Sens re-sign highly touted defensive prospect, which could actually help the Leafs in the Rasmus Sandin negotiations
The Ottawa Senators are gearing up for a pivotal season following some big offseason moves and they just announced another shrewd move, re-signing defenseman Erik Brannstrom to a 1 year, $900k contract.
Brannstrom was a key piece of the Mark Stone trade with the Vegas Golden Knights but hasn't managed to live up to the hype as of yet. The 23-year-old Swede has played just 116 games over 4 seasons with the Senators and set a new career high in games played this season with 53. Though he scored no goals, he did notch 14 assists.
It's no secret that Sens head coach DJ Smith has had trouble trusting Brannstrom to play meaningful minutes. From the outside looking in, it looks like the only reason the Sens are holding onto Brannstrom at this point is that he's the only remaining piece from the Mark Stone trade. Moving him at this point would make the trade a total loss.
Of course, as a Leafs website, we have to look at this from a Leafs angle. Brannstrom is a comparable for Rasmus Sandin and his $900K undoubtedly helps the Leafs in their negotiations.
As you can see, Brannstrom not only has more games played than Sandin, but has put up points more consistently. Kyle Dubas can now use the Brannstrom deal as an example in contract negotiations. At under a million dollars, it's a much more helpful comparable for Dubas than the recently signed Dobson and Romanov contracts signed by Lou Lamoriello on Long Island. Training camp and the pre season are hurtling towards us, whatever Dubas' plan is for Sandin and the Salary Cap, he's running out of time to make it happen.
