RWJC Posted June 1 Share Posted June 1 Senators Undecided On Qualifying Erik Brannstrom June 1st, 2024 at 12:59pm CST • By Brian La Rose Back in 2019, the Senators thought they were adding a core piece of the future when they picked up defenseman Erik Brannstrom from Vegas as part of the Mark Stone trade. While he has worked his way into a regular role, he hasn’t been anywhere near as impactful as they were hoping for. With the team looking to shake things up in Steve Staios’ first summer as GM, it appears as if Brannstrom is one of the players whose future with the team is in some question. Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that the Sens aren’t sure if they will tender him his required qualifying offer this summer. It’s a similar situation to the one they found themselves in a year ago, albeit with a higher price tag this time around. At that time, the qualifying offer was tendered with an agreement pretty much done in principle, finalized on July 1st with a contract that more than doubled his salary to $2MM for 2023-24. That figure is now the qualifying offer while he will have arbitration rights as well. Brannstrom played in a career-best 76 games this season, picking up three goals and 17 assists. He was primarily limited to playing on the third pairing while interim head coach Jacques Martin elected to deploy him as a winger on the fourth line briefly as well. Those numbers alone might not look great for arbitration purposes but with 69 points in 266 career NHL contests, the longer track record would bolster his case in a hearing. At the moment, Ottawa already has over $27MM committed to six defensemen for next season, per CapFriendly, with Jake Sanderson’s new contract kicking in this summer. Should they be allocating at least another $2MM (and likely more to avoid a hearing) to that position or would they be better off using that money elsewhere? Having said that, if they elect to move a blueliner – Jakob Chychrun has been in trade speculation dating back to the trade deadline – then it might be more justifiable to try to give Brannstrom one more chance. As things stand, they have a little over $12MM in room for next season with a handful of roster spots to fill. Pending RFA center Shane Pintofigures to take a good chunk of that so if Staios wants to try to add an impact piece to his roster, it would be difficult to do so and keep Brannstrom on the roster without making some sort of other change first. Accordingly, this is a decision that could come down to the wire on the June 30th qualifying offer deadline. https://www.prohockeyrumors.com/2024/06/senators-undecided-on-qualifying-erik-brannstrom.html#ref=home 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurn Posted June 1 Share Posted June 1 https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=192067 NHL Totals 266 7 62 69 145 2018-19 Chicago Wolves AHL 41 7 21 28 36 1 -- -- -- -- -- 2018-19 Belleville Senators AHL 9 0 4 4 12 -2 -- -- -- -- -- 2018-19 Ottawa Senators NHL 2 0 0 0 0 0 -- -- -- -- -- 2019-20 Belleville Senators AHL 27 3 20 23 22 12 2019-20 Ottawa Senators NHL 31 0 4 4 16 -9 -- -- -- -- -- 2020-21 Langnau Tigers Swiss-A 10 2 6 8 6 5 -- -- -- -- -- 2020-21 Ottawa Senators NHL 30 2 11 13 25 3 -- -- -- -- -- 2020-21 Belleville Senators AHL 4 0 5 5 6 -1 -- -- -- -- -- 2021-22 Ottawa Senators NHL 53 0 14 14 30 -17 -- -- -- -- -- 2021-22 Belleville Senators AHL 9 1 2 3 10 -5 -- -- -- -- -- 2022-23 Ottawa Senators NHL 74 2 16 18 38 5 -- -- -- -- -- 2023-24 Ottawa Senators NHL 76 3 17 20 36 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flickyoursedin Posted June 1 Share Posted June 1 Makes sense as he’s a small LHD that doesn’t really chip in offensively. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grinch Posted June 1 Share Posted June 1 I traded for this guy in nhl23 and he became a 87 over all In EA we trust 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Long Posted June 1 Share Posted June 1 It's all lining up for us to get Brady here. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain insano Posted June 1 Share Posted June 1 I would love to take flyers on any struggling talent out of Ottawa at bargain costs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N4ZZY Posted June 1 Share Posted June 1 too bad he's not a RHD. If he was, I wouldn't mind taking a gamble on the guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alflives Posted June 1 Share Posted June 1 Is this the same we are likely doing with Woo? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuck73_3 Posted June 1 Share Posted June 1 51 minutes ago, Alflives said: Is this the same we are likely doing with Woo? Woo is progressing well can’t see him not being qualified Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWJC Posted June 1 Author Share Posted June 1 11 minutes ago, canuck73_3 said: Woo is progressing well can’t see him not being qualified Woo might even get reps this year 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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