logo
CanucksArmy has no direct affiliation to the Vancouver Canucks, Canucks Sports & Entertainment, NHL, or NHLPA
Trade tree: Re-examining the Canucks’ Erik Gudbranson for Jared McCann deal a decade later
alt
Photo credit: NHL.com
Jeff Paterson
Jun 11, 2026, 18:00 EDTUpdated: Jun 11, 2026, 16:08 EDT
Comments
It was 10 years ago last month that the Vancouver Canucks shipped Jared McCann and a pair of draft picks to the Florida Panthers for Erik Gudbranson. The Canucks needed size and toughness on their blueline, and then general manager Jim Benning walked right into the trap the Panthers had set for him.
Gudbranson was a tall, strapping, right-shot defenceman with high character and even higher draft pedigree. In many ways, he looked the part of exactly what the Canucks were searching for. McCann, on the other hand, was a precocious teenager just a year removed from being a late first-round selection of his own. He was supposed to be a big part of the Canucks future until, rather abruptly, he was not.
A decade has passed, and both Gudbranson and McCann have made several stops in their careers. This is a look at the Gudbranson-McCann trade tree that has sprouted several branches since the initial deal between the Canucks and Panthers.
Gudbranson spent three seasons with the Canucks, but due to injuries, he appeared in only 139 games and never really materialized into the player the organization had hoped for. The fifth-round pick the Canucks received in the deal was used to select Cole Candella, who didn’t pan out and wound up playing a couple of seasons at the University of Prince Edward Island. As for Gudbranson, in February of 2019, he was dealt to Pittsburgh in a one-for-one swap for Tanner Pearson. The irony here is that just weeks earlier, McCann had also been acquired by the Penguins after parts of three underwhelming seasons in Florida. 
The second-round pick the Canucks sent to the Panthers in the original deal was moved to Buffalo at the 2016 Draft and used to select Rasmus Asplund, who is closing in on 200 NHL games. Florida used the fourth-round pick in that initial trade to take Jonathan Ang, who never made it in North America but had a near point-a-game season with HV71 Jönköping in the Swedish Hockey League.
Gudbranson lasted six months in Pittsburgh before he was shuffled off to Anaheim for Andreas Martinson and a 2021 seventh-round draft pick (Ryan McCleary). A year later, in October 2020, Gudbranson was shipped to Ottawa for a fifth-round pick, which the Ducks used to take goalie Gage Alexander. Trade winds continued to swirl around Gudbranson, who was sent from Ottawa to Nashville in 2021 in exchange for Brandon Fortunato and a seventh-round selection in the 2023 Draft, which the Sens used to take defenceman Vladimir Nikitin. That fall, Gudbranson signed as a free agent with Calgary, and a year later, signed with Columbus, where he continues to play to this day.
McCann’s journey has been equally eventful. His move from Florida to Pittsburgh was part of a sizable deal along with Nick Bjugstad in exchange for Derrick Brassard, Riley Sheahan, a second-round pick (Vladislav Kolyachonok) and a pair of fourth-round selections (Eric Hjorth and Dmitri Voronkov). Florida subsequently traded both Kolyachonok and Voronkov in deals that didn’t amount to much.
After three seasons with the Penguins, McCann was on the move again. This time, he was shipped to Toronto for Filip Hallinder and a seventh-round selection in the 2023 draft (Emil Jarventie). The move was made to expose McCann, or have him replace Alex Kerfoot down the middle, who was expected to be selected by the Seattle Kraken in the 2021 expansion draft. Instead, the Kraken selected the newly-acquired McCann over Kerfoot. Since then, McCann has had five straight 20-goal seasons in the Emerald City. Having just turned 30 last month, he is likely to be a big part of what the Kraken are trying to put together for years to come.
As for the Canucks in all of this, they got parts of five seasons out of Tanner Pearson, including a forgotten 25-goal campaign in 69 games before the pandemic forced a premature end to the 2019-20 season. After an unfortunate hand injury and difficult recovery from surgery, Pearson was sent to Montreal along with a 2025 third-round selection (Cooper Simpson) in exchange for Casey DeSmith ahead of the 2023-24 season.
Pearson has since gone on to play for Vegas, Winnipeg, and finished this past season in Buffalo. DeSmith, meanwhile, had one solid season and was part of the Canucks’ first-place finish in the Pacific Division in 2023-24 before signing with Dallas as a free agent two years ago.
Looking back at this trade with a decade to reflect, it’s still as clear today as it was the day the deal went down that the Canucks should never have parted with McCann at such an early stage of his career. It was another one of Jim Benning’s age-gap deals, and it looked bad from the start. It took McCann many years and several stops to realize his potential, but he eventually got there. Gudbranson, on the other hand, was never really what the Canucks needed. To his credit, he has carved out a 15-year NHL career, but due to injuries, he has been limited to 842 regular season games and just 31 playoff contests. He has played in the second round of the postseason only once in his career.
Sponsored by bet365
Editorials
MORE NEWS. IN YOUR INBOX.
CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

Breaking News