But there's also the reality Columbus gave up the most goals in franchise history a year ago, placing 28th in the NHL in team defense, which is why the team was looking to upgrade its blue line and did so Wednesday
with the signing of right-shot blueliner Erik Gudbranson
on the first day of NHL free agency.
Columbus has a lot of pieces in place on top of the names already mentioned -- Zach Werenski and Vladislav Gavrikov are anchored on the left side, Andrew Peeke had a breakout season, Adam Boqvist and Jake Bean are young talents and Nick Blankenburg showed well in a late-season cameo -- but there was no doubt adding a big, veteran, physical player to the mix to get better immediately was on general manager Jarmo Kekalainen's offseason to-do list.
And they don't come much bigger than Gudbranson, the 6-5, 222-pounder who patrolled the blue line in Calgary a season ago. The 30-year-old is coming off a season in which he posted a 6-11-17 line in 78 games to go with a plus-15 rating, not to mention career numbers that include 27 goals and 94 points in 641 games since being the third overall pick in the 2010 draft. On the defensive side, Gudbranson totaled 145 hits (second among Calgary defensemen) and 92 blocked shots on the third pair.
More than that, Calgary posted positive marks in expected goals (53.18 percent), scoring chances (55.64 percent) and high-danger chances (52.81 percent) with Gudbranson on the ice at 5-on-5. In addition, per
MoneyPuck.com
, his pairing with Nikita Zadorov was 15th in the NHL among pairs with at least 300 minutes played in expected goals percentage at 5-on-5.
Now, that will happen when you're on a good team that has the puck all the time, as the Flames did this season (in fact, both of the team's other defensive pairs were in the top 15 as well). But you still have to perform and do your job, and Gudbranson did just that while finding a home with Calgary. And on a CBJ team that sometimes was accused of not having enough toughness, Gudbranson's willingness to make a hit and occasionally drop the gloves (six fights a year ago) to protect the team's young talent will be welcome additions.
With the Blue Jackets banking on youth to keep getting better down the road, this signing fills a big need the team has right now going into the 2022-23 season.
