Ottawa under DJ was routinely getting caved in our end. We were one of, if not, THE worst defensive teams in the NHL for the entirety of Brannstrom's development. This completely exposed Brannstrom's biggest weaknesses which were his strength, skating and his ability to calm the play under duress before he had any chance to work on them. Trial by fire and quite possibly the worst environment for a player like him to develop in.
On top of that yes, DJ had an affinity for large bodies. A player like Josh Brown was trusted a lot more than Brannstrom. This led to Brannstrom being yo yo'd between Belleville and Ottawa, almost to the point of torture. Just when you thought he was earning a spot in the good books, he was demoted. From a fans perspective it was painful to watch because he was such a hard worker, he was likeable and he was getting punished by larger opposition but he kept popping up and coming out for the next shift. Now, for his part Brannstrom didnt exactly force his way into a bigger role, but he deserved a fair shake and he never really got it before it was too late.
Compounding issues was that because he was hammered into working almost exclusively on the defensive side, which only exposed his weaknesses, he never really got a chance to show his strengths. As much as DJ's teams lacked in defensive systems, they also lacked in breakouts and neutral zone attack, a key part of Brannstrom's game. He never really got to show any of this partially because Ottawa was so chaotic in the defensive end, but also because there wasnt much of a transition game for him to fall into.
Lastly, he is not an offensive dynamo but let the guy build confidence and there is a capable blue line puck mover and a shifty enough player to carry the puck deep off the blue line or circle the zone. We saw flashes of this in Ottawa but he never got a chance to build momentum in this role because he was parked on the third pair and rarely got PP2 time.
All and all I wouldn't categorize it as a complete failure in player development but the environment just wasn't there for Brannstrom to come into his own. Given a capable system to work within and there is no question that there is a player there. Tocchet is one of the best at shoe horning players into his system so he could finally be given the chance to play his game. I sure hope so, there aren't many players I can think of that deserve it more. Treat him well.