Vancouver Canucks make wrong call in extending Erik Gudbranson
By Alex Hoegler
After being frequently mentioned in the trade rumour mill, Erik Gudbranson will remain with the Vancouver Canucks after signing a three-year extension. Here’s why the new deal is quite baffling.
The Vancouver Canucks have made their fair share of rather interesting personnel decisions under general manager Jim Benning, but this latest one is something else. The team announced a three-year extension for defenceman Erik Gudbranson on Tuesday morning.
TSN’s Bob McKenzie broke down the contract details:
Correction on breakdown for Gudbranson. $4.5M and $4.5M, in each of first two years, not $4.6M and $4.4M.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) February 20, 2018
And so, the Canucks continue their latest trend of overpaying players that aren’t exactly worth such multi-year extensions. We were confused with the extensions for Luca Sbisa (three years, $10.8 million), and Derek Dorsett (four years, $10.6 million). But this Gudbranson contract will baffle even more.
The talk all season was how the Canucks were going to ship Gudbranson at the trade deadline and secure more draft picks and/or prospects. Gudbranson — whom the Canucks acquired from the Florida Panthers two years ago — has yet to play like a reliable top-four blueliner.
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The stats don’t lie, either. Per Hockey Reference, he has a career 48.0 percent Corsi For percentage. In 2017-18, it’s at a woeful 43.5 percent. His oZS of 45.8 percent also leaves a lot to be desired.
So this is what rebuilding is for the Canucks? Extending a 26-year-old, stay-at-home defenceman who has been anything but a shutdown blueliner?
Doesn’t management realize their goal is to get younger, cheaper and show fans that a new direction will be followed?
This isn’t a knock against Gudbranson. He’s 26 years of age and has time to morph into the player that the Florida Panthers saw when they drafted him third-overall in 2010.
But for Gudbranson, a fresh start with a new team was best for him. Why the Canucks are extending him when they need to make room for Olli Juolevi very soon?
lemme guess: "in this division with big heavy teams, you need an old throwback defenceman. And he's been showing more confidence lately with the puck"
— Jason Botchford (@botchford) February 20, 2018
That just may be the case, Mr. Botchford. Too bad the Canucks front office seemingly didn’t recognize that elite teams like the Nashville Predators, Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning don’t require toughness and muscle to win games.
Also, the Canucks probably should be paying attention to their salary cap situation. As of now, they only have about $480,000 in space, per CapFriendly. They have to sign the Sedins to new contracts, and the team has, for some reason, decided in not trading away Alexander Edler. Loui Eriksson and Brandon Sutter carry immovable contracts.
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Did I mention Sven Baertschi, Markus Granlund, Troy Stecher and Jake Virtanen need new contracts after the season? And Brock Boeser will be ready to break the bank after 2018-19? It’ll be a joy to see how the Canucks find ways to get all of them under contract.