Branny doesn’t have negative value. If there’s a player that might have to come with a pick it’ll be Joseph.

Isn't Forsberg healthy?

Not sure why everyone is in such a hurry to get rid of Brannstrom? Chychrun is not the envy of good health and Brannstrom is the only defensdeman we have that isn't int he top 4 that can actuially play in the top 4 with competency. I know everyone loves Kleven, but a season in Belleville playing top minutes is far better for his development than playing him on the bottom pairing. The other aspect about this, is Kleven I am hoping will develop a mean streak and will learn to drop the gloves. Better to learn this trade in the AHL than it is at the NHL level.

If it were me I'd be trying to move Forsberg. Sogaard has played a few years in Belleville and lets be honest, he hasn't done well down there. Goaltending in the AHL is different than playing it at the NHL level. A lot of goalies develop better at the NHL level than the AHL level due to the sloppiness of play in the AHL. Plus moving Sogaard up allows Meralainen and Mandolese time in Belleville instead of wasting a year of Meralainen getting backup starts in Belleville.

However if you're going to move Brannstrom? I would hope Ottawa would send Brannstrom to Arizona for Jan Jenik. Two players that could likely use a change of scenery. Ottawa needs to find some skilled forwards for the pipeline, and Arizona is pretty thin on the LD side at the NHL level. Ottawa definitely doesn't need to add picks to move Brannstrom though.

The issue with Brannstrom is that he's short. It's not fair to him, but it's true. Just look at the playoffs. It's physical. Florida played physical and ran over more skilled teams in the East. Vegas D was considerably bigger than Florida's, and the Cats were shut down. Now, you have to have some skills too, not just a 6'5 230 lbs pylon, but size is coveted for the grueling, physical playoffs.

It's rare for small D to excel in the playoffs, unless they are elite. If they're small, they'll get pushed around, unable to box out the forwards, etc. Brannstrom is not elite, and he's small. Maybe if the playoffs were officiated differently, people would be more willing to keep him.

Again, it's not necessarily fair to him, he can't change his size, and his game has improved. But that's how the game is played right now.

Even if you don’t know that much about hockey and NHL players, logic could be sufficient sometimes…

Why would Ottawa extend Brannstrom if they end up using 2 picks to move him?

In the real world, Ottawa wouldn’t move Brannstrom for a 3rd + 4th, so that tells you what they’d think about this proposal


Ottawa should only care about the playoffs once they start making the playoffs

Colorado won the Cup with Sammy Girard on their defense who is 5'10 180 pounds... You can't fall into that copycat mentality because if you do you're always chasing. I mean Torey Krug was a part of the Bruins Stanley Cup Final team for the Bruins... If you can skate and move the puck in the league you are useful. If you're big and slow, you become obsolte pretty quickly. Buty I agree you need size on defense but you need every defenseman to be big and physical.

I agree you shouldn't put the cart before the horse. I don't think they are. They signed him to another 1year deal to keep him around. Just answering the question of why people want Branny traded.

That being said, the front office is also on record as saying that they want to build a team that once they make the playoffs, will actually put up a fight instead of just being eliminated in round 1.

I'd be concerned about defensive depth if they traded EB, but I'd get it. I'd also get it if they traded someone else. No matter who gets traded, you're losing depth. But, if you need to trade someone, you're best to trade someone that isn't/never was/no longer is in your long-term plans (whether that's Brannstrom, Joseph, Kubalik, or someone else).

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Girard was injured for the latter part of the playoffs (guess he got injured from all the physicality). I'll also point out that I've seen many ACGMs from Colorado fans trading him away.

Did Krug win the Cup with Boston in those Finals? Did Boston want to keep him? Did his current team try to trade him?

As I mentioned, you also need skill. You can't just be a pylon (big and slow, as you put it). But if you're big and some some skill, odds are a GM will sign you over someone that's short with slightly better skill. You can't teach big, as they say. If you're short, you need to be that much better than the next guy. You need to be really , really good. Is Brannstrom elite offensively? Before Sanderson, he went a whole season without a goal, including some top pairing time and PP1 time when Chabotnwas injured. Even last year, Hamonic had more goals and assists.

I got nothing against Brannstrom. He's turned me into a fan. He has skill. As a sub-6' person myself, I commend him for his effort. He's never been hesitant to take a hit. But we see it at the draft (shortest person Sens drafted this draft was 6'2", I think, or look at MTL's Lane Hutson), we see it brought up by analysts every playoffs, and we see it in roster construction across the league: size matters.

If it didn't, then surely a team would have acquired Brannstrom by now. Sens aren't exactly falling over themselves to retain him long-term. A decent offer probably gets him.

That is more on DJ Smith... Ottawa has a very poor history of ruining defenseman by trying to change them to be players they are not. Cody Ceci comes to mind, and Smith doing the same with Brannstrom asking the guy to basically be a shut down defenseman. It's not until Smith has no choice but to play him where Brannstrom decides to play his game and Smith can't do much about it.

My point being there are room for guys that aren't the biggest. I agree you have to be able to defend, but if you're good at taking the puck and moving it so that you don't have to box out on the majority of your shifts? You can win that way. But Brannstrom in the here and now is the only defenseman that we likely have that will plsy bottom pairing minutes that can step up and play top 4 minutes.

Lmao wait why would Ottawa have signed him to a new contract this summer if they would immediately trade him and have to sweeten the pot to get rid of him?