Did the Maple Leafs Find the Kind of Defenceman Every Team Wants?
There is something interesting happening with Mans Gudmundsson, and it has very little to do with whether the 18-year-old defenceman is anywhere close to playing in the NHL. He isn't. And that's actually the point.
The Maple Leafs didn't draft Gudmundsson 76th overall because they expected him to become an NHL defenceman next season. They drafted him because they saw a player with some ingredients that are awfully hard to find. He's 6-foot-3, plays a physical game, is willing to defend and seems to have a pretty good understanding of what to do with the puck once he gets it.
Those are useful ingredients. The question is what Toronto can do with them.
Sometimes Development Is About Earning the Next Opportunity.
One of the easiest mistakes to make with prospects is looking too far ahead. A young defenceman has a good game, and suddenly the discussion becomes about when he'll make the NHL. A player scores a few goals, and people start projecting his future role.
Gudmundsson doesn't need any of that right now. What he needs is to play against better players and find out what happens when the game gets faster. That's why this preseason opportunity with Färjestad is interesting. He spent almost all of last season playing U20 hockey. Now he's being given a chance to play alongside a veteran SHL defenceman in Axel Bergkvist. That's a pretty significant jump.
Maybe Gudmundsson handles it. Maybe he struggles. Either way, he learns something. And if he handles it well enough, he might earn another opportunity. That's how development is supposed to work.
Related: A Bo Groulx and the Bobby McMann Comparison Makes Sense.
The Maple Leafs Don't Need Another Offensive Defenceman.
Toronto has had plenty of defencemen who could move the puck. What teams are always looking for, however, is a defenceman who can make life difficult for the other team without becoming a liability when he has the puck. That's where Gudmundsson gets interesting.
His offensive numbers from the U20 level aren't spectacular at first glance—25 points in 35 games—but 24 of those points were assists. That suggests there may be more offensive ability there than his goal total indicates. But nobody should get too excited about those numbers. The more important question is whether he can defend against men.
Can he use that 6-foot-3 frame without taking himself out of position? Can he close quickly enough when the game speeds up? Can his skating improve enough that bigger forwards can't turn him around? Those are the questions that matter. And they're questions Gudmundsson can start answering in Sweden.
This Is Where the Maple Leafs Need a Little Patience.
The temptation with a third-round pick is to look for a steal. Maybe Gudmundsson becomes one. But the better way to look at this is that Toronto has given itself another interesting defensive prospect to develop. If Gudmundsson spends the season moving from preseason opportunity to occasional SHL minutes and eventually earns the trust to become a regular, that's a very good year.
Nobody needs to know yet whether he's going to become an NHL regular. The Maple Leafs simply need to find out whether he can take the next step. Then the next one. And that's probably the most encouraging thing about this opportunity.
At 18, Gudmundsson isn't supposed to have everything figured out. He's supposed to keep giving the Maple Leafs reasons to wonder just how good he might become.