If the Canucks are going for a left D, it'll be Zadorov. Branstrom for a second from anyone is a reach, there just isn't any real value there for that kind of an asset.

Brannstrom is insanely underrated, I've been watching him play for years and he's improved a lot in the defensive zone and he is very good at moving the puck up the ice. Doesn't put up a lot of points because he gets no power play time and limited minutes. He's a perfect bottom pairing guy on any team.

And before you say, well if thats so why don't you want to keep him, we already have Sanderson, Chabot, and Chychrun on the left side lol.

Yeah I hear you, but that's a hard pass from Vancouver.

Fair enough. Would you pay a 3rd or 4th for Brannstrom or you just don't want him?

Honestly, if I'm VAN I would accept that in a heartbeat. Brannstrom brings great depth on the back-end and lets us keep Hirose in the minors for another few years. Plus, I'd rather have Brannstrom playing top-4 minutes in the event of an injury than anyone else we've got at the moment.

Not sure Vancouver is the right place for him. I understand Brannstrom is better than these two players, but Tochett has been reluctant to play similar sized players like Rathbone and Hirose. At best, he would be a 3rd pair Dman.

Just sign all those 800k guys for league min. No point in signing them for more.

Well, he is a third pair dman.

League minimum is 775,000 and some will get more than that so I just gave them all 800k which is a tiny bit more than league minimum.

Canucks have zero use for a small defensively challenged D and regardless of your opinion he is and has been a defensively challenged player. Like I said, no one will pony up a second. if they wait he goes on waivers at some point, that's how little upside i see.

Vancouver is looking for bigger, defensively sound D men. Exactly what Brannstrom is NOT.

Honestly, I don't think you know as much about Brannstrom as you think you do. He would be an excellent defenseman on the 3rd pairing or even the 2nd in case of injuries and is very responsible defensively. He is small, absolutely, but he is great at closing space and gets to pucks before opponents.

https://www.capfriendly.com/scouting-reports/report/erik-brannstrom-2964

If your problem with him is that you want someone who is purely a defensive defenseman, I get that. However, Brannstrom is a solid bottom-pairing defenseman at this stage and honestly has middle pairing upside. He won't get waived and to suggest he will is insane lol. Of course, VAN would never want a small, offensively minded defenseman, right?

You clearly know nothing about Brannstrom then.

They already have their quota of small D and more third pairing D men than anyone could possibly want. The Canucks are prioritizing a legit top 4 RD with size. Why on earth would Brannstrom even remotely be a fit? Sens fans have had Brannstrom in trade AGMs forever.....must be a real keeper. SMH

Sens don't exactly have a great D corp and he's not in your top 6 when everyone is healthy. That doesn't scream quality to me.........he's just another guy.

Both of those takes are incredibly false.

First, when healthy the Sens easily have a top ten d-core in the NHL:

Sanderson-Zub
Chabot-Chychrun
Brannstrom-Bernard Docker
Hamonic

Second, Brannstrom has never been healthy scratched in the last 2-3 seasons so you literally just made that up.

It would be a very very smart pickup for the Canucks. There's actually very little chance a 2nd round pick ever becomes as good as Brannstrom


Brannstrom is not "defensively challenged". It would be the same as assuming that Hughes is a small defensively challenged D

It's not an opinion, it is objectively false. Brannstrom has crushed the 3rd pairing role last year.


What happens on CF has no bearing on the real world. The only reason why Brannstrom is in these AGMs is because he is a LHD and they have Tyler Kleven who will need a spot at some point


What?

And the fact that Ottawa is still struggling defensively has nothing to do with personnel. They have a sick defensive group on paper.

Mar 2 2023 scratched vs NYR. Literally the first thing I looked up.

Well, he played 74 games in 2022-23 so you can hardly consider him an extra player.