Pure offense I tend to agree. But you can certainly see a difference in our o zone possessions when he’s on the ice. Especially with stutzle stutzle loves passing him the puck. But I think brannstroms best attribute is his zone exits and neutral zone play.
Traded Erik Brännström - D - Part III
- Thread starter AchtzehnBaby
- Start date
It bothers me when people point to EB when complaining about our lack of size and physicality. You don't need 6 bruisers and guys we brought in to be that presence aren't doing it.
Brown 6'5" 220
Zaitsev 6'2" 195
Nick Holden 6'4" 215
Thomas Chabot 6'2" 195
Artem Zub 6'2" 200
Adding one smaller D to that group shouldn't really be an issue at all and doesn't make us "small" on the back end.
Brown 6'5" 220
Zaitsev 6'2" 195
Nick Holden 6'4" 215
Thomas Chabot 6'2" 195
Artem Zub 6'2" 200
Adding one smaller D to that group shouldn't really be an issue at all and doesn't make us "small" on the back end.
yogibear
Registered User
Other teams must be laughing when they see Mete AND Brannstrom in the lineup. They don’t have to worry too much about running out of ice packs.
Ironie, is that you can add big Brown as a soft d-man. Maybe is just too slow to be able to hit anything…
Ironie, is that you can add big Brown as a soft d-man. Maybe is just too slow to be able to hit anything…
Agent Zuuuub
Registered User
- Jan 2, 2015
- 15,357
- 12,798
wow crazy how different two people can see the same player.
Branns offensive IQ is arguably tops on the team imo.
DJB
Registered User
Sweatred
Erase me
- Jan 28, 2019
- 13,408
- 3,326
We don't really have one "bruiser" on our back end ... Brown may be close and everyone hates him. Our D is soft and adding Lassi, Sanderson, and JBD won't make it tougher.
while i do think Chabot has higher IQ though i think its close and I think brann is actually a better option on PP 1
Agent Zuuuub
Registered User
- Jan 2, 2015
- 15,357
- 12,798
in terms of pure offensive IQ? I don't think it's that hard. he consistently makes better offensive passes and reads from my views.
imagine if Brann was 6 ft 2 and could skate like Chabot.
We shall see. A full offseason of strength training along with time time he’s getting with the skating consultant is huge.
W
Well it’s happened. And opposing teams don’t exactly have an easy time against us when both are in the lineup
I posted this opinion before but based purely offensively
PP
Brannstrom > Chabot > EK
5v5
EK > Chabot > Brannstrom
Very weird.
aragorn
Do The Right Thing
- Aug 8, 2004
- 29,286
- 9,994
Tyler Kleven should change that, I think he will be a "Bruise" on the back end, he can't here fast enough.
Then Brann would be Chabot, but he's not, hes small slow Brann.
Golden_Jet
Registered User
- Sep 21, 2005
- 26,390
- 13,689
aragorn
Do The Right Thing
- Aug 8, 2004
- 29,286
- 9,994
I imagine this will be an ongoing discussion whether they need to go out an upgrade their right side or try & fix it from within. C. Brown IMO has proven he can play on that 2nd line at RW & Gaudette has been okay at RW & maybe with a full yr could fill in at RW on the 3rd line. Sokolov has had two good yrs in Belleville & looks close to being NHL ready & could also fill in on that 3rd RD spot for a yr or share it with Gaudette. And Boucher is the future RW that was drafted for a 2nd or 3rd line role on whenever it is determined he is NHL ready.
They could go out & get a Fiala or Giroux or they could just fill it internally until Boucher is ready, who knows? They have said they want to sign a forward, but it could be another transition piece like Ennis, Gaudette or Sanford they were thinking about rather than a high profile player like Giroux or Fiala. Who knows? Should be interesting whatever happens with this.
Last edited:
Senator Stanley
Registered User
Kleven is still a long way from being a contributing NHLer.
Golden_Jet
Registered User
- Sep 21, 2005
- 26,390
- 13,689
We have a few placeholders until then, use the asset in a package for Fiala.
Icelevel
During these difficult times...
- Sep 9, 2009
- 25,862
- 5,869
Golden_Jet
Registered User
- Sep 21, 2005
- 26,390
- 13,689
EK is about 2 inches taller, and was obviously a better player, better skater.
It was his proudest day because he was 15 minutes from getting nothing for Stone.Dorion must have been on sauce or something else the day he said that!
I agree!
Kleven is years away, if he ends up becoming an NHL D at all.
Englund looked pretty impressive too at the same age but it turned out that he didn't have the skill or IQ to succeed at the highest level.
Same may be true of Kleven. Time will tell, but he's certainly not a reason to move Brannstrom now.
Brannstrom is small but not slow compared to J. Brown and Holden. Brannstrom can also skate with the puck out of the D zone and make good passes to our forwards which is something I have seldom seen from J. Brown and Holden. None of our big defensemen are punishing hitters; other teams do not fear going down the boards against them. I hope Kleven can change that. I don't think JBD, Thomson, Brannstrom, Zub, Chabot will ever become that type of bruising hitter. We need a couple of them on the roster, particularly when we get into the playoffs.
