He’s established his role in the nhl already, Gaudette is still working his way on the roster. Montreal hopes Juulsen will be a top 4 dman, they are playing him as one while Vancouver hopes Gaudette will be a middle six centre but doesn’t have confidence he is ready for that role. Juulsen handles himself well at the NhL though he still needs to work on his offensive skills and he’s performed well at the AHL level in 31 games while Gaudette hasn’t played at the pro level yet.
Not saying 1 is better than the other but Gaudette is worse than Juulsen but it is fair to say Juulsen is further along in development
Gaudette doesn't have the defensive acumen to beat out Sutter. We're developing him for now. And Gaudette doesn't have the offensive acumen to beat out Pettersson. Whereas Montreal's view on centers is known league wide.
24 games does not make him a better prospect, nor do i think their ceilings are different. They're very similar prospects. Gaudette will be fine. There's no rush.
I wouldn't trade Gaudette for Juulsen. It's easier to find a guy like Juulsen than a guy like Gaudette. That's just opinion.
But the idea wasn't which prospect is better. We are all clearly going to be homers and go for our own guys. The point was that you don't throw away a guy like Gaudette in a nothing trade like this. The point was, switching Gaudette and Poehling (value is similar) is enough of a mental exercise to show that this proposal sucks for Vancouver, a team that's rebuilding and looking to retain as many high-potential prospects as possible.