Brannstrom is safe for at least another yr, I expect he will start the yr in Belleville & be an injury callup & then possibly a regular after a few guys are moved leading up to the deadline. I'm not sure how many yrs Sanderson will stay in school, but he might come out after one yr, if that is the case it will likely be to play in Ottawa rather than Belleville given he has the skating & size already to be an NHL player. I expect that Gudbranson & Reilly could both be moved by the deadline making room for Brannstrom or Zub & maybe Jaros or Lajoie to finish the yr.
Of course, the following yr when Thomson, JBD & potentially Sanderson could be here the competition for a defensive spot will be that much greater given that those guys won't be moved at the deadline, including Wolanin & Zub. I still expect that one if not two, of Brannstrom, Wolanin or Thomson could be moved by this time next yr, I don't see a need for all three. I also don't like small soft players on the third D pairing, that's traditionally where defensive defenceman play, the shutdown guys & PK defencemen, guys who can clear the front of the net & play a much tougher game. Ottawa needs at least a couple of big tough D on their blueline.
IMO Ottawa needs another defenceman like Sanderson to play on that 2nd RD pairing with size, mobility & can add some offence & they could already have one in Zub. We'll see how good he is this season & whether he is a longer term solution or not. On the 3rd pair right side I really hope they are able to draft a defenceman like Roman Schmidt who is an excellent skater & player. This is how I see the future defence playing out & the only real question for me is how Zub turns out, hopefully, he turns into Gonchar.
Chabot - JBD
Sanderson - Zub
Kleven - Schmidt
