Sens fans have been propagating this idea for a while, but it doesn't make sense from a Kings perspective. Sorry to all Sens fans who have been trying to push a square peg in a round hole, but the Kings are looking to add size on defense, not a 5'9" player who has played 2 less NHL games than Vilardi despite having essentially 2 years more development time.

Until he can show he's a full-time NHL'er, Brannstrom doesn't have nearly the value Sen's fans seem to think he does. Certainly not enough to get a player who played 2C in his first professional year. That's selling too low on Vilardi.

There’s no such thing as a logjam downer the middle. Just move a centre to the wing. Centre’s are far to valuable to trade simply because you have a bunch

That being said, LA definitely has an organizational need for a young dynamic defenseman, so this trade makes sense from the perspective

Honestly pretty fair, Kings truthfully lack elite D prospects outside of Clarke, while they have arguably the greatest set of forward prospects out there. Concern is that the Kings might be higher on Vilardi than some of us think, but who knows

People starting to underrate Brannstrom. He’s for sure a PP QB1 and can put up 35-40pts minimum as his floor. He was on pace for 35 last year. He’s not that bad defensively either, pair him with Doughty and it’s actually pretty good

Second time I say this today, but don't use hockey DB for players measurements... Brannstrom has been listed at 5'10 at every development/training camp with Ottawa. That's also the size you can see on Elite Prospects, Hockey Reference, etc

That being said, I haven't seen any Sens fan pushing this before... I might have missed some but actually 2nd time I see this and the first time it was a Kings fan IIRC.

It's ok if you don't want to do this, that doesn't diminish EB's value. He was 21 y/o last season, played in Europe while the NHL was on pause (did really well over there) then came back for the NHL season but caught covid, so there was a delay before he could start. IIRC he started in the AHL for a few games before playing full time in Ottawa. Artem Zub and him were actually the 2 catalysts that changed Ottawa's season because before they got in the lineup, the defense was absolutely putrid.

I didnt use Hockey DB. CapFriendly themselves list him as 5'9". If he's an extra inch, then good on him. And honestly, I saw him a few times when he was still with the Vegas organization (had season tickets to the Tucson Roadrunners, so while Veags had a deal with another NHL team to have their prospects play in the AHL he came through a few times). I really did like what I saw, as he played a ton of minutes and skated really well. My point was simply that Brannstrom isn't what the Kings are looking for currently. And unfortunately for the Sens fans, the organization has done nothing to help his value or how he looks to those outside of the organization.

And there were a bunch of these a few weeks ago. It's been a bit since I've been logged on, as I've been away on travel. But I can try to go find a few of them if you'd like.

I can understand that. And yeah, Dorion doesn't really think like an asset manager... and not only for Brannstrom... Simply look at how he handled Rudolfs Balcers last year.

The guy got waived and picked by a bottom team (Sharks) and his play confirmed that he was a NHL player

I was furious when he was waived... I mean, we waived him to be sure to not waive and instead play :

Artem Anisimov (last NHL legs)
Derek Stepan (has severely declined)
Cedric Paquette (was totally uninterested to play with Ottawa after winning the Cup with his friends)
Alex Galchenyuk (failed reclamation project)

That was awful asset management, could have instead play Balcers, build up some value then trade him. Even if he doesn't "fit" your long-term plans, that's not how you manage assets lol