Gotta give props to some people here and the group of Sens fans that kept banging the Brannstrom drum despite common wisdom being that he was nothing but a tweener type player.
The sample size is small, and even if he keeps this up for the entire regular season I would still need to see him in the playoffs, but so far he's given the backend a major boost with his ability to push the play forward both with his passing and skating.
I think the key to success for him will be to ride the fine line between being confident and aggressive but not doing too much. Don't be afraid to make a play but also be smart when it comes to picking his spots.
Thanks, I have been one of his biggest defendors. Hockey smarts and quickness are major in today's game, it is much more important than size IMO. I can understand how a team could be worried about a small D-man in the playoffs (see Girard) but you have to make them first. Brannstrom was very under-appreciated in Ottawa, despite him posting very good metrics the last 2 seasons. I mean, what more could you ask from a young 3rd pairing D-man? Of course, there was a huge bias associated to him, he was the main piece in return for a guy you would want to play his whole career for your team.
Enjoy Brannstrom, as long as the team use him wisely and with NHL level D-men with size, he'll be fine. In Ottawa, during his development he mostly played with Erik Gudbranson, Josh Brown, Nick Holden, Jacob Bernard-Docker, Travis Hamonic. Let that sink in.
The only 2 good players he has been paired with at times was Artem Zub and Thomas Chabot (he was on RD with him)
Brannstrom always looks good on the 3rd pair and with anyone, but you guys have a player who can play in the top 4 in case of injuries and look good doing it for 900k. That shit is invaluable.
Meanwhile we're playing Travis Hamonic on the top pair lol.
But enjoy Brannstrom, he's a high IQ player and and should only benefit in a high IQ team and system.
If he gets stronger or even if he learns how to handle contact a little better. I think he is a top 4 player.
And after people wonder why Ottawa rebuild is not working out... we have been pure idiots. I still give the benefit of the doubt to the new management/coaching but I need to see results. The number of dumb decisions we have made during this rebuild is flabbergasting
What a freaking trade. You know when you have Tochett "who is a extreme hardass" praising his game after the trade, you're doing something right. A project that seems to be paying off bigtime, I can't wait to see what Brannstrom turns into after Foote/Gonchar put more time into him. What a steal.
I called that years ago, that eventually a team would acquire Brannstrom and reap the benefits. He's the kind of quality depth you need to have if you want to have a good team.
