Erik Gudbranson

Last Season

One goal and two assists in 37 games, plus-six, at 17:46 a night. His 842nd career game.

The Finesse Game

None, and there never really was any. Fifty-two unblocked attempts from a median of 56 feet — not one of them from inside twenty — and one goal. Thirty-five goals in 842 career games.

Two assists in 37 games. He is on the ice to defend and to be large.

The Physical Game

Six foot five, 222, and it is the entire career. He fights, he clears the crease, and he is genuinely difficult to get past in a straight line.

The skating is the problem and has been since he was twenty. He cannot recover when beaten and he is beaten often, because forwards have learned that the way past him is to change direction.

The Intangibles

The numbers are the worst of any player in this edition. Thirty-eight and a half per cent of the expected goals — first percentile — and 41.1 per cent of the shot attempts, second. Across 547 minutes the expected goals ran 16.8 to 26.8 against.

There is no roster context to hide behind. Columbus finished seventh in even-strength expected goals for and thirteenth against; every other defenceman here posted a share above fifty. Gudbranson posted thirty-eight.

He is 34, the third pick in a draft, and 842 games into a career built almost entirely on how he looks rather than on what the ice does when he is on it. Nothing on this page is ambiguous.