Confirmed Trade: [VAN/COL] Tucker Poolman (20% retained) and 2025 4th round pick for D Erik Brannstrom

[Brookbank]

Has Vancouver's abbreviation always been "VCR"? I thought it was "VAN"

Elliot Freidman uses VCR so it is used as a meme

 

[Three On Zero]

Win/Win for both teams, Canucks essentially sell a draft pick for money and get out of LTIR

 

[Brookbank]

Who the f*** is VCR?

https://x.com/i/web/status/1842989165224575171

 

[John Mandalorian]

Is he actually coming back before the playoffs, or is that just lip service?

Are you serious with this? Save this for Mark Stone. The Avs spent all of 2023 with this open cap space on their roster. Shake your head.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

It matters because there is an opportunity cost to acquiring or claiming a player during training camp because there are only 23 roster spots. Meaning, acquiring Brannstrom results in a team having to either waive a player, or send down a waiver-exempt player who otherwise would have made their team over Brannstrom.

Once Brannstrom clears, if a team likes him, they have free reign to send him up and down between the AHL and NHL for a specified series of time before he has to be waived again. For example, if Ottawa wants Brannstrom back but doesn't want to waive JBD and wants to give Yakemchuk an audition in the NHL, they could start Brannstrom in the AHL until a spot opens. If they acquire him before he is exempt, they have to move someone off their roster.

It is about control and flexibility. I don't think anybody trades for him because teams don't like burying 1-way money, but it wouldn't surprise me if someone did give up a 6th or 7th round pick for him after he clears. Then we will get the "THEY COULD HAVE HAD HIM FOR FREE" takes.

Very few teams actually goes up to the 23 roster spot limit though and why cant they just send down waiver exempt guys? They could give the opportunity to branstrom as audition and then just waive him if they dont need him.

 

[Bounces R Way]

Brannstrom is awful, Poolman is worse. That deal he got from Benning was absolutely bizarre. Like Jeff Finger bizarre.

 

[dirtydanglez]

just got my brannstrom jersey too.


jk

 

[Breakers]

Brannstrom is awful, Poolman is worse. That deal he got from Benning was absolutely bizarre. Like Jeff Finger bizarre.

What's even worse is the debate amongst canuck fans in the original signing thread

The amount of people saying "tanev light"

it was such a brutal contract, and i dont know how people defended it

 

[LickTheEnvelope]

I mean this is really a deal about contract moves.

Avs don't care about adding LTIR and it seems like wanted to dump Braanstrom (bad camp?).

They seem happy to take the 4th and the Canucks can add some cap space for the deadline.

 

[Maurice of Orange]

Brannstrom is awful, Poolman is worse. That deal he got from Benning was absolutely bizarre. Like Jeff Finger bizarre.

Why is Poolman worse?

It’s been almost 2 years since Tucker even played a game, his career is finished due to post concussion syndrome.

Poolman will only factor into Colorado’s LTIR pool.

 

[Petes2424]

Brannstrom has had a terrible camp. You would’ve thought the fit would’ve been ok at least, but the Avs need more basic in the bottom of their D-Core. Whether he can revive his career in Vancouver? Who knows. Not exactly what they need in their D-Core either, but we’ll see.

 

[dirtydanglez]

has a team ever noped out of a contract in preseason for a contract they signed in the same offseason?

 

[Regal]

Brannstrom has had a terrible camp. You would’ve thought the fit would’ve been ok at least, but the Avs need more basic in the bottom of their D-Core. Whether he can revive his career in Vancouver? Who knows. Not exactly what they need in their D-Core either, but we’ll see.

I think the Canucks could really use a pick mover on the 3rd pairing next to Desharnais. Forbort has looked terrible so far and can’t move the puck to save his life. But I’m not sure if Brannstrom would be good enough in other ways. Forbort is at least useful on the PK

 

[Paulinbc]

Has Vancouver's abbreviation always been "VCR"? I thought it was "VAN"

It has always, always been van.

This trade will really show its worth at the deadline.

Tee hee!!

 

[Dr Amazing]

That was fast.

 

[Bounces R Way]

Why is Poolman worse?

It’s been almost 2 years since Tucker even played a game, his career is finished due to post concussion syndrome.

Poolman will only factor into Colorado’s LTIR pool.

Think you answered your own question. Brannstrom has at least the potential to add something. Poolman does not.

 

[Richard88]

Tidy work by CMac and the Avs. Brannstrom was horrible. They get a 4th round pick for nothing lol.

How much of Poolman's salary are the Avs going to be paying?

 

[Muffin]

How much of Poolman's salary are the Avs going to be paying?

Sounds like he'll be LTIR the entire season.

 

[canuckslover10]

I thought Poolman was going to be on LTIR for quite awhile? Cap move by the Avs?

And for the sake of my OCD sanity, please edit the title to VAN. WTF is VCR? Took awhile to read that.

Canucks want to accrue cap space for the trade deadline. most likely to add a top 4 dman.

 

[Peen]

• Both Poolman and Landeskog will be on LTIR for the entire regular season.
• Once a team goes into LTI, adding additional LTIR contracts is irrelevant to anything other than contracts /50 and real money.
• That makes this trade Colorado buying a 4th round pick for cash.
• Brannstrom goes to Vancouver as a proxy for retention. He is on a 1-way contract and is not going to make Colorado.
• So it's Colorado buying a 4th round pick for 1.4M (80 percent of Poolman's salary minus Brannstrom's 900k).
• Retained salary doesn't go on LTIR, so for Vancouver they are paying a 4th round pick to be able to bank money towards the Trade Deadline. They did not have to go into LTI because they could have gotten under the cap, but 2.4M in open cap space is significant.
• There is also a small chance that they can get a 4th-7th round type pick for Brannstrom down the line. Teams with injuries will always give up late picks for legitimate NHL defenseman. Once he clears and becomes waiver exempt, that makes him more valuable.

edit: An Avs poster claims that Landeskog has a January timeline for his return. If so, he would have to come off LTIR in season, but it is possible that they view banking a small amount of cap space between whenever he comes back in January to the March 4th TDL as pointless compared to staying in LTI with Poolman and getting an asset. So I may have been incorrect with my assumption that he was going to stay on LTIR all season.

This should be pinned.

 

[canuckslover10]

I don't understand why a team like San Jose, Chicago, Anaheim, or Columbus didn't jump at this they could have easily gotten a pick for free since they could have thrown him on LTIR.

 

[PuckFather]

Nah, he can't handle an NHL forecheque and panics all the time with the puck. If he couldn't survive in a superior defensive core in Colorado, there's no way he's going to survive in an inferior defensive core in Vancouver.


Brah, the two million doesn't count against the cap when its put on LTIR blud. This ain't rocket science.

With your vast knowledge of how cap space & LTIR works you must be an employee of Capfriendly

 

[frightenedinmatenum2]

I don't understand why a team like San Jose, Chicago, Anaheim, or Columbus didn't jump at this they could have easily gotten a pick for free since they could have thrown him on LTIR.

His contract may not have been insured. Even if it was insured, the entirety of the contract is not covered. Regardless of whether a team is a budget team or not, most teams have an upper limit to what they are allowed to spend in real dollars, or they need to justify certain spending. Can we spend 2.4M to get a 4th round pick is going to be a no for a lot of teams.

 

[wonton15]

I don't understand why a team like San Jose, Chicago, Anaheim, or Columbus didn't jump at this they could have easily gotten a pick for free since they could have thrown him on LTIR.

My guess is their asks were significantly higher viewing it as strict cap dump to a bottom feeder, as opposed to working with smarter GMs/teams like the Avs in different positions who can benefit from this from a slightly different perspective as shown by the details of this trade

 

[tucker3434]

I had thought the Avs would be in position to bank a little space before Nuke comes back but I guess I was wrong on that. It’s going to be interesting to see what moves are made if Landeskog and Nichushkin are ever playing at the same time.