{"id":116436,"date":"2021-09-10T14:15:01","date_gmt":"2021-09-10T18:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=116436"},"modified":"2021-09-10T17:33:13","modified_gmt":"2021-09-10T21:33:13","slug":"erik-gudbranson-signs-flames","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2021\/09\/10\/erik-gudbranson-signs-flames\/","title":{"rendered":"Calgary Flames Sign Erik Gudbranson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Defenceman <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/g\/gudbrer01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Erik Gudbranson<\/a><\/strong> has made a decision, as the Calgary Flames <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NHLFlames\/status\/1436390101798449154\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">announced a one-year deal<\/a> for the veteran defenceman today. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/reporterchris\/status\/1436390867720343562?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chris Johnston reports<\/a> the deal is worth $1.95 million.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"und\">$1.95M <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/206bO1TMnT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/206bO1TMnT<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/reporterchris\/status\/1436390867720343562?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 10, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Erik Gudbranson Signs With Yet Another Team<\/h2>\n<p>This is the first time Erik Gudbranson&#8217;s been able to choose his destination as an unrestricted free agent. He&#8217;s played for five different teams over the past three seasons, at every stop a flashpoint for his team&#8217;s fans. He&#8217;s been just useful enough to be sought out by the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/canucks\/\" target=\"_self\">Vancouver Canucks<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/penguins\/\" target=\"_self\">Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/ducks\/\" target=\"_self\">Anaheim Ducks<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/senators\/\" target=\"_self\">Ottawa Senators<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/predators\/\" target=\"_self\">Nashville Predators<\/a>. Though in a couple of those cases it was his contract that decided the move, not the player.<\/p>\n<p>The third overall pick in 2010, Gudbranson has been valued for his physical play and in-the-room leadership. Unfortunately, his on-ice game hasn&#8217;t been able to match either his draft position or his potential. He has a decent shot from the point, for instance, but has difficulty getting into a position to use it. Injuries and illness have kept him from playing full seasons, exacerbated by his use as a net-clearer.<\/p>\n<p>He is a frustrating player to watch if you expect that first-rounder to show up. Give up on that, though, and he can be serviceable as a bottom-pair defender. That is &#8211; hopefully &#8211; what Calgary is expecting, especially for almost $2 million.<\/p>\n<h3>What This Means<\/h3>\n<p>Erik Gudbranson&#8217;s Ottawa tenure only lasted 36 games, but he played 30 minutes or more with six different partners. In nine Nashville games, he split time on three different pairings and took part in just two playoff games. If fans of Calgary are looking for positives, maybe it will come with stability. He&#8217;s well beyond any coach hoping for a stud defenceman, so he shouldn&#8217;t be put in circumstances beyond his abilities.<\/p>\n<p>Reduced expectations will ease those flashpoint fans&#8217; anger at his signing. But really the only thing that can stop the criticism is his play. He has another chance now.<\/p>\n<h3>Another Signing For The Flames<\/h3>\n<p>In addition to the Erik Gudbrandson signing, the Flames also brought back defenceman Michael Stone on a one-year contract worth $750,000. The veteran blue-liner is yet another piece of the puzzle for Calgary&#8217;s defensive core.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"sSkXfRKITg5ks_3m7cSqaA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1319116806\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'sSkXfRKITg5ks_3m7cSqaA',sig:'XyPNhHrSe4cBccnd4s3noCGGA3NWjCyQvP2r2ygTvF4=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1319116806',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Defenceman Erik Gudbranson has made a decision, as the Calgary Flames announced a one-year deal for the veteran defenceman today. Chris Johnston reports the deal is worth $1.95 million. $1.95M https:\/\/t.co\/206bO1TMnT \u2014 Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) September 10, 2021 Erik Gudbranson Signs With Yet Another Team This is the first time Erik Gudbranson&#8217;s been able to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3171,"featured_media":118310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4548,22,4547,34],"tags":[741,662],"class_list":["post-116436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhl","category-flames","category-hockey","category-news","tag-erik-gudbranson","tag-nhl-free-agency"],"modified_by":"Noah Foster, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3171"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}