We finally had 7 healthy D and the new coaching staff played him at forward. Writing is on the wall. I’d hold on to him past the deadline but I think he plays elsewhere next season.
Traded Erik Brännström - D - Part III
- Thread starter AchtzehnBaby
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bert
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He has absolutely no leverage to ask for a trade. No one wants small undersized d men that don't produce offense. He's going go have to be realistic about his career if he wants to stay in the NHL. Embrace it... It's the National league. Being versatile in a league where everyone is pressed against the cap could pro long his career.
bert
Registered User
Where? Playoff teams don't dress undersized d men, the only way this happens is if they are burners with elite skill. His shot isn't good enough for an NHL pp. I think he needs to have some humility followed by some maturity. Being a Swiss army knife may keep him in the league. Making 10 × the amount he would if he goes back to Sweden. If he gets to 400 games that's an NHL pension. Then he can finish his career back in Europe. This can be a role that helps the team win and keep him in the National League.
Mark Stones Spleen
Trouba's elbow
He shouldn't get traded, I think he's going to learn a lot from a good coach and be a valuable dman. If we trade him before that, we're going to get pennies on the dollar. I'm a Brann fan and supporter just as you are.
However, I think we're just f***ed with the number of LHD on the team, there's no way we're dressing 5 lefties and 1 RHD while Zub is out and we're stuck with Hamonic as the 7th d because of his contract.
So long as Brann is content playing forward, there's a spot for him here, but I think his time is going to come up, as unfortunate as that is, and we're going to get nothing of value out of it. He'll go to another team with some semblance of d zone structure and fit in nicely. I just wish that if we were going to trade him, that we'd be the team to raise his value now that we actually have a NHL coach.
SensHulk
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Hmm I wasn’t saying he’s definitely getting traded before pinto comes back, just that it wouldn’t surprise me. But he’s definitely getting traded *at some point* before next season
Tuna99
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Brannstrom playing forward is also part of Jacaues Martin’s master plan of improving the mental toughness of the team
Martin chose Branny to play forward because he’s a good teammate and won’t make waves by sulking.
Martin’s main thing besides the obvious (special teams, start game fast, neutral zone dominance) is about each player accepting their roll and playing it within the team structure - Martin did it with Chris Ohillips and that German dude who got drilled by Mike Richards
He won't get extended here because he's a poor fit. On the Sens he is a 3rd pairing guy that's talented but doesn't hit and gets out muscled by many opposing forwards. Seeing that he won't get PP minutes his lack of size and physicality don't lend themselves well to being on the PK. And going forward that's a problem the Sens need to fix.
Xspyrit
DJ Dorion
Brannstrom > Kubalik, Hamonic, Kelly, Kastelic, MacEwen, Chartier and all the other guys who played 10 games or less. JBD has improved a lot but Brannstrom is still better
I think he might end up traded but first opportunity for Staios to show that he is smart. Good opportunity to acquire an useful support piece that fits the needs better
It would also be better for Brannstrom if he could get a more important LD role somewhere else. In many ways, I find him similar to Rasmus Sandin
frightenedinmatenum2
Registered User
If there was a major trade market for him, he probably would have been moved ages ago.
Sens probably could have gotten a mid round pick for him last year when he had a lower cap hit.
When you're an undersized defenseman, you have to bring more to the table. If he was 6'2", he would be a regular bottom pair for many years. He isn't good enough to overcome his size and he isn't skilled enough to play his offside in the NHL, which isn't an insult, very few D are.
He likely goes unqualified by Ottawa, and gets another 1 or 2 years of low 1-way money, before being out of the NHL.
If it turns out that his ridiculous game at forward wasn't just a one time thing, switching to forward might save his career. He was absolutely fantastic that game. His size is always going to be an issue, but it's less of an issue when he is playing wing.
Sens probably could have gotten a mid round pick for him last year when he had a lower cap hit.
When you're an undersized defenseman, you have to bring more to the table. If he was 6'2", he would be a regular bottom pair for many years. He isn't good enough to overcome his size and he isn't skilled enough to play his offside in the NHL, which isn't an insult, very few D are.
He likely goes unqualified by Ottawa, and gets another 1 or 2 years of low 1-way money, before being out of the NHL.
If it turns out that his ridiculous game at forward wasn't just a one time thing, switching to forward might save his career. He was absolutely fantastic that game. His size is always going to be an issue, but it's less of an issue when he is playing wing.
Xspyrit
DJ Dorion
Completely disagree with all this. This is an outdated mentality. Now NHL teams are into advanced stats and understand that one of the most important aspect of hockey is transition, something Brannstrom excels in.
For Ottawa, moving a young cost controlled like Brannstrom before having AT LEAST 5-6 better D-men would have been stupid. The plan was to have Chychrun on RD but it didn't materialize so then it was Chabot... and now a new coaching staff (and GM) will of course see things differently. Brannstrom was very clearly the 3rd best LHD in the organization as long as one of Chychrun/Chabot were on RD. Kleven was also clearly not NHL ready
As I said in post #3,134, he wouldn't have these stats if he was just a marginal NHL player. Another NHL team is going to jump on this guy as soon as available and make him part of their core, at least support core. Rasmus Sandin is a very similar player and he plays 22 mins a game for Washington, who have a 17-11-6 record (12 more pts than Ottawa)
Of course, you can't build an entire defense with guys like Brannstrom but usually, GMs know what they're doing so if Brannstrom fits a need, they will acquire him. He had to carry pure deadweight over the years in Ottawa (Josh Brown, decline Nick Holden and now Hamonic) but still did really well in spite of this. This season :
Brannstrom-Hamonic : 40.4 xGF% (131 mins)
Chabot-Brannstrom : 75.0 xGF% (12 mins)
Brannstrom-Zub : 65.6 xGF% (63 mins)
Chychrun-Brannstrom : 57.9 xGF% (31 mins)
Brannstrom-Bernard-Docker 52.6 xGF% (113 mins)
See any pattern? As I talked before, the Brannstrom-Zub pairing excels because Zub is our best RHD by far and our most physical D-man who can play. He fits pefectly with Brannstrom who would excel even more with a guy like Brandon Carlo for example. Actually, Brannstrom would be very smart for the Bruins, they might already have their eyes on him (if Grzelcyk isn't re-signed, another comparable player, also 5'9)
Brannstrom has a lot of NHL games left. He has proven for 2+ years that he is very easily a NHL player now. He'd have to regress a lot to be out of the league. NHL teams want more players who tilt the ice their way rather than less, unless you're Pierre Dorion or DJ Smith and have an archaic view, of course.
One thing I'll say as a conclusion, I don't CARE about size, I want us to spend more time in the other team's zone.
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trading Branny would be moronic at this point. Trade Kubalik and wait to see how the defense shakes up under Martin for the rest of the year.
Earliest I would move Branny is at the trade deal line for a higher pick like Sandin....otherwise just wait
Earliest I would move Branny is at the trade deal line for a higher pick like Sandin....otherwise just wait
Branny is not really a playoff type move. I think there would be interest from younger teams or you make a deal like what Washington did last year where we take on some cap but get a good pick. Def I would wait till closer to the deadline at the earlier but most likely the summer
Agent Zuuuub
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Alf Silfversson
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Brannstrom is likely the odd man out, but he's better than people are giving him credit for.
On pace for 27 points (per 82 games) without PP time, to be +24 (flawed stat I know but shows he's not getting caved in). He gets the 3rd most SH ice time per game on the team. And he's done this while carrying the corpse of Travis Hamonic around for half the year.
People will complain about his offense but he scores more points per 60 at 5-on-5 than Sanderson. Not comparing them of course; Sanderson plays harder minutes and more minutes, but he is not a black hole. Neither is Brannstrom.
LD is a position of strength for us. I wouldn't trade him unless you can get something decent in return.
On pace for 27 points (per 82 games) without PP time, to be +24 (flawed stat I know but shows he's not getting caved in). He gets the 3rd most SH ice time per game on the team. And he's done this while carrying the corpse of Travis Hamonic around for half the year.
People will complain about his offense but he scores more points per 60 at 5-on-5 than Sanderson. Not comparing them of course; Sanderson plays harder minutes and more minutes, but he is not a black hole. Neither is Brannstrom.
LD is a position of strength for us. I wouldn't trade him unless you can get something decent in return.
Golden_Jet
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Brannstrom is not 5’10”, even during the fun question and answers where the players hold up a picture of their answer.
They were saying likely 5’8”, and Chabby thought less.
Bernard-Docker is not very good, and I imagine a primary priority for Staios this summer will be to upgrade RD. I don't think anyone is sold on JBD being a long-term NHLer, here or anywhere else, especially on a team that wants to compete.
Brannstrom has certainly shown more, and he may carve out a role as a guy who can slot in on bad teams, but I don't think there'd be much of a market for him.
jbeck5
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Really? He always looked like a forward to me.
I hated when people suggested we put Karlsson forward because he was a beast at breaking out and producing offense from the backend specifically.
But with brannstrom? I always thought "he's doing nothing offensively with that skillset from the backend...maybe he would actually produce as a forward"
He seems like the most natural choice if we had to put a D on the 4th line.
Agent Zuuuub
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sure if we're getting a better player than Brannstrom im all for moving him.
my issue is that people who want to move Brannstrom for little to nothing value, just to pencil in guys like Kleven, Hamonic, JBD.
It's funny you say that because Chabot is 6 ft 2 and gets outmuscled by smaller players all the time. One could even argue that Brannstrom players a heavier more aggressive game than Chabot.
Hamonic and JBD play the right side, so they're not relevant to Brannstrom.
It's not a stretch to project that Kleven will be a better fit for a 3rd pairing, PK-focused role than Brannstrom, considering his size and skill set. The only question is how soon that happens.
And it's not that people want to move Brannstrom for little to nothing value, it's that he has little to nothing value. He's not much of an asset, at this point.
Right now, he's a roster filler on a bad team.
Agent Zuuuub
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Brannstrom is an NHLer, JBD is borderline and Hamonic is not an NHLer anymore. Brannstrom is more effective on the right and in the top 4 than either of those guys. we are only carrying those guys because of one ways and lack of other options.
Kleven has proven nothing yet. when he proves it sure. but so far he has only proven he is not ready for the NHL.
Brannstrom has never played on the right side, for any extended time, in the NHL. Jacques Martin is a defensive specialist with more experience than any other coach in the league, and he's not even trying him on the right side.
That speaks volumes.
Brannstrom is an NHLer, right now on this team, because we're a bad team. If the goal is to become a good team, we'll have to move on from Brannstrom (Hamonic and probably JBD, as well).
So like I said, he's a roster filler without much of a future here. And he's not the only one.
JBD is a little small and it limits his upside.
Brannstrom is 5’7” and is as competitive as anyone, but he just can’t do it at the NHL level.
Sting
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It's kind of funny how uspet Bran was at the question about playing forward again in the future. Obviously he wants to play D...but surely by this point you realize you can't really defend well at the NHL level right?
I guess in his mind 4th line minutes means low icetime, low salary. He'd rather be out there for 15-20 mins a night hopefully getting a contract higher than 1-2m per year. I just don't see any team in the league paying this guy 3m+, and I certainly don't see any contending team wanting this guy in their top 6 D.
He definitely should've been a forward but he won't switch.
I guess in his mind 4th line minutes means low icetime, low salary. He'd rather be out there for 15-20 mins a night hopefully getting a contract higher than 1-2m per year. I just don't see any team in the league paying this guy 3m+, and I certainly don't see any contending team wanting this guy in their top 6 D.
He definitely should've been a forward but he won't switch.
L'Aveuglette
つ ◕_◕ ༽つ
He's literally been "doing it" for the last few years, and has "done it" better than many other 3rd pairing dmen we've had on this team over the last ten years. Certainly better than anything JBD has shown so far, and he's only 8 months younger.
Anyway. This thread has once again turned into a bunch of size queens dismissing a small dman based on nothing but their lust for some 6'6'' hulking dman who would just stand back there like a pylon lol. It's frankly pathetic.
jbeck5
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That has nothing to do with size though.
But you are right. Branny is harder than Chabot. But Chabot can take hits much better than brannstrom, because of his size.
I've seen Chabot maybe get nailed like 3-4 times I can remember, and he plays 50% more than brannstrom.
Brannstrom has gotten leveled 100 times. Even this year he almost looked dead from a pretty routine hard hit on the boards.
Agent Zuuuub
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he's roster depth who has proven he can step up and play in the top 4. look at the results he's done it multiple times.
you seem to think of him as ahl fodder or something. he might not ever be a standout NHLer but he will be in demand for teams needing two way depth for low cap hit. that is valuable depth for bad teams and good capped out teams alike.
and yea i can see him not having a future here because of who we have and how much we could be spending on our LD. but there should be no rush to get rid of him before we upgrade on JBD and Hamonic and that Kleven proves he is NHL quality. that's all im saying.
I mean injuries will hit. Chabot is frail, Chychrun is one of the most injured NHL D and Sanderson and Zub are no paragons of sturdiness.
So when the injuries happen and they will again, you want to have JBD, Hamonic, Kleven having to step up in the top 4 and most likely kill playoff chances or someone who has actually proven he can handle it?
