The Ottawa Senators have locked up two key pieces of their defensive core long-term, and that could lead to youngster Erik Brannstrom being shipped out of Canada's capital, according to TSN's Darren Dreger.
“[Dorion] is trying to move Mathieu Joseph. He has had conversations about moving Erik Brannstrom,” Dreger reported on Thursday's edition of Insider Trading.
The Senators are strapped to the NHL's salary cap, and restricted free agent Shane Pinto remains unsigned. Both Joseph and Brannstrom are potential players who could be traded to help the team lock up Pinto, per Dreger.
The 24-year-old Brannstrom scored 18 points in 74 games last season, his second campaign after recording 14 assists in 53 games in 2022-23. All 191 games of his career have been played in Ottawa.
Brannstrom originally made the trip from Las Vegas to Canada after he was acquired in the 2019 NHL Trade Deadline swap that sent now-Stanley Cup champion Mark Stone to the Golden Knights.
The Swedish D-man signed a one-year contract worth $2 million this summer, and is due to be a restricted free agent after the season. With Thomas Chabot, Jake Sanderson and Jakob Chychrun eating up most of the minutes on the back end, it could make sense to get the blueliner more minutes in a different NHL market.
The Senators have just $62,620 in cap space, per Cap Friendly. Something will need to give this season if Pierre Dorion hopes to lock up Shane Pinto, and that could lead to either Mathieu Joseph or Erik Brannstrom moving on from the organization.
