HAPPY BIRTHDAY! The Erik Gudbranson era is over!

[Phenomenon13]

The plus minus must be from all the "tough" minutes Gudbranson plays

 

[Pavel96]

It's as if he pauses with the puck, and thinks, 'Don't just shoot it right at them'.... and then he just shoots it right at them. Classic Gudbranson.

 

[Melvin]

On November 10, Erik Gudbranson scored a goal, capping a 5-game stretch where he scored 2+4 = 6, including goals in back-to-back games!

Since that date ...

Player	Minutes	Games	Points	+/-	GF	GA	P/60	GF/60	GA/60
ERIK GUDBRANSON	678	39	1	-27	18	45	0.09	1.59	3.98
JACOB LARSSON	503	31	1	-6	13	19	0.12	1.55	2.27
NICOLAS DESLAURIERS	338	34	1	-10	5	15	0.18	0.89	2.66
RYAN KESLER	632	39	2	-13	9	22	0.19	0.85	2.09
BEN HARPUR	529	31	2	-9	17	26	0.23	1.93	2.95
NICK SEELER	491	41	2	-13	10	23	0.24	1.22	2.81
DAN HAMHUIS	777	46	3	-2	23	25	0.23	1.78	1.93
BRANDON CARLO	758	37	3	6	21	15	0.24	1.66	1.19
OSCAR FANTENBERG	634	38	3	0	21	21	0.28	1.99	1.99
JAMIE OLEKSIAK	535	35	3	3	21	18	0.34	2.36	2.02
JOAKIM NORDSTROM	474	35	3	-10	6	16	0.38	0.76	2.03
KEVIN GRAVEL	470	31	3	0	16	16	0.38	2.04	2.04
DMITRY KULIKOV	458	30	3	0	19	19	0.39	2.49	2.49
VALERI NICHUSHKIN	370	31	3	-6	7	13	0.49	1.14	2.11
JOHN HAYDEN	326	35	3	-7	8	15	0.55	1.47	2.76
GREG PATERYN	788	45	4	-11	19	30	0.30	1.45	2.28
BEN LOVEJOY	710	40	4	-3	21	24	0.34	1.77	2.03
JONATHAN ERICSSON	644	36	4	-7	20	27	0.37	1.86	2.52
KEVIN CONNAUTON	560	30	4	-2	18	20	0.43	1.93	2.14
DEVANTE SMITH-PELLY	425	39	4	-5	10	15	0.56	1.41	2.12

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[me2]

I don't think he's exaggerating. I think he's being refreshingly honest about something that frequently produces dishonesty.

Supporters of "toughness" will argue endlessly, without supporting evidence, that it contributes to winning, when what's really going on is that having players who will beat up other players is simply important to them for its own sake.

Years ago I read a fascinating article about junior hockey in Flin Flon. The fans there would boo the team in the third period, no matter the score, if there hadn't been enough fights. That's an extreme version of a mentality that's quite pervasive. Some fans feel that the team expresses their own identity vicariously, and they want that identify to be ... tough.

Absolutely. Goons as we know them basically started in 1970s through expansion. A BS mythology formed around them with TV hyping them up and if they did something useful because thuggery made good TV ratings. Kids that grew up in an era of "fighting is good, fighting stop cheap shots etc" indoctrination believed it, if experts keep saying it and you hearing something enough it must be true.

You don't need to go far on HFBoards to find plenty of people who believe it.

 

[MS]

Absolutely. Goons as we know them basically started in 1970s through expansion. A BS mythology formed around them with TV hyping them up and if they did something useful because thuggery made good TV ratings. Kids that grew up in an era of "fighting is good, fighting stop cheap shots etc" indoctrination believed it, if experts keep saying it and you hearing something enough it must be true.

You don't need to go far on HFBoards to find plenty of people who believe it.

100%

Basically there was a dearth of talent after expansion and new teams in new markets used goons and fighting to sell tickets. And then everyone started doing it to have an answer to the no-talent criminals throwing cheapshots and injure their players. And then this blatantly stupid and false mythology of the Noble Enforcer preventing cheapshots from ‘rats’ was born, despite the fact that like 80% of the worst cheapshots were thrown by these ultraviolent goons.

And the NHL should have killed this embarrassing joke in 1975 but it took until 2010 and a concussion scare to rid the sport of this plague.

And I’m someone who likes fighting if it’s organic and comes out of hard, honest physical play.

 

[lawrence]

Eric Gudbranson has been put onto the same shift as Pettersson for a while. Originally I thought it was more for the purpose of protecting Pettersson/Boeser from being bullied, verbally threatened, or pushed around or whatever it takes to take a star player off their game.

Now I believe Green put Gudbranson's pairing on with the Peterson line as much as possible its because having Petterson can over compensate for Gudbransons piss poor play in his own zone, and if Gudbranson can feed the puck up to Petey, then Petey can do his stuff and have the play on the other end. I was at the Arizona game, and the only time they had pressure on our zone most of the time was agains the useless Gudbranson line.

This guy has held back, the entire team, not only Elias Pettersson, but the entire team, correct me if I'm wrong, Gudbranson was a -2, at the same time, Pettersson was also a -2 all thanks to this useless trash of Eric Gudbranson. I had to explain to my wife, what a liability he was to his team, and what mess he often puts his shift mates into which his panicking decision making.

 

[geebaan]

game vs Arizona. A game we deserved to win we lost in o.t like the final nail on the coffin. Following game we lost 4 zero on a game we should have won. Best course of action is to tank, and go for the highest possible pick, make a play for Hughes. I am also happy with anyone in the top 5 in a piece of our rebuild.

Too bad Benning doesn’t agree with you.

 

[TruKnyte]

It's as if he pauses with the puck, and thinks, 'Don't just shoot it right at them'.... and then he just shoots it right at them. Classic Gudbranson.

He does this multiple times every game. If he's not traded tomorrow (and I doubt there will be any takers) we should just play him 30+ minutes a game for team tank. Guy bleeds shots/goals against.

 

[lawrence]

On November 10, Erik Gudbranson scored a goal, capping a 5-game stretch where he scored 2+4 = 6, including goals in back-to-back games!

Since that date ...

Player	Minutes	Games	Points	+/-	GF	GA	P/60	GF/60	GA/60
ERIK GUDBRANSON	660	39	1	-27	18	45	0.09	1.64	4.09
JACOB LARSSON	490	31	1	-6	13	19	0.12	1.59	2.33
NICOLAS DESLAURIERS	322	34	1	-10	5	15	0.19	0.93	2.80
NICK SEELER	470	41	2	-13	10	23	0.26	1.28	2.94
RYAN KESLER	610	39	2	-13	9	22	0.20	0.89	2.16
BEN HARPUR	516	31	2	-9	17	26	0.23	1.98	3.02
BRANDON CARLO	740	37	3	6	21	15	0.24	1.70	1.22
DAN HAMHUIS	753	46	3	-2	23	25	0.24	1.83	1.99
DMITRY KULIKOV	447	30	3	0	19	19	0.40	2.55	2.55
JAMIE OLEKSIAK	520	35	3	3	21	18	0.35	2.42	2.08
JOAKIM NORDSTROM	458	35	3	-10	6	16	0.39	0.79	2.10
JOHN HAYDEN	311	35	3	-7	8	15	0.58	1.54	2.89
KEVIN GRAVEL	455	31	3	0	16	16	0.40	2.11	2.11
VALERI NICHUSHKIN	353	31	3	-6	7	13	0.51	1.19	2.21
OSCAR FANTENBERG	616	38	3	0	21	21	0.29	2.05	2.05
TOBIAS RIEDER	359	31	4	-5	5	10	0.67	0.84	1.67
KEVIN CONNAUTON	549	30	4	-2	18	20	0.44	1.97	2.19
JONATHAN ERICSSON	627	36	4	-7	20	27	0.38	1.91	2.58
DEVANTE SMITH-PELLY	405	39	4	-5	10	15	0.59	1.48	2.22
ERIC FEHR	347	36	4	-10	6	16	0.69	1.04	2.77

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

what's really sad about this is that he does get ice time with Pettersson, yet he still manages to be this bad.

Now lets think for Eliass Pettersson for a second, if he didn't have to "deal" with having Gudbranson as a shift mate so many times, we are looking at a Pettersson with probably a +10 to 15 difference between 5-10 point difference right now?

its so hard to deal with this guy, I feel bad for the players, I do, I like the tank, at the same time I feel so bad for the players knowing when this guy is out there, they have to work extra hard.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

100%

Basically there was a dearth of talent after expansion and new teams in new markets used goons and fighting to sell tickets. And then everyone started doing it to have an answer to the no-talent criminals throwing cheapshots and injure their players. And then this blatantly stupid and false mythology of the Noble Enforcer preventing cheapshots from ‘rats’ was born, despite the fact that like 80% of the worst cheapshots were thrown by these ultraviolent goons.

And the NHL should have killed this embarrassing joke in 1975 but it took until 2010 and a concussion scare to rid the sport of this plague.

And I’m someone who likes fighting if it’s organic and comes out of hard, honest physical play.

The macho, hairy-chested Old School Tough Guy routine has only ever been revisionist history. It's revisionist history now, just like it was in 2011 when the honest, lunchpail-carrying Bruins righteously spanked the "rat" Canucks in the finals.

Gudbranson sucks. Every single hockey stat shows that. And I don't mean digging into relative Corsi or Fenwick percentiles, I mean f***ing goals. Points. The most basic hockey stats there are, and Gudbranson sucks at them. It doesn't matter how subjectively tough he his, meathead hockey is dying. It's never going to come back. Period. The players don't want to fight because they're not idiots. They can read. They know CTE is no joke now. There's just too much evidence of how really, really bad for you it is to take repeated blows to the head over a period of years. They look around and see how guys like Boogaard, Belak and Probert ended up, and they're thinking: "You know what? When I'm 60 I want to be able to remember playing in the highest hockey league in the world. I want to be able to recognize my wife and kids. It's just not worth it." And the team owners who pour millions of dollars into their players are looking at their investments vanishing. It's not worth it for them, either. Literally. And anyone who thinks otherwise is deluding themselves.

 

[mathonwy]

what's really sad about this is that he does get ice time with Pettersson, yet he still manages to be this bad.

Now lets think for Eliass Pettersson for a second, if he didn't have to "deal" with having Gudbranson as a shift mate so many times, we are looking at a Pettersson with probably a +10 to 15 difference between 5-10 point difference right now?

its so hard to deal with this guy, I feel bad for the players, I do, I like the tank, at the same time I feel so bad for the players knowing when this guy is out there, they have to work extra hard.

Same thing happened with Sbisa.

Sbisa made the entire team worse and all but killed the Sedins offensive game.

 

[RebuildinVan]

Please move this guy today... for anything!! Even Pouliot has improved his play the last couple games not being attached to him. That says alot

 

[PuckMunchkin]

Lock this thread.

Delete this thread.

Lets forget this guy ever played in Vancouver.

 

[Fire Benning]

I am so f***ing glad I don't have to watch this guy play hockey anymore.

 

[TraderJim]

THE SAGA HAS COME TO AN END!

 

[Zombotron]

Have fun closing Pittsburgh's Cup window with Jack Johnson, you useless joke of a defenseman

 

[PuckMunchkin]

Just for today, Im with Jim Benning.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

 

[krutovsdonut]

thought i'd stop by here and give credit where credit is due. y2k called this guy for exactly what he was from the outset of the trade and took a lot of heat for it. so did that kid icarus guy.

whatever intangibles the guy may have brought, he had three absolutely miserable seasons as a canuck on the ice, and he was a heavy burden to any young dman that played with him. i appreciate he was a solid citizen and i am sure he has helped in ways that are not obvious but i cannot see how that offsets the way he played.

i wish him well and hope that playing with veterans on the pens and in the playoffs can get the most out of his game.

and i hope the canucks can impose a better structure on defence without him.

 

[Hit the post]

They got Letang. We got nobody like him yet (hopefully Hughes will be someday). Welcome back Krutov.

 

[Nucker42]

Bad player, good person...

 

[geebaan]

Good f***ing riddance

 

[Hansen]

Thank f***ing god

 

[mathonwy]

Real Gud.

Lets lock this one up and throw away the key.

 

[Zombotron]

Done