As we watched the Blue Jackets put together another snoozer last night against the Florida Panthers, I couldn't help but notice one standout player. Unfortunately, defenseman Erik Gudbranson stood out for all of the wrong reasons in his first game back into the lineup after being a healthy scratch.
Should we have really been surprised that this was the case? Gudbranson is in his 5th year with the organization after being re-signed to a one-year contract over the summer, a deal that pays him $1.75 million dollars.
Throughout his time in Columbus, we have spent plenty of time yearning for that physical, mean stay-at-home defenseman we were promised when he originally signed a 4-year, $16 million dollar deal with the team as an unrestricted free agent.
That contract aged poorly almost from the moment it was signed, but we hoped that the value would pay off over time. After all, if the team did somehow manage to creep into the playoffs, you can never have too much size or depth on the blue line. To this point, that hasn't become a thing. And a big part of that lack of playoff games has been the play of #44.
Caved in on a regular basis.
This season, no player on the Blue Jackets has posted a worse CORSI% than Gudbranson, who is at 38% per moneypuck.com. The only other player below 40% is Carson Soucy (39%), who was demoted to the American Hockey League a couple of weeks ago. Amongst all NHL players, Gudbranson ranks in the bottom-20 league-wide.
Of course, this isn't the be-all stat to measure defense. It's just one tool, and I'm quick to point out that a lot of players around the league who are generally awful in this metric, are there because of their role. Traditionally, the role of stay-at-home defenseman is a player that can be caved in. What brings them value is their shot blocking, physicality, and penalty killing prowess.
Essentially, teams that have a really good puck moving defense corps need a guy like this to be successful. That seemed like it was the case for the Blue Jackets with Gudbranson last season. They had a greater winning percentage with him in the lineup.
So far this season, that has not been the case. On Tuesday night, the Panthers jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals that were the direct result of #44 doing absolutely nothing to help prevent them. He gets overshadowed thanks to brutal work by his partner on both goals. But in my eyes, he should not escape culpability.
Where is the defense?
On the first goal, Anton Lundell walks Denton Mateychuk into the corner and cuts to the net off the rush. This is where you need the veteran defense partner to step up and prevent a goal after a mistake by a young player. It's a 3-on-1 play, where Gudbranson's only focus should be preventing the cross-ice pass. But he gets sucked in too far to his left, and is on spin cycle as the Panthers score the game's opening goal.
The second goal was pretty similar. After the puck skips over Ivan Provorov's stick, the Panthers break in on an odd-man rush. A lot of people were quick to point out Provorov's lazy play here-and rightfully so-however, what exactly does #44 do on this play?
From the blue line to the goal, he takes exactly two strides. He doesn't tie up anyone's stick. He doesn't try to block the pass or the shot. He's just watching the puck as the Panthers make it a 2-0 game.
This would all be excusable if the other traits were around in his game. Last night, the Jackets faced a really physical, hard nosed team. But there was no spark from the home club. They didn't match up and try to punish the Panthers, which was certainly the reason the coaching staff opted to put Gudbranson back into the lineup in the first place.
You need guys to go out and make this kind of opponent second guess standing in front of your net. The Panthers didn't fear anyone last night, and it wasn't until the dying moments of the game that we saw anyone challenge them physically.
Gudbranson stood up to Brady Tkachuk, who had challenged Adam Fantilli on back-to-back shifts earlier in the period. By this time, the game is well out of reach. It's pointless chest bumping between two teams who don't play again for almost 5 months. Message sent, I suppose.
Meanwhile, the Panthers took the two points against a Jackets team whose third defense pairing combined for less than 25 minutes of ice time. Putting Gudbranson back into the lineup ahead of Jake Christiansen-who has been playing pretty well of late-made no sense.
At some point, this team needs to stop prioritizing big, slow, and boring in favor of modern players who can keep pace with today's NHL. The fact of the matter is, #44's best years are well behind him.
He can be a valuable member of the locker room and a beloved leader off the ice. On the ice, we have seen this team burned far too many times by his inability to play in today's NHL. Two blocked shots and two hits does not make up for the fact that he was basically unplayable by the end of the game.
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