TRADING PLACES
Canucks grab Gudbranson
Jim Benning wanted to add a topfour defenceman. That wasn’t stop-the-press news.
However, the National Hockey League was stopped in its tracks Wednesday when the Vancouver Canucks general manager beat the rush to bolster back ends by acquiring towering blue-liner Erik Gudbranson, 24, and a 2016 fifth-round draft pick from the Florida Panthers in exchange for centre Jared McCann 19, plus second- and fourthround picks in the 2016 draft.
Gudbranson, a 6-5, 216-pound right-shot defenceman who had nine points (2-7) in 64 games this season, will join the left-shot Ben Hutton in the second pairing. The Ottawa native was also third on the Panthers in hits (150), fourth in blocked shots (73) and fourth in average ice time (20:06).
It will also spell the end to any consideration in extending the contract of pending unrestricted free agent Dan Hamhuis because the trade provides the Canucks with youth, size and potential that they desperately need. Gudbranson has a year left on his contract at a $US3.5-million salary cap hit and the Canucks didn’t retain any money in the deal in which McCann gives Florida more needed youth up front.
“We talked to a lot of teams the last two or three weeks and this wasn’t something we expected to happen — it happened quite fast and we’ve been dealing with them (Panthers) the last two days,” said Benning. “It kind of came together rather quickly. We knew the price to acquire a top-four defenceman was going to be high and giving up McCann was a tough decision. But I just felt like we needed to add a top-four guy to our group because the market is just so tough.”
“They (Panthers) had a lot of interest in Jared and if you look at the Dougie Hamilton deal in Calgary — a first- and two second-round 2015 picks to Boston at the last draft — and the Griffin Reinhart deal to Edmonton — a first-round pick and 33rd-overall pick to the Islanders — that kind of set the precedent. It was tough to give up the second-round pick in this draft. But we felt it was worth giving up that 33rd-overall pick.
“I’ve been following him (Gudbranson) for a long time. ... He’s a high-character kid and in this last year, we saw signs of him coming into his own. He’s physical in front of his net and the corners and can make that good first pass.”
There was a growing consensus that if the Canucks land QMJHL centre/winger Pierre-Luc Dubois fifth overall on June 24 that M cC ann would have been expendable. With Henrik Sedin, Brandon Sutter, Bo Horvat, Markus Granlund and possibly Linden Vey on a projected roster, the Canucks would have had to either move McCann to the wing or consider the first-round 2014 pickas a good trade chip. McCann had five goals in the first nine games in his rookie season, but struggled to hold up physically. He had nine goals and nine assist sin 69 games and was just 34.7 per cent in efficiency.
Hamhuis would probably have taken less than the $4.25 million he earned this season — especially if the 33-year-old Smithers native would have got agree able term—but there were not only other options for the Canucks to consider, they had to swing for the fences.
Pending UFA Kris Russell, 29, whom Dallas acquired at the trade deadline from Calgary and earned $2.6 million this season, might have warranted a look if this deal didn’t go down. The 5-10,180-pound-Caroline, Alta., native had four assists in 11 regular-season games with the Stars and struggled with four assists in a dozen playoff games. He was second in the NHL with 210 blocked shots and has a Medicine Hat Tigers connection with Canucks coach Willie Desjardins.
The Stars also paid a premium to acquire-Russell—defencemen Jyrki Jokipakka and Brent Pollock plus a second-round 2016 draft pick — but UFA Alex Goligoski is a signing priority and they have prime prospects in Esa Lindell, 22 and Julius Honka, 20. The feeling in Dallas is the Stars are going to let Russell walk.
The Canucks could have also kicked the tires on Patrick Wiercioch.
The Burnaby native has had a roller-coaster career and the Ottawa Senators aren’t expected to tender a qualifying offer to the 25-year-old defender, who earned $2.7 million this season, because they have depth and other contract concerns. At his best, the 6-5, 210 pound Wiercioch moves the puck well and can hammer pucks home from the point on the power play. The 2008 secondround pick has excellent possession numbers.
However, Gudbranson is clearly a good get. How good? We’ll find out this fall.