Traded Erik Brännström - D - Part III

[Golden_Jet]

He shouldn't be riding the bench when Hamonic is on this roster though...

When your in a cap crunch, they need to play all the one way contracts.

 

[frightenedinmatenum2]

He looked pissed in that interview. Hard to believe that anyone could do worse than the zibanejad deal but Dorion topped himself with this one.

He looked upset.

I get it. No one in the NHL sees themselves as a failure. He probably sees it as he is a regular everyday defenseman and he got voted off the island. It shows you how it must have felt that he still seemed upset after playing the game of his life at forward.

He was excellent at forward. It was only one game, so it doesn't make sense to think he will be that good every night. If he can string together a few games like that, then I think everybody involved should think about where he makes the most sense both for his career and the team success.

He has two things working against himself as a defenseman in the NHL. While he plays bigger than his size, he is way too physically small. He has been protected in Ottawa by not having to play playoff hockey. The other issue is that he was developed on his offside, and he prefers that. The problem is, the NHL is too fast for him on his offside. Playing offside on defense in the NHL is very difficult because it forces players to get the puck up the boards on their offhand or look for different options. It's a major handicap.

He was beautiful at forward yesterday. It would be a tough pill to swallow to switch to a bottom 6 winger spot, but it might be the best thing.

 

[GCK]

Martin has said he likes guys playing their strong side. Staios likes bigger D.

Brannstrom makes 2M, he is gone.

 

[frightenedinmatenum2]

I listened on the way hom form the game, and I could feel his anger. Watching it , you can see he was humiliated to play forward. And a humiliating question by Claire to a professional hockey player who gets $2M to play defence. Why embarrass the guy more?

Jacques doesn't care. He just wants wins. We all do. But he realizes that he is a spare part here and will be moved

I don't think he will be qualified 'as is' because of arbitration.

We have seen it multiple times over the last few years with players who were known as big name prospects/young NHLers who haven't cemented themselves. The problem is that he has a long resume as an NHLer, where with some luck he could be awarded a large cap hit relative to his role, and it would not be high enough for the Senators to walk away from.

I doubt the move to forward was some deliberate stroke of genius. It was a necessity because of the poorly managed cap this summer. They would have had to waive JBD, which isn't going to happen.

With that said, it could possibly be a huge stroke of luck if it convinces all sides to look at Brannstrom as a bottom 6 forward, and he plays long-term like he did last night.

 

[SanderSen]

Branstromm is likely a better fit on another team. The Sens have enough D in the mold and he is not getting the PP minutes you would expect, or playing time. I like the player, but as a fit it is awkward.

 

[JD1]

I listened on the way hom form the game, and I could feel his anger. Watching it , you can see he was humiliated to play forward. And a humiliating question by Claire to a professional hockey player who gets $2M to play defence. Why embarrass the guy more?

Jacques doesn't care. He just wants wins. We all do. But he realizes that he is a spare part here and will be moved

So I agree he's pissed

Jacques wants his LD to be lefties and his RD to be righties. Man the old regime took flak for that.

The question in my mind is is Brannstrom good enough to play LD in the NHL? I think the answer is yes and the succession plan is Kleven.

So do you want the % of the cap committed to LD that it will take to sign Chychrun? If the answer is no and Sanderson is the lock, then the answer is moving one of Chabot or Brannstrom

Keeping Brannstrom at even 3 gives you 5M allocated elsewhere compared to 3 LD making 8ish

 

[BoardsofCanada]

He's a Swede; they're stoic people. They never show emotion so this idea that he was pissed, i think, is being totally over blown. Yes, he considers himself a dman but it seems pretty clear (based on one game) that his talents are far better served up front. He sure didn't play like he was embarrassed or pissed off. He put on a show. If he didn't want to get moved to forward, he shouldn't have been so damn good.

When Pinto and Joseph return, our bottom 6 looks a lot more dangerous with Brann.

Tkachuk Stutzle Grioux
Batherson Norris Tank
Greig Pinto Joseph
Kubalik Kastelic Brann

 

[Golden_Jet]

He's a Swede; they're stoic people. They never show emotion so this idea that he was pissed, i think, is being totally over blown. Yes, he considers himself a dman but it seems pretty clear (based on one game) that his talents are far better served up front. He sure didn't play like he was embarrassed or pissed off. He put on a show. If he didn't want to get moved to forward, he shouldn't have been so damn good.

When Pinto and Joseph return, our bottom 6 looks a lot more dangerous with Brann.

Tkachuk Stutzle Grioux
Batherson Norris Tank
Greig Pinto Joseph
Kubalik Kastelic Brann

One player on the team has to go to make room for Pinto first.

 

[Xspyrit]

The talk of "not sure if he's an everyday D-man" sounds silly to me. Not only the eye test disagrees but since last season (2022-23), among 285 D-men who played at least 200 ES minutes, he ranks :

CA/60 : 48th
SA/60 : 50th
GA/60 : 65th
xGA/60 : 39th

1st in all these categories among the 9 D-men who played for Ottawa. Yeah, silly talk. Maybe if he was completely useless offensively but that's not the case :

CF/60 : 2nd
SF/60 : 2nd
GF/60 : 5th
xGF/60 : 2nd

Sure, he doesn't play hard minutes like Chabot and Sanderson but he is quite underrated

When your in a cap crunch, they need to play all the one way contracts.

Yeah, only way I see Hamonic playing and since Martin wants a proper LHD/RHD balance, I guess it makes sense to have Brannstrom as a forward, who's easily Top-9 forward on this team right now with Pinto out and Joseph injured. He's also better than Kubalik. I knew Kuba was far from a complete player but he's really been ineffective all season except a few games

Problem is that Brannstrom is most likely still better than Hamonic even on his off-side...

Sanderson - JBD
Chabot - Zub
Chychrun - Brannstrom

Now this is something I'd like to see

 

[SensHulk]

So I agree he's pissed

Jacques wants his LD to be lefties and his RD to be righties. Man the old regime took flak for that.

The question in my mind is is Brannstrom good enough to play LD in the NHL? I think the answer is yes and the succession plan is Kleven.

So do you want the % of the cap committed to LD that it will take to sign Chychrun? If the answer is no and Sanderson is the lock, then the answer is moving one of Chabot or Brannstrom

Keeping Brannstrom at even 3 gives you 5M allocated elsewhere compared to 3 LD making 8ish

Branny will be gone, maybe even traded by the time pinto needs to be signed.

Long term it doesn’t make sense to commit so much money to a LD if Sanderson-Chabot-Chychrun so my bet is Chabot will be dealt in the off season and that will be the one major ‘core’ move

 

[L'Aveuglette]

Lots of wishful thinking passing for objective analysis in this thread.

Branny will be extended here and y'all will just have to deal with it.

 

[Xspyrit]

Branny will be gone, maybe even traded by the time pinto needs to be signed.

Long term it doesn’t make sense to commit so much money to a LD if Sanderson-Chabot-Chychrun so my bet is Chabot will be dealt in the off season and that will be the one major ‘core’ move

Moving Chabot would be so stupid

 

[Adrianopolous]

Keep him up there I say

 

[SensHulk]

Moving Chabot would be so stupid

Let’s see. Not my preference but I’d rather him than losing sandy or chychrun. Our weakness is RD.

But anyways back to Brannstrom, he definitely getting traded

 

[Xspyrit]

Let’s see. Not my preference but I’d rather him than losing sandy or chychrun. Our weakness is RD.

But anyways back to Brannstrom, he definitely getting traded

Have to upgrade Hamonic to a better RHD and I think our defense is set to what should be a strength

For example :

Chabot - Larsson
Sanderson - JBD
Chychrun - Zub

Larsson or Gudas, not saying they're available but would be ideal for Chabot and to complete the defense


That said, it sucks that they care that much about LHD vs RHD because the Chychrun - Sanderson pairing has been money, 69 xGF% in 52.8 minutes

Chychrun - Sanderson
Chabot - Zub
Brannstrom - JBD

This is what I would do. I really hope advanced stats are going to be much more considered than before.

 

[h2]

Have to upgrade Hamonic to a better RHD and I think our defense is set to what should be a strength

For example :

Chabot - Larsson
Sanderson - JBD
Chychrun - Zub

Larsson or Gudas, not saying they're available but would be ideal for Chabot and to complete the defense


That said, it sucks that they care that much about LHD vs RHD because the Chychrun - Sanderson pairing has been money, 69 xGF% in 52.8 minutes

Chychrun - Sanderson
Chabot - Zub
Brannstrom - JBD

This is what I would do. I really hope advanced stats are going to be much more considered than before.

Looks good on paper, but also looks like a very soft D core to me, don't see that core ever winning a cup IMO.

 

[L'Aveuglette]

Let’s see. Not my preference but I’d rather him than losing sandy or chychrun. Our weakness is RD.

But anyways back to Brannstrom, he definitely getting traded

And you're definitely hung over.

 

[SensHulk]

And you're definitely hung over.

Still can add more substance hung over than this useless post

Pretty simple concept: we have more LD and all commanding serious coin. I don’t see how we keep all three playing on separate pairings at that price. They can probably round out their Defence with a solid upgrade on RD

 

[thinkwild]

Brann and the 4th line had a great night. Like Phillips, the situation may require him to play a few games there. But im just going to assume this is a running gag the idea of seriously moving him to forward full time.

 

[DrEasy]

I've always rooted for Branny, and I thought he had a great night, but was very disappointed by his interview. Could have just said something banal like: "I'll do anything to help the team."

 

[Xspyrit]

Looks good on paper, but also looks like a very soft D core to me, don't see that core ever winning a cup IMO.

We need a big "punishing" RHD, someone like Gudas for example but that's what it is. I don't think we'll win by being more physical than other teams but rather by being smarter and more skilled, that's what we have to do. Anyway, let's try to start making the playoffs consistently and then we'll worry about winning a Cup

 

[OD99]

I've always rooted for Branny, and I thought he had a great night, but was very disappointed by his interview. Could have just said something banal like: "I'll do anything to help the team."

A few are reading too much into a short clip.

A pro D gets moved to W and isn't overly excited about it, is news? Let him adjust and see what the plan is.

He played well, so as far as I am concerned he did what was expected of him.

His skills did translate well, I hope he plays that well again!

 

[DanyHeatley]

Brainstorm

 

[frightenedinmatenum2]

Brann and the 4th line had a great night. Like Phillips, the situation may require him to play a few games there. But im just going to assume this is a running gag the idea of seriously moving him to forward full time.

People keep bringing up Chris Phillips.

I am offended that no one has made the Dave Cameron/Mark Borowiecki reference yet.

 

[L'Aveuglette]

Still can add more substance hung over than this useless post

Pretty simple concept: we have more LD and all commanding serious coin. I don’t see how we keep all three playing on separate pairings at that price. They can probably round out their Defence with a solid upgrade on RD

What else can be said about you just saying he's "definitely" and "before Pinto comes back" getting traded based on your personal feelings?

The kid can play good D and also fill in as a forward, and looked better than anyone else we've played on the 4th line too. All at a highly discounted price. Why tf would they trade a valuable piece like that?