Draft

Name: Erik Gudbranson
Position: Defenseman
Shoots: Right
Height: 6.04
Weight: 195 lbs
Born: 1/7/92, Orleans, Ontario
Last Team: Kingston (OHL)
Rankings: CSS 4 (NA Skaters), ISS 6 (Skaters), RLR 14 (Overall), THN 5 (Overall)

2009-2010 Statistics:
Kingston (OHL), 41 GP, 2-21-23, +11, 68 PIM
Kingston (OHL) Playoffs, 7 GP, 1-2-3, E, 6 PIM
Canada (U18 WJC), 6 GP, 0-1-1, +2, 4 PIM

Just before the U18 World Junior Championships it appeared Kingston blueliner Erik Gudbranson had managed to pull away from his fellow blueliners as the top rated defenseman in his class despite a draft season where he was hampered by a bout of mono and an early knee injury. However, after a poor U18 tournament in which most of the Canadian team struggled, he’s fallen back into the pack. Unlike his biggest competition, though, Cam Fowler and Brandon Gormley, Gudbranson has a legendary mean streak and will never be accused of being soft. Gudbranson loves to take the body and on the rare occassion he drops the gloves he tends to handle his business. He’s an above average skater with a hard shot, but he’s only put up modest numbers to this point in his junior career, with just 2 goals and 23 points in 41 games last season for the Frontenacs. Some scouts see visions of late blooming Dion Phaneuf in Gudbranson, but whatever team takes Gudbranson will undoubtedly be making a gamble that his offensive game will develop. The team that takes him could just as well be ending up with a right handed version of Mike Komisarek instead. That’s a gamble the Lightning may be willing to make. On paper, as a physically imposing righty shot, Gudbranson would be the perfect complement to the more finesse lefty shot of Victor Hedman, freeing up the big Swede to be more of an offensive force in Guy Boucher's 1-3-1 system. In the past two drafts the team has lucked out in getting the best prospect for their immediate needs, and in this draft Gudbranson probably wins that title. However, it’s doubtful the team will get lucky enough to secure Gudbranson’s rights because it’s hard to believe he’ll slip past the Islanders at five, if he even makes it that far. If he were to slip to the sixth pick, though, the Lightning might pounce on him as quickly as a lion on an antelope. Alternatively, if Gudbranson does slip and is the last of the top three defensemen remaining, the club may be able to demand a ransom to trade down with another team that has blueline needs.

Previous Prospect Profiles:

11 for 6:G, Jack Campbell
11 for 6: D, Cam Fowler

Although it's certainly possible the Lightning could spend their sixth overall pick on a goaltender, the prevailing wisdom is that the team will concentrate on the skating positions where the needs are much greater. On defense, where the club drafted potential star Victor Hedman a year ago, there remains work to be done to build up depth in the system. Just a year ago, the team looked like it was in fairly strong shape along the blueline. A rash of injuries in the 2008-2009 season forced several young blueliners to make their NHL debuts or assume expanded NHL roles and they performed well enough that the future appeared to be bright. That confidence in the long term health of the blueline was further bolstered by the expectation that young NHLers Andrej Meszaros and Paul Ranger would return from injuries and that would allow Hedman to work into the lineup at his own pace.

But last year was an abysmal season for the young blueline corps of the Tampa Bay Lightning that left the organization's confidence in its defense's future bruised. Paul Ranger left the team for still undisclosed reasons and it remains to be seen if he'll ever return and Andrej Meszaros looked like a shadow of the player who seemed to be catching on in December of the 2008-2009 season. Because of the void left by Ranger's vacant twenty minutes of ice time a night, Hedman was forced to play around twenty five minutes a night early in the season, and by the second half hit the rookie wall, causing an erosion in his decision-making and confidence. Matt Smaby, who looked like a world beater despite playing on a broken foot in the second half of the 2008-2009 season, seemed out of condition and played like he was a minor league defenseman again in 2009-2010. Down on the farm, Matt Lashoff reverted to the form that led the Boston Bruins to give up on him, Ty Wishart struggled in his own end, Vladimir Mihalik continued to develop only at a glacial rate, and Kevin Quick showed up to training camp out of shape and later in the year broke his foot. Outside of the emergence of Mike Lundin in Tampa Bay and the solid play of Scott Jackson in Norfolk, there were not a lot of successes on defense for the Lightning last year.

Tonight BoltProspects is starting a new series in anticipation of the Lightning selecting 6th overall at the 2010 NHL Entry Draft entitled 11 for 6. We will be previewing the eleven draft prospects we feel are most likely to be under consideration by the Lightning scouting staff at the sixth overall pick. Tonight we start with a goaltender, Jack Campbell of the US National Team Development Program.

Goaltending is, without question, the Lightning's deepest position in terms of youth and prospects despite the fact it's the club's most dire need at the NHL level. BoltProspects' top prospect, Dustin Tokarski, entered his rookie professional season with a reputation as one of the best big game netminders in all of junior hockey, and he did little to lose that reputation in backstopping Norfolk to its first winning record as a Tampa Bay affiliate. Despite playing behind an inexperienced defensive corps, Tokarski posted a solid .915 save percentage and 4 shutouts and he looks the part of a future number one starter in the NHL. Along with Tokarski, the Lightning have a pair of goaltenders in Europe who could also be NHL starters in the very near future in BoltProspects alumnus Karri Ramo and overage prospect Vasily Koshechkin, who has been one of the best goaltenders in Russia for the past half decade. Behind those three, the Lightning have yet another exciting prospect in Jaroslav Janus, who was the darling of the U20 World Junior Championships for Slovakia two years ago and played so well for Erie of the OHL last year that he earned a pro contract and a spot with Norfolk of the AHL at midseason. Rounding out the group of potential NHLers is former first round pick Riku Helenius, who rebounded after being pushed out of North America by an ascendant Janus to play well for Elitserien side Sodertalje in Sweden at the tail end of the year. Helenius will get plenty of starts for Sodertalje next season in a high quality league. Along with a new GM offering a fresh perspective and a clean slate, that might be the thing he needs to get back into the Lightning's plans.

The NHL Draft Lottery was completed tonight and the Tampa Bay Lightning did not gain or lose position for the June draft. The team will select 6th, after the league's worst team, Edmonton, had their ping pong balls pulled. The Lightning will have the opportunity to choose between several good defensive and forward prospects. TSN's Bob MacKenzie surveyed 10 NHL scouts and here was the aggregate top 10:

The Ottawa '67's of the OHL selected Bolt prospect forward Matias Sointu with the 48th pick in Tuesday's OHL Import Draft. The smallish forward was selected by the Lightning in the 7th round of the 2008 Entry Draft. The Finnish-born Sointu failed to secure a regular roster spot in the SM-Liiga last season after suffering a season-ending injury after just 7 games into the FNL Jr.A season. Sointu potted 3 goals in 6 games for the undermanned Finnish U18 WJC team in early 2008, and has scored 22 goals and 20 assists in 48 games for the Ilves Jr.A squad.

It is speculated that Sointu is considering coming to North America after losing almost a whole year of development last season similar to Riku Helenius after losing a season a few years ago to a shoulder injury.

Sointu is currently not on the 2009 Young Guns prospect camp roster scheduled for mid-July in Tampa.