Erik Gustafsson Returns to Maple Leafs With Peace of Mind Following Daughter's Medical Scare
Before he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in late February, Erik Gustafsson’s youngest daughter, Lusie, had been dealing with an unknown medical issue. The family has clarity now.
BOSTON — Erik Gustafsson is happy to be back with the Toronto Maple Leafs and everything is good with his family after his 18-month-old daughter, Lusie, finally got a proper diagnosis of what was a mysterious medical issue.
"She had been up and down for the last month and we got the news that she has celiac," Gustafsson told The Hockey News on Thursday.
The family grew concerned when they brought Lusie to their doctor a month and a half ago.
"They said all the blood work was great and continue to feed her with whatever she eats," Gustafsson explained. "All she was eating was gluten."
Celiac is an autoimmune disease that attacks the small intestine when gluten is ingested. Nobody in Erik or his wife Hannah's family has a history of celiac.
As Lusie continued to ingest gluten, things took a turn for the worse and Gustafsson left the Maple Leafs on Mar. 24 to be with his daughter in the hospital for the next eight days.
"She’s doing well now and they’re all at home now," Gustafsson said. "Very happy that our daughter is healthy and is ok. Very happy to be back with the team, too."
Gustafsson watched all of the Maple Leafs' games while he was away but didn't spend any time on the ice. The team stayed in contact with the 30-year-old defenseman on a daily basis just to see how Lusie was doing.
The Swede returned to the team on Tuesday and took part in the team's warmup ahead of their 4-2 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
His focus now is to get his conditioning back up to speed.
"Just bag skating, like I did just now," Gustafsson said after the team's optional morning skate at TD Garden on Thursday.
Acquired in a trade with the Washington Capitals along with the Boston Bruins' 2023 first-round draft pick in exchange for Rasmus Sandin, Gustafsson has one assist in eight games with Toronto. In many of those contests, he was part of a seven-defensemen rotation as the club looked to find minutes for a deep blue line that also added Jake McCabe and Luke Schenn in February.
Gustafsson will be scratched against the Bruins. Following that, there will be just four games remaining in the regular season.
“It’s going to take a little bit here for him," Keefe said. "Yesterday was his first real practice in a couple of weeks. We’ll continue to work with him but we’re certainly thrilled to have him back."
Despite a lack of ice time and conditioning, Gustafsson is confident he can pick things back up when he gets back into action.
But for the first time in his tenure with Toronto, Gustafsson has clarity on his youngest daughter's health and with that comes the ultimate peace of mind.
"We're very happy, it's going to be a process to get her back to 100 percent, but now we know. We're a gluten family now."
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