Trade Proposal: Erik Gudbranson to the Leafs

Hi Leafs fans!

From my username you might recognize that I'm a fellow Leafs fan but I mostly follow the Canucks because I'm currently living in Vancouver, though I will always have a spot in my heart for the Blue 'n White. I hope I don't come across as too ignorant however I do know about all of the players on the Leafs and most of the prospects to a fairly high degree. So let's get started.

I think the Leafs have a really good group of young players coming up through the system and obviously the coaching to help them reach their potential. It's no secret, however, that a top 4 RHD is needed. Now I'm sure some of you guys already have your sights set on a star defenseman but the way the market is right now it would cost a lot and undoubtedly force the Leafs to trade a young kid that they do not want to trade and, frankly, that they shouldn't trade. Nylander, Marner, Matthews, Kadri, and Rielly should not go anywhere and I think JVR should stay too.

After those players, and I'm being brutally honest here, there's absolutely nothing on the Leafs that would entice another team to trade a star defenseman for. Kapanen is a good piece and so is the 1st round pick this year. However teams don't want to trade star defensemen for quality. You've seen it with Sergachev for Drouin, Subban for Weber, and Hall for Larsson, that teams want a 1 for 1 value for value type deal not quality for quantity. So please get that out of your mind.

That doesn't mean all hope is lost, however. There are other defensemen that are available that will have a much bigger impact than you think and I'm here to make the case for one of these guys. His name is Erik Gudbranson and he's exactly the type of defenseman the Leafs need. He's still young at only 25 years old, big, strong, tough, and good enough defensively to play in the top 4. He won't give you a lot of offense but he'll be a warrior in the playoffs that will dominate physically, clear the crease, and stand up for his teammates. He's a true character guy in the mold of a Willie Mitchell or Robyn Regehr or (bear with me on this comparison) a Mike Komisarek at his best. Now I know that Komisarek didn't work out here but I think that was because he was overpaid and relied on too much. Gudbranson doesn't need to do anything except play his game because the kids of Matthews, Marner, Nylander, JVR, and Kadri will take the pressure off of Gudbranson to produce offense and the rest of the top 4 in Rielly, Gardiner, and Zaitsev will take the pressure off of him to skate the puck up the ice. The Leafs roster is perfectly built to allow Gudbranson to play to his strengths and shine. The more I thought about Gudbranson on the Leafs the more it made sense to me and the more he seemed like a perfect fit on the defense. Gudbranson played his best hockey with a good puck moving partner like Morgan Rielly in Brian Campbell. I know his analytics aren't great but he has what analytics can't measure in spades and you need at least one of those guys on your team. He has a long reach that's good for the PK and just plain knows how to defend and shut down the other team's offensive guys.

He's an Ontario boy and he won't come at a big price tag at only $3.5 million this year and long term will probably command about $4 million which is market value for what he brings. The other benefit is that he wouldn't cost much to acquire. In fact the Leafs can keep all of their core players and all of their prospects. Vancouver would likely accept draft picks for him. Since Vancouver paid Jared McCann and the 33rd round pick, which is basically 2 first rounders, a fair value trade would be Gudbranson to the Leafs for 2 1st round picks. This allows for a roster of:

JVR - Matthews - Nylander

Komarov - Kadri - Brown

Kapanen - Bozak - Marner

Martin - Boyle - Soshnikov

Rielly - Gudbranson

Gardiner - Zaitsev

Dermott - Carrick

Andersen

McElhinney