Quoting: dannibalcorpse
Isles pass because there's *nothing* behind their current RHD depth chart and Brannstrom is just another version of Robin Salo/Sebastian Aho as an offensive minded LHD.
And while a PPG forward at 20 is one hell of an asset, I'd argue that a 22 year old RHD scoring at a 55 point pace is pretty damn close in value. I could see this being a one-for-one type of "challenge" trade if the players were unhappy in their current situations, but I can't see the Islanders needing to also add a 2023 1st rounder.
Brannstrom is very underrated because some people somehow thought he would come and dominate the league at 20 y/o but I disagree with the comparison
Salo is 24 and played 25 NHL games. I really doubt he'll ever be as good as Brannstrom already is
Aho is a little more comparable but he's 27 soon and there's a reason Brannstrom already played more NHL games at 23 (turned 23 in Sept). He's less sheltered than both and actually have impressive advanced stats
Sure, it's hard to shine in DJ Smith mess of a defensive structure/system but he has progressed every season, both sides of the puck. He looked impressive in some games and was one the Sens best players.
I posted his advanced stats yesterday. Brannstrom among the 219 D-men who have at least played 100 ES minutes :
- 22nd in CF/60
- 25th in CF%
- 21st in SF/60
- 22nd in SF%
- 7th in xGF/60
- 21st in xGF%
- 22nd in SCF/60
- 15th in SCF%
- 16th in HDCF/60
- 47th in HDCF%
And while Dobson is awesome, Stutzle will be a special player, which will get clearer and clearer in the near future. He has been PPG (57 pts in 56 GP) since February 15th (33rd in NHL scoring since) and his advanced stats are starting to look impressive. The scary part is that he's just scratching the surface.
No chance I'd do Stutzle for Dobson + 1st and God knows how much the Sens would need Dobson