Gudbranson’s Season Of Disarray Continues

I wonder if these days, Erik Gudbranson is regretting not signing with the Florida Panthers when he had the chance.

The third overall pick of the Panthers in the 2010 NHL entry draft, Gudbranson has had a whirlwind season to say the least.

Gudbranson began the season with great promise, making the Panthers out of training camp.  However, he didn’t come to a contractual agreement with the team because they were unwilling to pay him the amount of money to cover his performance bonuses. According to reports, the combination of Gudbranson’s base salary, signing bonus, and performance bonuses would have brought his overall salary into the millions.

With that decision, to the dismay of some who will remain unnamed, Gudbranson was returned to the Doug Gilmour lead Kingston Frontenacs of the OHL for his third season of junior hockey.

Now while most believe that it’s good for a young player to return to their junior club after being drafted, Kingston has had a trend in the past of receiving high profile players back for their post-draft season and having them regress rather than progress.

In the previous 12 drafts dating back to 1998, the Frontenacs have drafted three players in the first round; Gudbranson as mentioned in 2010 (3rd overall), Chris Stewart in 2006 (18th overall) to the Colorado Avalanche, and Anthony Stewart in 2003 (25th overall) to the Panthers.

The former Stewart enjoyed a solid season in his draft year of 2005-06, scoring 37 goals and 87 points in 62 games.  Returning for his third season however, Stewart saw a small drop off in his production, even with increased ice-time, recording 36 goals and 82 points in only one fewer game.  His playoff performance wasn’t much better, with four goals and six points in five games.

Anthony’s fate was similar to his brother’s.  After a 70 point 2002-03 campaign in which he scored 32 times for a team who missed the playoffs, his post-draft season saw a decline in numbers.  Struck by the injury bug during the season, Stewart completed only 53 games, and while he notched a career high 35 goals, he managed only 58 points come season’s end.

This season has been a different sort of up and down for Gudbranson compared to what both of the Stewart’s went through in their respective post-draft years.

Whether it’s been a case of overconfidence having felt he belonged on the Panthers opening day roster, or a lack of coaching and guidance, Gudbranson has seen his stock take a hit over the last few months, culminating in a report last weekend stating he’d been stripped of his assistant captaincy with the Frontenacs.

According to reports, Gilmour accused Gudbranson of not caring and once confronted, he threw a tirade and voiced his insubordination and frustration with the coaching staff.

[Editors note: Tyler King - who broke the original story - has informed OIH that it was not Gilmour who confronted Gudbranson, but a member of the Frontenacs coaching staff.]

Oddly enough, it didn’t take long for Gudbranson’s “A” to be given back to him, as he suited up in Sunday’s game against Saginaw with the letter back on his chest, one day after it was removed.

“That was an internal thing that was overblown and should never have got out (to the media) in the first place,” remarked Gilmour to the media in attendance. “As far as I’m concerned, he and (captain Taylor) Doherty are co-captains on this team.”

Couple this incident with rumors in circles around the league that practices are quite lackadaisical, and it might be fair to say that Gudbranson has a point to be ticked off with the coaching staff.

Personally, I believe that Gudbranson’s game declined upon returning to the Frontenacs, which was clearly seen at the World Junior evaluation camp.

But, to his credit, Gudbranson worked his tail off, and Dave Cameron and his coaching staff looked to have instilled some confidence back into his game.  Minus his blunder on the eventual winning goal against Russia, Erik was solid with Team Canada.

It remains to be seen where the story will go next, but both sides seemingly need to check their egos at the door and coexist for the rest of the season for the sake of the team.

On the other hand, if the situation does reach another boiling point, let this be a lesson to future organizations who draft Frontenacs players in the first round.  You may want to open the pocket book and sign your star player at the risk of his career regressing by returning him to Kingston.