On Wedensday night in a shocking move the Panthers sent Defenseman Erik Gudbranson and a 5th round pick to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a young Center Jared McCann, a 2nd round pick and a 4th round pick. This is my opinion on the whole trade:

In the 2010 NHL Entry Draft the Panthers had the 3rd overall pick and used it to select Defenseman Erik Gudbranson. Gudbranson has never lived up to where he was picked. He has never gotten more than 14 points in a single season. He recently signed a 1 year $3.5 Million Dollar Contract. He was predicted to be the next captain.

I think this trade is both good and bad. Let’s start with the good, then the bad and then I will sum it up.

Jared McCann has potential to be a very good player. He played with a horrible Vancouver team. We don’t know his background. McCann is a center. He is a true center since I have heard he struggles at wing. He should play with Nick Bjugstad. Gudbranson’s Corsi puts him at a Bottom Pairing Defenseman. Gudbranson doesn’t have much potential much since he has played for 5 years. Plus with the up and coming defenders in Matheson and McCoshen with the inclusions of Aaron Ekblad, Dinitry Kulikov, Alex Petrovic, Steven Kampfer and possibly Jakub Kindl and the UFA Brian Campbell there is no room for Gudbranson anymore. McCann fills a hole we desperately need on the third line and it gives us a couple of picks back lost in the horrible Hudler and Purcell trade deadline deals. The Canucks have the 33rd overall pick in the 2nd round which is now ours. With an up and coming prospect like Jayce Hawryluk or Lawson Crouse to add to that third line it looks fearsome. McCann is also much younger. Also there are rumors floating around that Gudbranson turned down a 4 year $18 Million dollar deal which is equal to $4.5 Million a year and if he doesn’t accept that than just get out of here.

There is a lot of bad to this deal too. Gudbranson was a team leader and rumored to be the next captain. We don’t know how well McCann will play. We also don’t know what type of attitude McCann has. Plus Gudbranson would stand up for his teammates. He beat up Matt Hendricks after Hendricks boarded and injured Aaron Ekblad. Shawn Thornton wouldn’t do it. Alex Petrovic will just get his butt kicked. We do have a tough young kid coming up named Crouse and another named Wilson but Guebranson was a good fighter.

I am going to grade this trade like an A, B, C, D or F. A means it was excellent. B means it was good. C means it was ok. D means it was bad and F means why the heck did we do this. I am going to do this with every trade and reevaluate and grade it a month later. Since this is the offseason that evaluation will come in November.

Pre Evaluation Grade: B

The reason I gave it a B is that McCann helps out a lot at forward but Gusbranson was a team leader. Plus these draft picks will help.