The Senators have added to their COVID list as the team announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Nick Holden and associate coach Jack Capuano have been placed into COVID protocol. Taking Holden’s place on the roster will be blueliner Erik Brannstrom who has been recalled from AHL Belleville.
Holden is in his first season with Ottawa and has played in all but one of their 11 games so far, recording an assist while averaging 17:35 per game of ice time, primarily on the third pairing. It’s his presence on the roster that played a role in Brannstrom being sent to the minors at the start of the season as having the 22-year-old as a healthy scratch with the Senators would hardly have been ideal from a development perspective. Brannstrom has a goal and two assists in nine games with AHL Belleville so far this season.
Capuano and Holden will join winger Austin Watson in the protocols after Watson was added there back on Friday and will be there for at least ten days. While some teams have had some cap challenges when players are added to the list, that won’t be the case for the Sens who will still have more than $12MM in cap room following Brannstrom’s promotion, per CapFriendly.
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