The seven-year NHL veteran was the most consistent blue-liner for the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2018-19 season in terms of defense, but emerging young talent could make him more expendable.
If I told you Radko Gudas would have been the Philadelphia Flyers most consistent defenseman in his own zone before the 2018-19 campaign, I definitely would’ve been called crazy, and yet here we are a full six months later.
Gudas allowed the tied for the fourth least amount of Goals-Against among skaters on the team who have played at least 500 minutes of Time on Ice at even-strength with a mere 48 in 77 games played. A lot of this is due to the low total of High Danger Scoring Chances-Against he surrendered while on the ice, where he sat seventh lowest on the Flyers in that category.
According to Hockeyviz.com, Gudas suppressed shots he faced from the slot and kept nearly everything his opponent put on-net to the outside. When he was off of the ice, the Flyers saw more shots come from right in front of the net, which speaks to his ability to move bodies away from the crease with his physical presence.
Rock solid defense wasn’t all Gudas brought to the table, though. He finished the season with 20 points (4 Goals, 16 Assists), the third-highest mark of his NHL career. That might not seem like much, and to be fair it really isn’t, but it shows he can chip in on offense every once in a while, even if almost all of his shots come from point blasts.
The thing that impressed me most about Gudas’ game this year was his discipline. He posted the least amount of Penalties in Minutes in his career in seasons he’s played more than 40 games in, proving that he’s no longer the “goon” he used to be and does more to help the team than hurt.
With all of this in mind, you’d expect this to be an easy Remain, right? Well, not completely. With Ivan Provorov, Shayne Gostisbehere, Travis Sanheim, and Gudas making up the Top-4, the Flyers have Philippe Myers, Samuel Morin, Robert Hagg, and even Mark Friedman to a certain extent battling for two remaining spots on the Philadelphia blue-line coming into next season. Myers, Morin, and Friedman looked solid in their brief stints with the team this past year, with Myers and Morin being the most NHL ready.
Something has to give, here. Philadelphia can’t keep those guys in the AHL forever and should be aware of the coming logjam on the back-end. The most logical option would be to get rid of Hagg and let the other three fight for the third pairing slots, but I don’t know if they view him in the same light as I. General Manager Chuck Fletcher expressed the desire to add another veteran d-man this offseason, as well, and this would have to come via trade due to the aforementioned cluster of d-men on the roster.
In my opinion, Gudas possesses more trade value than Hagg at this current moment due to his veteran status, a right-handed shot, and better takeaway numbers. Hagg does have him beat in terms of age, but youth can only get you so far.
As much as I hate to say it, if Fletcher wants to add a capable veteran defenseman to the team, Gudas will have to be part of a potential package in order to acquire one. It’s possible he could add an Erik Karlsson on the free agent market and go after a Top-6 forward of some sort, but again, that adds to the logjam and somebody will still have to go.
Verdict: Remove.