Waived: [VAN] Erik Brannstrom waived by the Canucks
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GirardSpinorama
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- Aug 20, 2004
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Eh, Sens fans have said for years that DJ Smith did him dirty. This seems as much a development failure as anything else TBH.
xVolchenkov
Registered User
bert
Registered User
He's not fast, has a muffin for a shot and is 5'8. Hard to be a d man in the NHL with those tools. He battles hard and can make a pass but gets smoked regularly. Fellow sens fans call me a 'size queen' because I said he's a number 6/7 d man on a bad team. No contender has him in their top 6 d as a regular. Now here we are.
No it's a he doesn't have the tools issue.
JoeSakic13
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Peter Griffin
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PromisedLand
I need more FOOD
- Oct 9, 2012
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That was kind of the point in trading for him, he wasn’t ever going to actually play.
I'll tell you the 100% objective truth about Brannstrom. It was primarily DJ Smith's fault, not only did he ruin Brannstrom but he probably ruined our whole core.
When he was originally traded for Mark Stone, he was considered to be a top 3 NHL affiliated prospect at the time. In fact it was reported that MTL wanted Brannstrom when trading Pacioretty to VGK but VGK refused and would "only" give up Suzuki.
Brannstrom had one of the best U20 offensive outputs for any Dman in the AHL in 18-19.
After acquired by OTT, the 19-20 season went as planned, got some NHL games (honestly primarily due to injury) and dominated the AHL.
20-21 he was supposed to make the team full-time but got COVID before training camp so he automatically got sent to the AHL. When he came up for 30 games he was 0.5PPG, looked great and was our only plus defensemen besides Zub.
We all thought 21-22 would be a breakout year for Branny but instead he got sent down despite being our 3rd best defensemen. For some reason, DJ Smith would only ever punish Brannstrom for mistakes but Mete, Del Zotto, Josh Brown, Zaitsev could make all the mistakes they wanted with no punishment.
Due to this, Brannstrom started playing a "safe" game and not taking any risks offensively (which was the best part of his game). Instead he was molded into playing as a shut down d who is 5'9 and not overly fast.
He knew that if he made any mistakes, he was benched so played a simple game and you cannot stand out in the NHL that way being an average skater and a 5'9 defensemen.
Despite all of this, Brannstrom did look incredible in some games (in 22-23 and 23-24) and would get the highest TOI with a fully healthy defensive squad. He had the tools to be great but in my opinion was completely mismanaged by DJ SMith.
Just to provide another example, DJ Smith also completely ruined Chabot. Chabot after 18-19 (Guy BOucher was coach) looked like he could be a potential Norris contender in the future could be a top 10 D.
For basically 3 years in a row, DJ Smith played Chabot 30 mins a night in meaningless games. As a result, Chabot would always play at one speed (basically at 75%) which would reduce his overall effectiveness offensively and defensively. He would also make a ton of lackadaisical, high risk, low effort plays, not because he's dumb, it's because he's either too tired or wants to conserve energy. He doesn't know if he's playing 25 mins or 35 mins that game.
To cap this all off, I can even go so far to say that DJ tainted most of the core by never holding them accountable and always trying to be their friend instead of being their coach.
Petes2424
Registered User
- Aug 4, 2005
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Pretty much explains him. If he had 1-2 quick moves to buy himself some time, he’d be a decent NHL player. He doesn’t, so he needs major protection. Something the other D in Ottawa have to be relieved over not having to provide anymore. You almost couldn’t leave the zone until he was in the neutral zone.
NyQuil
Big F$&*in Q
He’s a finesse defenceman who has no offensive abilities and he’s small which is a tough skill set to work in the NHL.
- Sep 16, 2020
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Roster moves for cap purposes go over some people's heads on here. Lol playing NHL on PlayStation too long will do that.
frightenedinmatenum2
Registered User
He is not an NHL player. He was developed on his offside, but cannot play his offside in the NHL because the game is too fast for him. He can't handle an NHL forecheck on either side, but particularly not on his offside. He is overrated because people who don't watch the games always overrate bottom pairing D with specific skillsets that translate to nice looking advanced stats when you don't consider context like role, quality of competition, deployment, minutes, etc.
He is one of those pros who is an absolute fantastic pro everywhere else but the NHL. If he moves to Russia, he'll be a millionaire.
I was annoyed last season because they moved him to forward and he was really good, but he seemed upset about the transition, and quickly went back to defense. He has some nice jam to his game and isn't afraid to go to dirty areas. If the guy moved to forward full time, he'd play another few hundred NHL games. Maybe not as a star, but as a bottom 6 guy. That's my hot take.
He probably does not have incentive to do that because he can go to another top pro league and make mid six to low seven figures as a superstar defenseman.
- Oct 9, 2012
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This is why we are fans on an Internet forum and not employed by NHL teams
frightenedinmatenum2
Registered User
The NHL game is too big and fast for him.
He is not elusive enough and doesn't process things quickly enough at that level to be effective in spite of his size. It makes him a target on the forecheck.
It's why I think changing to forward was a positive move, but I get why a player in his shoes would find it insulting and see it as a waste of time to become a bottom 6 forward. He is one of those players who will be in high demand outside the NHL, but just doesn't have what it takes to be a regular NHL player.
People overrate him because of advanced stats and his draft pedigree.
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