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Erik Gudbranson - Good Defenseman?

LUUUUUIS

LUUUUUIS

Registered User
Nov 2, 2011
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Florida
There's been a couple threads and discussions about Guddy, but most were related to certain articles or fans of other teams inquiring. I wanted to create a thread to discuss Erik Gudbranson and to ask the question... is he a good Defenseman? They say it basically takes two seasons for defenseman to develop. Guddy played a full season and half a season, so he'll be hitting that mark sometime in early 2014. Have we seen enough so far to make an educated guess on Guddy? He currently has the worst +/- on this team, but he has the second highest number of hits and a respectable amount of blocked shots. Offensively he isn't really producing, but I'm not sure if that was really the expectation for him.

At any rate, from watching the games and looking at the stat sheet. Where is Erik Gudbranson at?
http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8475790#&navid=nhl-search
 
The only answer to this question right now is no. I think a better question to ask would be "is it time to give up on him?". Im curious as to what everyone thinks of that question.
 
His game is tied to his size, the bigger he gets the better he will be.



That said he isn't a good defenseman right now. Every game he seems to get walked in on or out muscled for the puck by a smaller player. He also regularly blows coverage in our zone. His usefulness is hitting things and punching things at this point. His shot is less accurate than Kuli and his wrister is nothing of note. He is much better with the puck on his stick of late, he doesn't panic as much. Also he doesn't have the foot speed or sense to know when to join a rush or pinch in to create a chance.


So no he is not a good defenseman right now but I wouldn't write him off either. Honestly I wouldn't mind him to switch places with Petro for a bit so Guddy can get that premier role and expand his game. IMO right now he is not a NHL d-man.
 
In my opinion, Gudbranson battles consistency issues, like most young dmen do. When he's playing well, he's very noticeable. When he takes control in the defensive zone, it's noticeable. A lot of people trash Gudbranson, and maybe to a certain extent that is warranted, he'll never escape where he was picked, but I think he is progressing, regardless of what the stats may tell. His confidence with the puck has improved, he even rushes with it, which he absolutely refused to do before this season. I'd like to see him be more assertive in the defensive zone -- really clear the front of that net, and be punishing in the corners. He's certainly capable of all of that, it's just doing it consistently.

BTW, it's so easy to cherry pick stats on this team and forget that hockey is indeed a team effort. When do the defense men ever get the support they need from the forwards? When was the last time we've ever seen one of our forwards actually neutralize the opposition on the back check? Where's the puck support in the corners? The dmen on this team are pretty much expected to do everything themselves, and with horrible rebound control from the goaltenders, it's next to impossible to have solid stats on this team as a dman.

I don't see why Gudbranson can't develop into a punishing #3 dman. I don't think he'll ever be top pairing.
 
Actually they say (and this has been repeated many times) that you cant totally judge a d-man until he's somewhere in the 250-300 game range. Gudbranson won't hit that until after the 2014 season.

In terms of defense, he's among the top 15 d-men in the league in hits. In terms of blocked shots, he's among the top 60 d-men in the league. Those 2 stats (and ranking) would suggest he could be a guy that is a #2 d-man. Plus/minus is NOT the end-all-be-all of determining a good defender.

As far as his offense goes, one thing you didnt point out was he leads our d-men in shots taken (and top 75 in the entire league among d-men). If we had guys in front of the net more to redirect those shots, he may have more points by now.
 
He's too slow to keep up with the current NHL forwards, goes out of position too often to make a hit and has wrongly timed fights.

Right now, the future isn't looking too bright for him.
 
Coolburn said:
Actually they say (and this has been repeated many times) that you cant totally judge a d-man until he's somewhere in the 250-300 game range. Gudbranson won't hit that until after the 2014 season.

In terms of defense, he's among the top 15 d-men in the league in hits. In terms of blocked shots, he's among the top 60 d-men in the league. Those 2 stats (and ranking) would suggest he could be a guy that is a #2 d-man. Plus/minus is NOT the end-all-be-all of determining a good defender.

As far as his offense goes, one thing you didnt point out was he leads our d-men in shots taken (and top 75 in the entire league among d-men). If we had guys in front of the net more to redirect those shots, he may have more points by now.
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Bad memory on my part. I thought it was 200 games, but you're probably right. Guess this would put him about midway through his development. I'll be the first to admit I'm not good at judging play unless it's a blatant error. Guddy seems OK to me. Hitting and blocking shots is obviously easy to notice. If consistency is the biggest issue, then I think we can all give a sigh of relief. As that is usually a problem for most athletes as they develop.
 
Maybe It's because I really like the kid, but all the blabbering on about him, I just don't see it. I don't think he's as bad as everyone likes to say, but he can definitely improve.

Give up on him? Lol.
 
Laus723 said:
Maybe It's because I really like the kid, but all the blabbering on about him, I just don't see it. I don't think he's as bad as everyone likes to say, but he can definitely improve.

Give up on him? Lol.
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I agree. There's absolutely no reason to give up on him now.

I wasn't aware he lead our D in shots, but one of the biggest problems we've had so far is no one goes to the net to screen the goalie and get deflections. Might also be why our PP is so godawful.
 
In terms of evaluating how good someone is defensively, hits are more irrelevant than +/- so lets stop bringing up the hits. As a matter of fact, that's one of Gudbranson's many problems. Sometimes he's too physical and goes for an unnecessary hit behind the net, etc. leaving his man uncovered in front of the net.

One thing I also dislike about Gudbranson's game is that, for a big guy, he's pretty soft on the boards. It seems like every time he has the puck and is battling on the boards, a smallish forward comes in and takes it away from him. It's happened way too many times this year.

And, for a 3rd overall pick, there are expectations. Usually, you'd expect those to produce offensively. I do not see Gudbranson producing offensively any time soon.

The positives are that he's only 21. I'm guessing that he'll fix some of these correctable issues defensively with more experience. Sometimes, it just seems like he's trying to impress with the big hit/fight instead of just playing a sound game. Offensively, the coaches should tell him to shoot more. They should actually put him on the powerplay more to see what happens. I remember that was a problem for Garrison. He had a lack of confidence in his shot until teammates and coaches told him to shoot more. I think Gudbranson has a heavy shot so I wish he'd use it more.

All in all, I feel like it's been disappointing but no 21-year-old can be labeled a bust so there's that. For what it's worth, I'm not sure why he's on untouchable lists. I feel like sometimes he's a favorite because he was Tallon's first draft pick here and has been touted as a future captain.
 
The thing that concerns me with Gudbranson are his mechanics. When he takes a shot its not too far off from a Charles Barkley golf swing. When he tries to move a guy away from the net he loses his balance many times. Same thing when he hits and battles in the corners. Balance seems to be an issue with him. Also when reading plays he seems to read them a little late and gets caught out of position. I really like him and hope we can see him put it together.
 
IceManCat said:
The thing that concerns me with Gudbranson are his mechanics. When he takes a shot its not too far off from a Charles Barkley golf swing. When he tries to move a guy away from the net he loses his balance many times. Same thing when he hits and battles in the corners. Balance seems to be an issue with him. Also when reading plays he seems to read them a little late and gets caught out of position. I really like him and hope we can see him put it together.
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I forgot about some of these things, but I agree. In front of the net, he's actually screened our goalies at least a handful of times this year.
 
No where near to give up on him already. He's just another victim of the direction our team gives our youngsters... just go out there and not embarass yourselves against NHL level talent. He had the makings of being a Garrison with an edge of Scott Stevens. With a little more consistency in the defensive side, the only thing that disappoints me is his shot being nowhere near where it should be at this point.
 
gudbranson takes a long time to improve. they're a dying breed for a reason. however, i think gudbranson is in a pretty bad situation because he have to play bad minutes with horrible defensemen. would like to let him play 25+ min for 4-5 games and see what happends
 
florida pwnthers said:
gudbranson takes a long time to improve. they're a dying breed for a reason. however, i think gudbranson is in a pretty bad situation because he have to play bad minutes with horrible defensemen. would like to let him play 25+ min for 4-5 games and see what happends
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How would he get any better playing 25+ minutes per game playing against better competition? People make so many excuses for him.
 
I think he's playing alright. He won't hit prime for another year or two. He's definitely a great physical presence. I think he could utilize it better. I think he will get better and better.
 
Erick said:
How would he get any better playing 25+ minutes per game playing against better competition? People make so many excuses for him.
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because that means he'd play with quality d-men aswell as more time to work on his game
 
The game threshold for evaluating defnesemen is 200 games is it not? 3 complete 82 game seasons isnt enough time (that would be 246 games)?? Please... It was a number concieved by some former star who im not certain of now, but im sure its 200 games.... either way its arbitrary, just sounds like we have conveniently extended it by another season to accommodate Guddys slow development!

As for my opinion of him, I think hes always been a good skater. Hes quick and agile for a big man. Hes got the nastry streak. He wants to be a leader. Hes becoming more confident with the puck, skating it out of the zone, up the ice and into the zone. These are the positives.

Negatives are his shot; its terrible. All around. Misses the net constantly, takes too long to wind up, its terrible. As the game slows down for him offensively, he'll get better and may have a "bomb" from the point, but not now. Intangibles like consistency and awareness arent there yet either.

He has been very slow to develop, but hes still (IMO) our 2nd best defensemen at the moment. Thats not saying much I know, but honestly our D is abhorrant and id rather him on the ice in front of all but Kuli. I think our frustration as fans is that Huby and Barkov have already progressed further than him and hes in his 3rd year. He hasnt had the same immediate impact. Hes getting residual blame for general organisational crappiness.

He will have a long career in my opinion. Not as a number 1, more likely as the defensive Dman on a top pairing, or a number 3. I definately would not be giving up on the guy and am more pleased with his play than the amount of critisms he generally recieves.
 
jakethesnake23 said:
The game threshold for evaluating defnesemen is 200 games is it not? 3 complete 82 game seasons isnt enough time (that would be 246 games)?? Please... It was a number concieved by some former star who im not certain of now, but im sure its 200 games.... either way its arbitrary, just sounds like we have conveniently extended it by another season to accommodate Guddys slow development!
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Nope its 300 games. Denis Potvin said it years ago when he did that one day training session with our defense when Keenan was coach. And then Dale Tallon has said the same thing in the last few yrs (people forget that Tallon was a regarded NHL d-man too himself). It has nothing to do with Guds development and just something that's prevailed for yrs.
 
I think it would really help his game (and perception of him) if we would just pair him Campbell already. This is all I want -

Campbell-Gudbranson
Kulikov-Weaver
Jovo- (I'd love Petrovic but I get leaving him AHL for rest of year) so give him a Gil.
 
Coolburn said:
Nope its 300 games. Denis Potvin said it years ago when he did that one day training session with our defense when Keenan was coach. And then Dale Tallon has said the same thing in the last few yrs (people forget that Tallon was a regarded NHL d-man too himself). It has nothing to do with Guds development and just something that's prevailed for yrs.
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Fair enough, knew there was a Panther connection, got the number wrong..

Still 4 years is a long time! surely 50% of all NHL players (or more) dont even make it to 300 NHL games. Its an "achievement" in itself.
 
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