Ottawa Senators Sign Erik Brannstrom to One-Year Contract

Senators come to terms with the 23-year-old defenceman 

The Ottawa Senators announced today that they have signed polarizing defenceman Erik Brannnstrom to a one-year deal, one-way deal worth $900,000.

In 53 games last season in Ottawa, Brannstrom was able to produce 14 assists while playing most of the season on the bottom-pairing. Despite inconsistent deployment and less than ideal playing partners, he will still have to prove he can be trusted by D.J. Smith.

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14 points in 53 games are definitely underwhelming for Brannstrom, however, this can be the result of several mitigating factors; spending time on the third-pairing with Josh Brown and limited time on the second power-play with lacking talent. Near the end of the season when Thomas Chabot missed a month due to injury, Brannstrom saw time on the top pair with Artem Zub and also in my opinion, thrived on the top power-play unit. In this 18-game sample, the diminutive defenceman was able to nab 8 assists, including 4 on the power-play, where his dynamic puck movement was on full display. Of course, you would still like Brannstrom to produce more with his increased role, but there’s no denying that he did enough to show he’s capable of playing those minutes.

If the Senators are not able to trade Nikita Zaitsev before the start of the season, they will enter the season with 7 players on one-way contracts.

There’s no reason why Zaitsev should be getting minutes at the start of the season, a Holden-Brannstrom third-pairing should provide the team a much better option at the bottom.