Joined: Jan. 2018
Posts: 17,207
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Personally had him at 1.25×2, but I totally get why one year makes sense for both sides.
I was a big fan of what he brought to the table for Ottawa this year. Not super dangerous offensively, but very effective at keeping the puck in the O-zone and allowing the offensive possession to continue. He was excellent in moving the puck in transition, and despite being small he was very effective in his positional defending, able to angle off plays and retrieve pucks efficiently.
I imagine he's currently slotting in as the 3rd pair LD, with Holden playing the off side. I think ideally it would shake out where Zub and Holden play top 4 on the right side and Zaitsev would fall to playing 3rd Pair with Mete, but that's not terribly realistic.
It does continue to bring into question Brannstrom's standing in the Organization. The Sens now have 7 D on one way deals (Chabot, Zub, Mete, Holden, Zaitsev, Del Zotto, Brown), which makes his path to the NHL very murky this year. I believe he is still able to skip waivers, but to my eye he's at worst a regular NHL player, and I just don't see how more AHL time helps him at this stage.