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

[Rowlet]

It seems Ottawa may have given up on Brannatrom too soon. D sometimes take longer.

Ottawa gave up on him because his QO would have been really high, the Avs on the other hand got rid of him to keep Kylington, who's been even worse.

 

[Phrasing]

Welcome to Vancouver Canucks fans

Remember when Avs fans started a thread saying Toews was a better than Hughes based on a small sample in the middle of his first season with the Avs?

 

[Rowlet]

Remember when Avs fans started a thread saying Toews was a better than Hughes based on a small sample in the middle of his first season with the Avs?

That person said the same of Byram and Girard too.

 

[LemonSauceD]

The piss match between Canucks and Avs fans will always be funny to me considering we’re not even rivals and this was the first ever trade between both teams.

 

[frightenedinmatenum2]

While this is largely true, i think it's still worth mentioning that they don't really need it to scale. It's a nice surprise, just to have Brannstrom looking competent and bringing a little bit of puck movement to the bottom-pairing of a team that badly needs more of that element than their other Bottom-4 defencemen bring to the table.

Like...nobody is expecting it to scale to high leverage Top-4 minutes. But the reality is, he has been solid in the curated bottom-pairing minutes they've asked him to play. Which is fine value and a pleasant surprise on what was largely seen as a "contract dump" in this Poolman deal. Getting an actually playable NHLer even in protected minutes, is just a pure bonus.

I agree with everything you said. I'm not trying to dump on him and I have been very consistent saying that he would likely play NHL games for VAN or someone who needed an NHL D due to injuries would give VAN a late pick for him.

Point of contention was people conflating fringe or depth NHL D play with a legitimate bottom pair guy like a true #5.

 

[RandV]

Everything is relative. It's an objective truth that he is playing highly curated and managed minutes relative to your average bottom pairing defenseman. 14 minutes a night is nowhere near average bottom pairing minutes, let alone with the kind of hand picked deployment and competition he has faced.

I think that's a little overstated. The makeup of Vancouver's blueline is set pairs and is top heavy. It's not so much about managing this one player as it is maximizing ice time for Hughes-Hronek.

On one hand the bottom pairing has been much more effective since Brannstrom got to step in, but on the other hand yes it's only 13-14 of ice time a game. And of course a very small sample size. I don't think anybody on the Vancouver is getting carried away here, we have no attachment to his prior draft related expectations and are just happy to seem to have a free effective bottom pair dman. Again the Canucks blueline is top heavy, and losing Zadarov & Cole from last season the depth is very thin going into the season. In the limited sample size to start the season neither the Soucy-Myers or Forbot-Descharnais have looked that good.

For the limited sample size the +/- stat is actually useful here to back up the eye test. Hughes/Hronek are +6/+4, Myers/Soucy -3/-4, and Forbot -1 Brannstrom +4.

 

[NOTENOUGHRYJOTHINGS]

The piss match between Canucks and Avs fans will always be funny to me considering we’re not even rivals and this was the first ever trade between both teams.

The last time the two teams could have been considered good enough at the same time for it to matter was a decade ago in like 2003.

Vancouver has a good rivalry going with Edmonton. And a great playoff series last year.

The Avs have been put in the dirt by Dallas twice in the past five years. And there's a good history there going back decades. It's a much better rivalry for Colorado.

And both teams should be united in their disgust of the Wild.

 

[Raistlin]

The piss match between Canucks and Avs fans will always be funny to me considering we’re not even rivals and this was the first ever trade between both teams.

it started with Makar vs Hughes vs Fox in their rookie year. Who knew back then those three will likely define a whole generation of defensmen? Some posters didnt let go since. AVs are my backup team, since Sakic and Forsberg's first cup. I hope we will have a solid rivalry again.

 

[tucker3434]

I think OFD’s, small offensive forwards, and goalies can fool people with a heater over a small stretch. But If the nucks managed to get something out of nothing, congrats. It’s rare.