Brannstrom was recalled today.
I previously thought if Brannstrom plays 9 games, he's eligible for the expansion draft. Looking at what was said about Comtois in Anaheim, it seems Brannstram needs 11 games to be eligible for expansion. We have 12 games left in the season.
What does this mean for Ottawa?
There's an interesting dynamic in that the Senators could possibly deliberately burn the first year of Brannstrom's ELC by playing him in 10 of the remaining 12 games. He would burn the year, but he would not become eligible for the expansion draft if they don't play him in 11 games.
There is a legitimate argument that burning the first year of an ELC for a team in the Senators position might be strategically sound. Now that we're hearing offer sheets might be back in style as soon as this upcoming off season, and with the speculation that signing bonuses (especially lockout bonuses) might be difficult for the Senators, burning year 1 of an ELC without allowing the play to accrue a pro season puts the Senators in a position where when that player's ELC expires, they will not be eligible to sign an offer sheet.
This happened with Gaudreau, and severely limited his leverage with Calgary. Currently, Colin White is in the same position where he cannot sign an offer sheet as an RFA.
So it possibly puts a team in a position where they minimize an RFAs leverage at the expense of having to pay them a bit more in year 3 of their NHL career. If that minimized leverage leads to a cheaper second contract, it probably makes up for burning the year.
I think Anaheim is doing this deliberately with some of their players. Otherwise, why play Comtois in exactly 10 games? It'll be interesting to see if Ottawa takes this approach with Brannstrom.