Player Discussion Erik Gudbranson

[PhilMick]

The issue is that you can also find clips of All-Star defenders doing tangible good things to make their teams better or generating positive results from tough defensive minutes against top players.

Gudbranson's high-water mark is managing to play 3rd pairing minutes 'not horribly' on some nights ... while being an utter liability on a high percentage of others. He's never an actual positive contributor or driver of success.

The guy is basically the exact same player as Andrew Alberts.

Good old AnAl! Forgot about him!

 

[krutovsdonut]

The issue is that you can also find clips of All-Star defenders doing tangible good things to make their teams better or generating positive results from tough defensive minutes against top players.

Gudbranson's high-water mark is managing to play 3rd pairing minutes 'not horribly' on some nights ... while being an utter liability on a high percentage of others. He's never an actual positive contributor or driver of success.

The guy is basically the exact same player as Andrew Alberts.

he had some good offensive play in the second and, apart from the usual moments, he played well, which he has done recently.

where we are potentially headed with this player is the exact same place we went with sbisa. if he improves overall can we handle and forgive the pizzas? is there any reason to think they are not always going to be there? sbisa answered that question last june about as emphatically as it can be answered. i think there is some existential universal truth in that event and a lesson for gms. once you are in a position to choose, you have to move those guys no matter what they bring to the room and most of the game.

life is tough for flawed dmen. if you carve out a solid career it may still be forever defined by the times your weaknesses were exposed.

 

[RobsonStreet]

You can find clips like that of all star defense man making mistakes and looking silly. Taking a few seconds of bad tape to represent this player instead of the hours of solid play so far this season is really dishonest and doesn’t go unnoticed by people who understand the game of hockey at a higher level.

Do you know any of these people? I’d like to get their observations on Gudbranson’s play this year. See if you can get them to share on this thread.

I’ve been watching a prototypical seventh defenseman playing somewhere around replacement level. I keep thinking my eyes are playing tricks on me: “someone important must be hurt for this guy to be playing these minutes out of his depth.” And then I realize this is business as usual and think, “this is just like that feeling I had watching Keith Ballard years ago, only Gudbranson is probably worse”.

 

[timw33]

Those clips are from one game not spread out over 20. It's the same pile of crap clips you get with him in every game. Stop with the i only understand hockey and you don't card, it's obvious you haven't got a clue.

Yep, it's insane how easy it would be to get 5-8 egregiously bad clips of his play per game.

 

[Bojack Horvatman]

Hopefully he will be bought out this summer. It would cost $1.13m over four years.

Edit: 1.33m

 

[ziploc]

Hopefully he will be bought out this summer. It would cost $1.13m over four years.

Hopefully he is moved to some sucker team that still believes in tough guy defensemen who aren't that tough. Wait, that's us. Gudbranson will be traded by the Canucks to the Canucks for a third and Petrus Palmu.

 

[MS]

he had some good offensive play in the second and, apart from the usual moments, he played well, which he has done recently.

This is not good play.

Like, any middling AHL defender will have games and stretches where they 'get by'. Getting by for half a game before getting badly exposed on multiple goals is horrible, horrible play.

So far this year he has had 3-4 games where he 'got by' in limited minutes and 3-4 games where he was one of the worst players on the ice. That sucks.

where we are potentially headed with this player is the exact same place we went with sbisa. if he improves overall can we handle and forgive the pizzas? is there any reason to think they are not always going to be there? sbisa answered that question last june about as emphatically as it can be answered. i think there is some existential universal truth in that event and a lesson for gms. once you are in a position to choose, you have to move those guys no matter what they bring to the room and most of the game.

life is tough for flawed dmen. if you carve out a solid career it may still be forever defined by the times your weaknesses were exposed.

Well, yeah.

When you're a 5-8 point/season defender who is a total liability transitioning the puck and contributing offensively, in order to be an asset at this level you have to be an absolute defensive standout - like a Robyn Regehr.

If you're that sort of terrible transitional defender and then are only mediocre/average defensive and prone to major lapses ... that means you're a really bad player at this level.

Same as Sbisa. Same in reverse for a guy like Jordan Subban who would be average offensively but really bad defensively at this level.

 

[Bojack Horvatman]

Hopefully he is moved to some sucker team that still believes in tough guy defensemen who aren't that tough. Wait, that's us. Gudbranson will be traded by the Canucks to the Canucks for a third and Petrus Palmu.

Ya, hopefully Dale Tallon doesn't get fired anytime soon.

 

[krutovsdonut]

This is not good play.

Like, any middling AHL defender will have games and stretches where they 'get by'. Getting by for half a game before getting badly exposed on multiple goals is horrible, horrible play.

So far this year he has had 3-4 games where he 'got by' in limited minutes and 3-4 games where he was one of the worst players on the ice. That sucks.



Well, yeah.

When you're a 5-8 point/season defender who is a total liability transitioning the puck and contributing offensively, in order to be an asset at this level you have to be an absolute defensive standout - like a Robyn Regehr.

If you're that sort of terrible transitional defender and then are only mediocre/average defensive and prone to major lapses ... that means you're a really bad player at this level.

Same as Sbisa. Same in reverse for a guy like Jordan Subban who would be average offensively but really bad defensively at this level.

he's not a middling ahl defender. assuming he was motivated to do so i think he would absolutely destroy the ahl. he's a flawed nhl defender because, despite his nhl tools, he can't quite think the game fast enough. he can fix a lot of his issues by repetition and familiarity within a system and by reigning in his exuberance and with the help of a complimentary d partner. the issue is how much can he do that? i think that, ultimately, he can't fix it enough to avoid being clowned by a skilled player at a key moment at some future date. he is thus to me a greek tragedy on skates waiting to happen.

if i am the canucks i would have passed last year but if i inherited him today i would be focussed on stabilizing the guy's game as much as possible and then moving him.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

You can find clips like that of all star defense man making mistakes and looking silly. Taking a few seconds of bad tape to represent this player instead of the hours of solid play so far this season is really dishonest and doesn’t go unnoticed by people who understand the game of hockey at a higher level.

Not really.

See here you do that thing again we talked about earler! Uncanny. You start to notice it your self too?

 

[VanJack]

Sorry guys, the 'grade Gudbranson' train has left the station. When Jimbo re-upped him it was over. There could have been a team with injuries on the blueline that might have taken a flyer on Gudbrancon at the trade deadline, but not with that contract term. It's ova'.

 

[TraderJim]

Sorry guys, the 'grade Gudbranson' train has left the station. When Jimbo re-upped him it was over. There could have been a team with injuries on the blueline that might have taken a flyer on Gudbrancon at the trade deadline, but not with that contract term. It's ova'.

The same horrible GM's who valued him before the contract are just as bad now as they were then. There is always a couple of GM's in the league who will take flyers on these types of guys. It is just a tragedy that the Canuck GM happens to be one of them.

 

[Pavel96]

Sorry guys, the 'grade Gudbranson' train has left the station. When Jimbo re-upped him it was over. There could have been a team with injuries on the blueline that might have taken a flyer on Gudbrancon at the trade deadline, but not with that contract term. It's ova'.

Grade Guberson? Sure - I give him an F.

 

[Oliewud]

biega would be so much better.

 

[Zippgunn]

The fact that the Guddy hate club is still whining about his every play after what was certainly a far worse game by Edler last night speaks volumes about the motivation of these "fans". Can't wait to see the (predictable) reaction if he has a big game and scores or is picked first star...

 

[Diamonddog01]

he's not a middling ahl defender. assuming he was motivated to do so i think he would absolutely destroy the ahl. he's a flawed nhl defender because, despite his nhl tools, he can't quite think the game fast enough. he can fix a lot of his issues by repetition and familiarity within a system and by reigning in his exuberance and with the help of a complimentary d partner. the issue is how much can he do that? i think that, ultimately, he can't fix it enough to avoid being clowned by a skilled player at a key moment at some future date. he is thus to me a greek tragedy on skates waiting to happen.

if i am the canucks i would have passed last year but if i inherited him today i would be focussed on stabilizing the guy's game as much as possible and then moving him.

I'm sorry but there is absolutely no evidence to support this ludicrous statement whatsoever. Gudbranson in the AHL would still have the same glaring defensive deficiencies and the complete lack of offensive or puck skills. I could see him carving out an ok career as a mid-pairing AHL defender, which is exactly what a middling AHL defender is. I suspect he will be there in a few years as quite clear he's not an NHL player.

I will agree that he his hockey IQ is extremely lacking, and that his puck skills and skating are almost as atrocious as his hockey IQ. I mean sure, hockey is a team sport and you can't blame one player for a bad goal but when you watch him scrambling around out there with absolutely no idea what to do or who to cover he certainly shoulders a significant amount of blame. To say nothing of the play earlier in the period where he all he had to do was backhand the puck up the left side, failed to do so and then haplessly ran around for a good minute after failing to execute on a simple zone clear. Fortunately that didn't result in a goal but clearly his other gaffes often contribute to goals against.

 

[krutovsdonut]

I'm sorry but there is absolutely no evidence to support this ludicrous statement whatsoever. Gudbranson is the AHL would still have the same glaring defensive deficiencies and the complete lack of offensive or puck skills. I could see him carving out an ok career as a mid-pairing AHL defender, which is exactly was a middling AHL defender is. I suspect he will be there in a few years as quite clear he's not an NHL player.

I will agree that he his hockey IQ is extremely lacking, and that his puck skills and skating are almost as atrocious as his hockey IQ. I mean sure, hockey is a team sport and you can't blame one player for a bad goal but when you watch him scrambling around out there with absolutely no idea what to do or who to cover he certainly shoulders a significant amount of blame. To say nothing of the play earlier in the period where he all he had to do was backhand the puck up the left side, failed to do so and then haplessly ran around for a good minute after failing to execute on a simple zone clear. Fortunately that didn't result in a goal but clearly his other gaffes often contribute to goals against.

how do you think he would have done in the 90s? i think a guy like keenan would have turned him into a top pair nhl dman.

i think the line between gudbranson being dominant and what he is, is much finer than you think. he has all the tools and is close on the iq. that's what gets him in trouble. he is forever trying to do too much because he feels like he can or should do it. put him in a league of misfit toys like the ahl where things are a hair slower and smaller and there are more opportunities, and i think he would own it the way so many big raw skill dmen own junior hockey.

 

[Fire Benning]

The reason why people don't lose their mind when Tanev has an oopsie is because we know that's not the norm and we know he's consistently able to neutralize the other team's best players night after night. Same can't be said about Gudbranson, when he makes a mistake, it's sandwiched between two other massive blunders in the same game.

 

[Ryp37]

Gudbransons Hal Gill but a worse penalty killer

 

[RobertKron]

The fact that the Guddy hate club is still whining about his every play after what was certainly a far worse game by Edler last night speaks volumes about the motivation of these "fans". Can't wait to see the (predictable) reaction if he has a big game and scores or is picked first star...

Oh man did Kassian injure Gudbranson, too?

 

[bbud]

The fact that the Guddy hate club is still whining about his every play after what was certainly a far worse game by Edler last night speaks volumes about the motivation of these "fans". Can't wait to see the (predictable) reaction if he has a big game and scores or is picked first star...

My original reply was similar how do you blame d when a forward isn't where he is supposed to be or in a bad position when the team has played it's system well he has looked fine .

 

[pgj98m3]

how do you think he would have done in the 90s? i think a guy like keenan would have turned him into a top pair nhl dman.

i think the line between gudbranson being dominant and what he is, is much finer than you think. he has all the tools and is close on the iq. that's what gets him in trouble. he is forever trying to do too much because he feels like he can or should do it. put him in a league of misfit toys like the ahl where things are a hair slower and smaller and there are more opportunities, and i think he would own it the way so many big raw skill dmen own junior hockey.

Hate to tell you this but it’s 2018...the 90’s are 20 years ago.
This is one the worst arguments I’ve heard on here.

 

[Nomobo]

Hate to tell you this but it’s 2018...the 90’s are 20 years ago.
This is one the worst arguments I’ve heard on here.

I think it’s an excellent read on Gudbranson. His post addresses the assertion that he is only a middling AHL player.
Read more carefully.

 

[krutovsdonut]

Hate to tell you this but it’s 2018...the 90’s are 20 years ago.

that was my point. whoosh.

This is one the worst arguments I’ve heard on here.

ironic post is ironic.

 

[pgj98m3]

that was my point. whoosh.



ironic post is ironic.

Obviously missed it...my bad.. a bunch of more important s*** going on in my life right now.