Player Discussion Erik Brännström - D - Part III

[coladin]

At this stage if they need Chabot's minutes to be less, you absolutely at this stage have to put Brannstrom on PP1. He was very good last night, only got plastered once

 

[RAFI BOMB]

I don’t understand the concern about him getting hit. He’s not a damsel in distress. He was targeted on the forecheck against the bruins (and pasted often) but he was taking hits to make plays, something we give everyone but Brannstrom accolades for doing, and (IIRC) didn’t have any terrible turnovers in that game.

Targeting a young defenseman for dump-ins is nothing new. It’s a classic strategy teams employ often when playing young defensemen. Heck, it literally took years for teams to stop doing that to Karlsson even when he was calmly corralling the puck absolutely roasting them taking it back the other way for odd man rushes.

I don’t really see it as any different than teams trying hard to match up their top line against your fourth line or third pair. Does that mean you bench guys like Sabu? No, you just use them accordingly.

I also don’t get this fear in the context of the Sens. In the last few days we’ve heard that team executives were screaming to dump the puck in Josh Brown’s corner to a level the media guys had never heard before, including the 30+ games Brannstrom played last season. Personally, I’m more confident in the Sens coming away with possession following a dump into Brannstrom’s corner than Brown’s.

He’s short, but he’s not that small, and he’s a grown ass man. You can’t treat him like bubble boy and protect him, if injuries happen they happen, if he’s really giving the puck away much more than anyone else then bench him. It doesn’t have to be complicated. We know the guys they’re sending out now aren’t working, the Sens need to let him try and see what happens. Judge him by his performance, and results, not by your anxiety.

Firstly, this problem has been an issue with Brannstrom's play for a while. Troy Mann has had multiple interviews where he has stated that this is an issue that Brannstrom has at both the AHL and NHL level. Therefore while you make strong and compelling arguments there is a possibility that there is more significance to this issue than you are considering. That the fact that this issue has persisted and that Mann has been public about it might be an indication that Brannstrom is struggling to make the necessary adaptations and that maybe there are some legitimate reasons to be concerned about whether Brannstrom can in fact make those adaptations.

Secondly, there is an asset management issue here. This could limit Brannstrom's potential upside because his struggle to adapt could reveal some more fundamental issues. It also puts him at high risk for injuries and in particular concussions which could limit the longevity of his career and impair his overall playing ability if for example concussion issues persist or he becomes more panicked in his play when anticipating hits in the future. If these issues could limit his upside and this outcome seems highly probable then it could be smart to try to maximize his value to the organization via trade.

 

[Sensinitis]

At this point and despite his deficiencies, he is clearly our 3rd best D behind Chabot and Zub. It’s not saying much considering how bad our D is, but it is what it is.

He doesn’t always get it done convincingly, but even when he’s getting crushed it’s often to make a play. Hopefully those moments become more rare. His prowess on the PP and in the offensive zone is very evident.

 

[bicboi64]

I thought he played solid last night and all that can be done is to let him play more and work on improving while in the big league.

 

[Korpse]

Man, I been huge advocate for Brannstrom, but my guy gets pushed around like a fly.

The best thing we can do now is literally let him play through the struggles. We gave Cowen, Ceci, Wiercioch and you NAME IT full seasons to find their game--we can do it with Brannstrom. If he falters, we are no worse for wear with our atrocious alternatives; if he succeeds, we have a top 4/serviceable defender.

I agree he needs to play through his struggles, you've got nothing to lose at this point. That said, the difference between Thomson and Brannstrom last night was concerning from Brannstrom's perspective.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

I agree he needs to play through his struggles, you've got nothing to lose at this point. That said, the difference between Thomson and Brannstrom last night was concerning from Brannstrom's perspective.

Okay. Thomson hype is getting a little crazy. There were a few times where thomson (understandably) did dumb things with the puck. One time I particular he had the puck behind the net and blindly wrister it around the boards. The side he twisted it down was full of opposing players. All of which missed it.
Brannstrom has shown a ton more at the NHL level. And was just as good last night

 

[Korpse]

Okay. Thomson hype is getting a little crazy. There were a few times where thomson (understandably) did dumb things with the puck. One time I particular he had the puck behind the net and blindly wrister it around the boards. The side he twisted it down was full of opposing players. All of which missed it.
Brannstrom has shown a ton more at the NHL level. And was just as good last night

I agree Thomson's decision making at times is questionable. Touched on it last night and repeated it all of last season when he was in the AHL. At the same time, he does the things he needs to to play in the NHL regularly. With Brannstrom the consistency isn't there yet for me. I am in favor of giving Brannstrom the time in the NHL to hopefully sort it out but I think Thomson showed more in one game off the puck in one game than Brannstrom ever has. Brannstrom has the higher upside but I don't know that he will ever reach it because he lacks consistency off the puck, even with the puck at times.

 

[cudi]

the bar for Brannstrom and Thomson is very different too. A guy playing his 1st NHL game isnt gonna have close to the same expectations as a guy a lot of people think is ready to be an NHL regular. #perspective

 

[krapsik]

He needs to be given #1PP spot not to give Chabot some rest. But cause he is much better player for that spot than Chabot. He hase better vision, quicker hands. And i think his shot is more dangerous. IMHO

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Nothing against Thomson but Brian Lee also had a great first game.

So far so good and that's great but the real challenge is can he be good for a full season?

 

[Ice-Tray]

Okay. Thomson hype is getting a little crazy. There were a few times where thomson (understandably) did dumb things with the puck. One time I particular he had the puck behind the net and blindly wrister it around the boards. The side he twisted it down was full of opposing players. All of which missed it.
Brannstrom has shown a ton more at the NHL level. And was just as good last night

He hasn’t had a single practice with the team and came in cold. He was making those kinds of plays off instinct, from another team in another league.

His gaps and one on one defending were excellent. His passing and skating were excellent.

I suspect once he is able to practice with the team a bit, he’ll have a better understanding on where he needs to put the puck under pressure.

He was miles better than Branstrom last night, and Erik had a decent night himself. Lassi was a revelation for our back end really.

Now it’s one game, but it was a pretty epic first NHL game.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Nothing against Thomson but Brian Lee also had a great first game.

So far so good and that's great but the real challenge is can he be good for a full season?

Same .. He played well. But we can all remember how good Lajoie looked initially as well. One game is one game.. Its a grind to play in the NHL and you have to be able to go again and again. Its early days for Thomson. We all wish him well.. but we need to see him in a bunch of games to see where he really is.

Brannstrom looked very good running the PP and held his own in other areas. Going down to 5 D put things in quite a blender. Not much penalty trouble helped.

Not sure when we get players back. I think the next 4-5 games against a variety of teams we'll all have a better sample to just see where they are at.

 

[Yak]

 

[coladin]

Incredible. This year is incomprehensible

 

[Bileur]

FFS, can someone call Mark Stone and ask him to call of them curse? Damn.

 

[TheNewEra]

i heard DJ Smith beat him with a baseball bat, something to do with insulting his ability to evaluate talent

 

[BigRig4]

Didn't Branny finish the game though?? Is it possible Dregs is mixing up Branny with Zub? Would make way more sense.

 

[aragorn]

I agree he needs to play through his struggles, you've got nothing to lose at this point. That said, the difference between Thomson and Brannstrom last night was concerning from Brannstrom's perspective.

I thought both Thomsom & Heatherington had a good game & kept it simple. Let's face it one game is meaningless, but Thomson IMO has a more likely chance of sticking along with JBD.

 

[BradyTkachucky]

Oh man, what next?

 

[aragorn]

This is something worth discussing if a player plays in such a way that they could be placing themselves in positions to constantly get hurt. I could cost the org a ton of money in rehab costs, not to mention constantly losing that player for periods of time where they can't use him in their lineups. There are consequences to injuries for both player & team.

 

[Alf Silfversson]

If this was Boro we'd be talking about what a warrior he was to finish the game.

Instead we'll hear about how the guy sounds like Ikea furniture that isn't built well.

 

[burf]

This is something worth discussing if a player plays in such a way that they could be placing themselves in positions to constantly get hurt. I could cost the org a ton of money in rehab costs, not to mention constantly losing that player for periods of time where they can't use him in their lineups. There are consequences to injuries for both player & team.

Maybe you’d have a point if it was a collarbone or shoulder, but it’s a broken hand. That’s gonna be from a slash, not from a body check.

e: And his other injury this year was from a crosscheck to the face. Yes he gets hit a lot, but so far in his career he hasn’t shown himself to be more injury prone than anyone else as a result of those hits.

 

[Alf Silfversson]

This is something worth discussing if a player plays in such a way that they could be placing themselves in positions to constantly get hurt. I could cost the org a ton of money in rehab costs, not to mention constantly losing that player for periods of time where they can't use him in their lineups. There are consequences to injuries for both player & team.

LOL. Now do Brady Tkachuk who gets in way more collisions. Not sure you've ever played hockey or other contact sports but there are MANY times where making a hit hurts more than taking one.

You'll go to no lengths to disparage a player because they're under 6 feet tall. In the case of player injury it's kind of disgusting actually. People get hurt playing hockey. That applies to guys who are 6'4 (Lindros x2) to small guys (Pavel Bure).

 

[cudi]

This is something worth discussing if a player plays in such a way that they could be placing themselves in positions to constantly get hurt. I could cost the org a ton of money in rehab costs, not to mention constantly losing that player for periods of time where they can't use him in their lineups. There are consequences to injuries for both player & team.

So we probably shouldnt have guys like Austin Watson on the roster.

Or does this only apply to small players?

 

[BigRig4]

I'm convinced he meant Zub... didn't Zub go off holding his hand?