Senators Re-Sign RFA Defenceman Erik Brannstrom to a One-Year Deal
It took some time to get here, but Brannstrom is starting to show flashes of his Junior excellence.
Nov 12, 2022; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Ottawa Senators defenseman Erik Brannstrom (26) passes the puck against the Philadelphia Flyers in the third period at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-USA TODAY Sports - Senators Re-Sign RFA Defenceman Erik Brannstrom to a One-Year DealJust a few hours before the annual unrestricted free agent frenzy was scheduled to begin, the Ottawa Senators have taken care of business with one of their key restricted free agents.
The club announced this morning that Erik Brannstrom has been signed to a one-year contract worth $2 million. It's a big bump from the career best $900,000 that he made last season. The 23-year-old had two goals and 18 points in 74 games, and tied for the team lead with a plus 5 rating.
It was clear to all observers that Brannstrom's confidence began to bloom in the second half of last season, especially when carrying the puck. We've started to witness the swagger Brannstrom showed regularly as a junior player and captain of Sweden's World Junior team.
"Erik took a big step forward last season," GM Pierre Dorion said in a club news release. "Over the second half of the season especially, he demonstrated a strong ability to raise his game to the level where he's using his confidence as an asset. We're happy to have him under contract for another year."
Brannstrom has now played in 190 NHL games for the Senators and no longer looks like a player feeling the weight of expectations. That's hard a thing to shake when you're the player that was supposed to help Ottawa fans forget about their breakup with Mark Stone in 2019.
While the Senators' top four defencemen are completely set for this fall, Brannstrom is a lock for the number five role. But given that Thomas Chabot, Artem Zub and Jakob Chychrun haven't exactly been iron men lately, Brannstrom is dynamic enough that he should be able to take on more than just a bottom pairing role where required, especially since we may not have seen his best yet. If it continues to improve, that will at least keep the top four from getting complacent.
It remains to be seen who Brannstrom will be paired with to start the year, especially with the Sens dangling a big pay cut in front of UFA Travis Hamonic right now.
The Senators still have several other RFAs they say they plan to sign, including Shane Pinto, Egor Sokolov, Jacob Bernard-Docker, and Kevin Mandolese. The list also includes Alex DeBrincat, who's willing to sign a one year deal like Brannstrom. But unlike Brannstrom, DeBrincat will be a UFA next summer and the Sens don't want to lose him and get nothing in return for the asset.
Brannstrom's one year deal indicates the Sens still want to see more before they lock him to something longer term – a "show me" kind of deal. But based on Brannstrom's improvements last season, he may be looking at it as an "I'll show you" kind of deal.