroit Red Wings seems like a great job. And for the most part, it certainly is just that.

There’s the adulation, the fame, the chance to play a children’s game for a living and you get summers off. Oh, and the money’s not bad, either.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t pitfalls along the way.

Consider two of the newest Red Wings, for instance. Both goaltender Cam Talbot and defenseman Erik Gustafsson were unrestricted free agent signings. For each of them, Detroit will be their eighth NHL stop. They were even crossing paths previously for 17 games with the 2019-20 Calgary Flames.

“You never really get used to it,” Talbot said of the packing and unpacking. “I can tell you that much.”

For Gustafsson, the Red Wings are his eighth team in the past six seasons.

“It’s been a lot of teams, but it’s always fun to get an opportunity on a new team, an Original Six team, too,” Gustafsson said of arriving in Detroit. “It’s always a challenge to come in as a new guy.”

In Talbot’s case, the Red Wings are his seventh team in eight seasons.

“I seem to be part of it every summer,” he said of the NHL transactions wire. “It’s really nerve-wracking.

“It has been a bit of a whirlwind lately, moving from team to team.”

Red Wings Players Think About Family Impact

For the player, changing teams is impactful.

“I think every experience is different,” Gustafsson said. “I don’t want to come in and be the voice of the room right away.

“It’s something you have to learn and read, too.”

At the same time, there’s a group of guys awaiting them in their new dressing room who succinctly understand the lifestyle and are ready and willing to make the adjustment as seamless as possible. The newcomers are quickly assimilated into the team culture.

“It’s easy, the hockey part,” Talbot said. “You can kind of plug in and play. Guys always integrate you into the team.”

That isn’t necessarily the case for the rest of the family. Spouses are left to deal with the headaches of moving. Children must switch schools and say goodbye to their friends. It can be a very traumatic experience for a youngster.

“You never really fully get used to it, especially with a young family now,” Talbot said. “Taking the kids out of school and moving them all the time, having to leave their friends, that’s the hardest part for me.

“My kids have been troopers, but hopefully I’ve found a spot for a couple of years here and we’ll be able to kind of settle down a little bit.”

Detroit Stability Appealing To Kane

It was that latter notion that was playing a role in Patrick Kane’s decision to re-up with the Red Wings rather than test the UFA waters on July 1.

For his first 16 NHL seasons, Kane was with the Chicago Blackhawks. Since February 28, 2023, he’s become somewhat of a vagabond. Kane was moving to the Arizona Coyotes in a paper transaction, then on to the New York Rangers and finally, the Red Wings.

Stability, the opportunity to again put down roots in one location, was appealing to him.

“I think just we were looking back on kind of what I’ve been through and what the family has been through in the past 18-plus months,” Kane admitted. “I mean, obviously you’re in Chicago for whatever it was, 16 or 17 years, and then I had go to New York for a couple months.

“Then I had the (hip) surgery and I was rehabbing in Toronto. And then you have to pick a new team. And I went to Detroit and I was there for 50 games. All that happened within 18 months.

“So, even if I did a one-year deal, it wasn’t like it was gonna seem very short or anything like that, especially with what we’ve been through.”

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