The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed defenseman Erik Gudbranson to a four-year deal in free agency. Gudbranson will make $4 million per season. Gudbranson, 30, has registered 27 goals and 67 assists for 94 points with 708 career penalty minutes. He’s spent time with the Florida Panthers, Vancouver Canucks, Pittsburgh Penguins, Anaheim Ducks, Ottawa Senators, Nashville Predators and Calgary Flames. His size and experience is definitely one of the reasons he was given a fairly big ticket by the Blue Jackets.
“Adding experience, size and toughness to our blueline was a priority for us this summer and Erik Gudbranson fits that bill perfectly. He also has tremendous character and will be a great addition to our leadership group.” Kekalainen said the club has plenty of puck-moving defensemen. What they wanted with the Gudbranson deal is his physicality.
While this is what Columbus wanted, the overall consensus seems to be that the team overpaid for this player. He is coming off a one-year deal that was $1.95 million AAV. Evolving Hockey writes, “Gudbranson had a somewhat resurgent season with CGY last year, but he has historically been very close to a replacement level defensemen.” They added, “Regardless, we projected his next contract, with a new team, at 4-year contract at $3.6M.”
Kekalainen didn’t do much else in free agency on day one, but lurking in the background of what the organization does centers around Patrik Laine. He says nothing has changed regarding negotiations with the winger. He didn’t think he would be trading the player, but did say, “Anything is possible.”
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