Bengt-Åke Gustafsson (born 23 March 1958) is a Swedish professional ice hockey coach and former ice hockey player. Gustafsson is the former head coach of the Sweden senior team, a post he held from February 2005 to May 2010.
In 2003, Gustafsson was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame as a player.
Playing career
Gustafsson started his professional career in 1973, playing for KB Karlskoga in the Swedish second-tier league. He later transferred to Färjestads BK of the Elitserien. Gustafsson was drafted by the Washington Capitals in the fourth round of the 1978 NHL amateur draft. He chose to play the 1978–79 season in his homeland Sweden, but he signed with the Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association (WHA) in March 1979. Gustafsson made his North American debut in the 1979 WHA playoffs, picking up a goal and two assists in two games. When the Oilers merged into the National Hockey League (NHL) that summer, despite their attempts to select him as one of their two protected skaters for the 1979 NHL expansion draft, the Capitals reclaimed Gustafsson's rights from Edmonton as they did not have a valid contract with him before the draft.
Gustafsson started his coaching career as an assistant coach with Switzerland senior team, serving under head coach Ralph Krueger. He attended five World Championships with the Swiss team between 1998 and 2002.
Additionally, Gustafsson worked as head coach of Austrian VEU Feldkirch in the 1998–99 season, followed by a two-year stint as head coach of SCL Tigers of the Swiss Nationalliga A (1999–2001). In 2001, he accepted the head coaching job at Färjestads BK in the Swedish Elitserien. He guided the team to the Swedish championship in 2002 and to back-to-back finals appearances the following two years.
Gustafsson was named head coach of the Swedish senior team in 2005. Under his guidance, Sweden captured gold at the 2006 Winter Olympics and the 2006 World Championships, becoming the first coach to achieve this "double". He earned Swedish Coach of the Year honours that year. Gustafsson also led Sweden to a bronze medal at the 2009 World Championships. He stepped down from his position in 2010.[2]
In October 2010, he took over as head coach of the ZSC Lions of the Swiss National League A (NLA) and remained in the job until the end of the 2010–11 season.
On 6 May 2011, Gustafsson was named the head coach of Atlant Moscow Oblast of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), becoming the first Swede to be named the head coach of a KHL team.[3][4] However, after a disappointing start to the 2011–12 season for the team, Gustafsson was forced to leave the club on 3 November 2011. The team's then assistant coach Janne Karlsson took over the head coaching job for Atlant Moscow Oblast.[5]
In October 2013, he returned to Switzerland's SCL Tigers for a second spell with the club, having previously spent two years with the Tigers. He led SCL to the National League B (NLB) title and promotion to the NLA in 2015, but parted company with the club despite the success.[7] On 24 January 2017, he took over the head coaching position at NLB side EHC Olten.[8][9] He was sacked in early February 2018 following a run of five wins in 15 contests and after dropping to the fourth place of the NLB standings.[10][11]
He has been reported as a "player's coach", listening to and arguing with his players rather than telling them what to do. In a SVT interview he stated: "[Ice] hockey is played on the ice, not behind the bench. As coach I can point things out to them and make them aware of stuff but they are the ones who play the game. As a player I have to confess that I didn't listen that much to what the coach said, and as a coach I don't expect them to do either."
He was criticised for asking various players whom they would like to see on the team and how they wanted to play and for asking players how they would like to see the lines formed. He then went in and adjusted the lines as the tournaments went on. The criticism has been somewhat subdued after his 2006 Winter Olympics and World Championships double.
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