The Toronto Maple Leafs must avoid making bad trades.
While that may seem like an obvious statement, since everyone should, the fact is, a lot of rumours circulating suggest the Toronto Maple Leafs will do just that.
One player that is in constant demand is Vancouver Canucks defenseman Erick Gudbranson. Because he is 6’5 and because he was drafted 3rd overall, people want to overlook the fact that he is not a very good NHL player.
This does not deter people however. For whatever reason, the actual game play has little to no effect on people’s opinions of certain players. Old Grundy, he’s a 6’5 bone-crushing defenseman from Canada, so he must be amazing. Or something.
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Gudbranson has a career high four goals. He has never cracked the 14 point barrier. Also, his defense is garbage. Despite mountains of evidence, people still think these kinds of players are effective. They used to be, maybe. But today, the game is too fast and skill is better to have than grit in all facets of the lineup.
Currently, the Toronto Maple Leafs have at least twelve better defenseman: Morgan Rielly, Jake Gardiner, Nikita Zaitsev, Travis Dermott, Connor Carrick, Ron Hainsey, Andreas Borgman, Calle Rosen, Rinat Valiev, Justin Holl, Roman Polak and Martin Marincin.
It doesn’t make sense to trade for a player who is, at best, and only because I can’t think of anyone else off the top of my head, the thirteenth best option you’d have on defense.
Bad Stats
Eric Gudbranson has terrible stats. He is the least used player on a team far worse than the Leafs. Why would a good team trade for a worse team’s worst defensenan? Anyways, as I was saying, the stats are terrible.
Gudbranson is last on the Canucks in possession stats, meaning that when he is on the ice, the Canucks allow more shot-attempts, and have the puck less, than at any other time. Gudbranson also allows nearly 35 shots per sixty minutes of ice time. This is terrible. Roman Polak is among the worst in the NHL for this stat, and Gudbranson is in Polak territory here for sure. Additionally, the Leafs allow the fourth most shots per game in the NHL, so trading for a guy who would do the opposite of that seems like throwing your helmet away because you got a concussion.
Next: The Connor Carrick Conundrum
To conclude, the Toronto Maple Leafs need to avoid Eric Gudbranson. Logically and statistically, this is a non-starter. He would be one of the worst defenseman on the Marlies (hey, I forgot about Liljegren earlier, so Gudbranson just dropped another notch on the depth chart). He is not currently better than Roman Polak and, even if the Canucks offer to pay the Leafs to take him, they should still say no.