Senators have had trade talks on young defenseman

As Ottawa looks to clear up cap space to sign Shane Pinto, a second trade option has emerged. While it’s well-known that the Senators have had discussions surrounding Mathieu Joseph, TSN’s Darren Dreger reports in the latest Insider Trading segment (video link) that the Sens have also had trade discussions involving defenseman Erik Brannstrom.

The 24-year-old was the centerpiece of the Mark Stone trade back in 2019 as Ottawa hoped that the 2017 first-rounder would become a key cog on their back end, particularly on the offensive side of the ice.  That hasn’t exactly happened though as Brannstrom has just four goals in 191 career appearances at the top level.  While he established himself as an every-game regular last season, he averaged just 16:07 per game, basically being their sixth defender.

On the surface, moving Brannstrom should be an easier task for GM Pierre Dorion than Joseph.  While Joseph has three years left on his deal at a $2.95MM cap hit, Brannstrom is on a one-year agreement at a $2MM cost.  With a lot of teams capped out or close to it, even $2MM isn’t the easiest for some clubs to take on but with a shorter-term agreement, a few teams might be more open to it.

That said, with Ottawa’s cap situation (they have less than $65K in room, per CapFriendly), moving out Brannstrom alone isn’t enough to get them enough money for Pinto as he’s expected to come in around the $2.5MM mark on his contract.  In Brannstrom’s case, they’d need to bring a sixth defender back onto the roster if he was to be moved, eating into their cost savings.  A follow-up move would need to be made – potentially via the waiver wire – in order for the money to fall into place.

On top of that, it’s worth noting that if Pinto gets a two-year bridge deal as expected, the cap hit for this season will be higher than the AAV (while next season would be lower).  That gap from the AAV increases each day he goes unsigned, creating a bit more pressure for Dorion to find a suitable cap-clearing trade sooner than later whether it involves Brannstrom, Joseph, or someone else.