When Erik Brannstrom was a defenceman for the Ottawa Senators, he was under a lot of pressure to be elite. Sens fans know the story well. Brannstrom was the key piece the Sens acquired from Vegas in the Mark Stone trade, and GM Pierre Dorion called the trades one of his proudest days as a GM.
Reaction to Brannstrom’s game was mixed in his time here. Some felt he was too small to be impactful; others liked his underlying numbers. But no one felt he was capable of living up to Dorion’s initial expectations.
When Steve Staios assumed control of things, he spoke loudly by his selections at the 2024 NHL Draft that he had a fondness for bigger players, particularly on defence. And with the diminutive Brannstrom about to become an arbitration-eligible RFA, and the much bigger, less expensive Tyler Kleven ready for prime time, the Sens opted to let Brannstrom walk.
Related: Senators Defenceman Erik Brannstrom is Done in Ottawa
The Colorado Avalanche signed him, but he failed to make the team last month and they dealt him to Vancouver, where they placed him on waivers and parked him in Abbotsford to start the season. So even the Canucks weren’t sure about him at first.
But they’re all in now. And unlike his old team, Brannstrom has excellent in November. How excellent? In a conversation with TSN 1200, longtime writer and sportscaster Matt Sekeres, who covers the Canucks on Price and Sekeres in Vancouver described Brannstrom this way:
“I would hesitate to call him a centrepiece to the Vancouver Canucks,” Sekeres said. “But believe it or not, guys, the phrase has been spoken on our show, ‘Where would they be without Erik Brannstrom?’
“We’re having conversations about whether he should elevate to the second pair.”
Whether it’s the eye test or underlying numbers, Brannstrom is looking a lot closer to the kind of player that Pierre Dorion envisioned he’d become back in 2019 – though still not in “proudest day” territory. Brannstrom is moving the puck confidently, playing solid D, getting involved, and chipping in on the scoresheet with four points in his last five games.
This isn’t another tale of “The One That Got Away” for the Senators, at least not yet. And if it does become one of those stories, it’ll be shared by every NHL team which could have claimed him off waivers last month.
We’ll see how it goes long-term for the 25-year-old. But sometimes, a player and a team just fit.
“We play really fun hockey,” Brannstrom told the media last week. “It fits me very well. We want to have the puck and play offence. It’s been great so far.”
It’ll be interesting to see how Brannstrom fares on Saturday night as he returns to his old stomping grounds in Ottawa.
