The Florida Panthers continue to reshape the franchise, only this time it was on the ice. The Panthers traded veteran top-four defenseman Erik Gudbranson to the Vancouver Canucks for a potential top-six forward in 19-year-old Jared McCann.
The Panthers also shipped this year’s fifth-round pick to Vancouver, but will receive the Canucks’ second- and fourth-round picks in next month’s draft.
Ever since then general manager and now president of hockey operations Dale Tallon selected Gudbranson with the overall third pick of the 2010 draft he pegged the Ottawa native as a future captain and cornerstone on the blue line.
However, recently promoted GM Tom Rowe said he and Tallon felt that the Panthers have so much depth on the blue line with Mike Matheson, Aaron Ekblad, Alex Petrovic and Boston College prospect Ian McCoshen, that they could afford to lose Gudbranson for the sake of bolstering their offense. The Panthers managed just two goals in the final two double-overtime games of their six-game, first-round playoff ouster to the New York Islanders.
“We got to give [Panthers coach Gerard Gallant] more options going forward and picking up a kid like this really adds to our offensive part of our game,” Rowe said via conference call. “We felt during the playoffs we didn’t have enough guys shoot the puck and we needed more finishers. We feel this kid will fill that void.
“The fact we were able to add draft picks this year, second and fourth round, 33 and 93, we felt gave us two picks that we got back that we lost on the trading deadline [for Teddy Purcell and Jiri Hudler].
“The way Matheson played in the playoffs and at the World Championship for an outstanding Canadian team really gave us more of a comfort level to do this, The fact we feel we have one of the better prospects in McCoshen gave us room to move a little bit quicker.
“This was a very, very difficult decision, given what Erik Gudbranson has done for us, helping us get to the playoffs this year.”
Gudbranson, 24, recently signed a one-year extension for $3.5 million while McCann, the overall 24th pick of the 2014 draft by Vancouver, just completed the first season of his three-year entry level contract at $894,166 per season. Rowe admitted that salary-cap ramifications played a role in the trade.
McCann, a 6-foot, 180-pound Ontario native, played 69 games for Vancouver this season and had nine goals and nine assists to go with a minus-six ice rating while averaging 12:31 time on ice. In three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League (juniors), McCann tallied 82 goals and 105 assists in 184 games, including 34 goals and 47 assists in 2014-15 for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.
Rowe said that McCann, a natural center, has the skills, speed and quick-release shot that will enable him to make the transition to wing as the Panthers are loaded up the middle with Aleksander Barkov, Vincent Trocheck and Nick Bjugstad.
Gudbranson, who said after the playoffs that he wanted to be a member of the Panthers for years to come, was coming off his best season despite missing 18 games with a concussion and foot injury. He had two goals and seven assists to go with a career-best plus-3 ice rating.
Veteran defenseman Brian Campbell, who will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1, recently raved about the progress Gudbranson had made during his first five seasons, saying how, “tough,” he is to play against.
Rowe said that the Panthers told Campbell and his agent they want to re-sign him but it appears Campbell, who turned 37 on Monday, will test the market first.
