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

Rowlet

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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.
 

frightenedinmatenum2

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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

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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

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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.
 
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Raistlin

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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.
 

vadim sharifijanov

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he’s looked great the last couple games

but it’s hard to tell from what i’m watching whether this is the next brian rafalski claiming his spot in the league or if he’s the kind of small puck carrier that the league is going to figure out and someone is going to feed him his lunch and plaster him all over the ice soon enough.
 

Andy Dufresne

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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.
He played 150 games over the last 2 years, 16:00 toi, so your basic full time bottom pairing d-man. Though it was for Ottawa so maybe that doesn't count fully.
 

Agent Zuuuub

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its just that some people think he is a horrible player, an ahler, a 7/8 d, who does nothing for his team and will be out of the league in a year.

those people couldn't identify hockey sense if their life depended on it.
 
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Rowlet

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When has LTIRetired players ever taken a 1st or 2nd to move? A mid/late pick has been the going rate since... well forever.

This is such a minor deal, it's weird people calling a winner. It's a step up from AHLers getting swapped.

I missed responding to this, but the reason this contract was suspected to cost more than your average contract was because it wasn't covered by insurance, so it wasn't just a paper deal. It would have cost $2.5m in real dollars every year of the deal when the Canucks were trying to dump it.
 
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Bender

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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?
Wait, are you talking specifically about the season where :

Quinn Hughes
2020-21Vancouver CanucksNHL563384122-24

Devon Toews
2020-21Colorado AvalancheNHL53922311629

That -24 eyesore doesn't exactly inspire a ton of confidence in what you're trying to say. Besides, it was probably a select few Avs fans who enjoy taking part in these types of discussions.

We all now realize that Q.Hughes is generational and Makar only wishes he had his skill set.
 

WarriorofTime

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I always thought there was a bit of a rivalry considering Bertuzzi should have been in jail, and Brian Burke perhaps at least subject to criminal fines, for what happened that one night.
 
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Rowlet

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Wait, are you talking specifically about the season where :

Quinn Hughes
2020-21Vancouver CanucksNHL563384122-24

Devon Toews
2020-21Colorado AvalancheNHL53922311629

That -24 eyesore doesn't exactly inspire a ton of confidence in what you're trying to say. Besides, it was probably a select few Avs fans who enjoy taking part in these types of discussions.

We all now realize that Q.Hughes is generational and Makar only wishes he had his skill set.

Hughes -24 doesn't look good but his advanced stats were still way above the average Canuck.

That team was putrid, last place in the North division.
 

Nucklehead Supreme

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Wait, are you talking specifically about the season where :

Quinn Hughes
2020-21Vancouver CanucksNHL563384122-24

Devon Toews
2020-21Colorado AvalancheNHL53922311629

That -24 eyesore doesn't exactly inspire a ton of confidence in what you're trying to say. Besides, it was probably a select few Avs fans who enjoy taking part in these types of discussions.

We all now realize that Q.Hughes is generational and Makar only wishes he had his skill set.

Oh you mean when the Avs were a powerhouse and the Canucks were one of the worst in the league? When Toews got to play with one of the best (if not the best) dmen in the league, while QH got the amazing Luke Schenn?

I mean sure if you completely ignore context.............


How about just realizing that he isn't Tyson Barrie 2.0 (which quite a few in the avs fanbase kept saying) or that you don't need to comment on any message board or social media every time QH name is mentioned, just because a few overzealous Canucks fans had the "gall" to compare the immortal Cale Makar to Quinn Hughes? How about that?
 

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