That's only 2 strikeouts ump! Let Chychrun swing.

We already know what the cap is. It isn't 84.83 million...

The Leafs will buy out Matt Murray, giving Ottawa additional cap space.

You can't buy out a retained salary in AGM.

Honestly, looking back at his trades, I think he got more out of Duchene than he gave up, if you don't count Turris. Hindsight is 20/20 of course.

He did pretty good with the Karlsson and Pageau trades, but the Zibanejad and Stone trades haven't turned out well (so far).

They traded away Turris, Bowers (bust) but most importantly the 1st that led to the Avs taking Bowen Byram 4th overall in 2019.

When trading Duchene, they got 19th overall (Lassi Thomson), Davidsson (bust) and Abramov (Russia). Lassi's value is now closer to a late 2nd early 3rd if they're lucky.

They most definitely lost that trade.

EK trade worked out very well for them but I don't give Dorion too much credit there as no one expected the Sharks to fall off that quickly and gift them a franchise player in Stutzle at 3rd overall.

Stone and Zibanejad trades were trash.

He did very well in getting assets back for Brassard, but then traded Gus for an expiring UFA in Talbot and JBD is currently a 5/6/7 and at best will become a #4.

Dorion needs to go. His asset management is embarassing.

Couldn't have predicted that SJ was going to fall off but the same could be said for the 2018/19 pick. Moreover, when they chose to select Tkachuk in 2018 4th OV it was obvious that they would be bad but who knew their pick would have been 4th OV again but I'm sure your glad with having Tkachuk over who knows who (might not even have been Byram).

Chychrun is next. Avoid any pending big name American ufa should be priority for most Canadian teams

I actually agree. I've wanted to see Ottawa succeed with all of the raw talent they have, but Dorion is a disaster.

Not to mention the Chychrun trade. Giving up a first (12OA) and two seconds for a player in a position you absolutely do not need more of. I mean, you can always roll your lines, but seriously?

I disagree on Chychrun. I think he's a true Top pairing guy, just needs to stay healthy. Much higher likelihood of him staying as he has Ottawa ties and family here. Ottawa definitely needed defence so not sure what you mean by that. I get they have Chabot, Sanderson and Branny at LD too but one can easily play 1RD with Zub as the shutdown guy on the 2nd pairing.

Brannstrom hasn’t panned out in the slightest. They were calling him the next EK65 and he ended up becoming a fine middle/bottom pairing guy.

Sure, Chych is great… if hes healthy. Dudes never played a full season ever, and you’re just taking a spot away from Sanderson to flourish. If Dorion wanted to upgrade on the back end, he couldn’t have payed that price for a RHD with less of an injury history? That trade was brutal and had everyone shaking their heads.

Firstly, Brannstrom didn't put those expectations on himself, his GM and fans did. He has developed very well over the past couple years and is now going to be a solid #5 on a very good D core. He can be in your Top 4 if you have an injury. Every defenceman who played with Branny last year was much better with him than without.

There is a pretty clear issue of keeping players in Ottawa - how many RHD that are available would consider staying long term in Ottawa? Karlsson is the only one and we can't afford him. Chychrun is from here and will stay here long term, unlike Cat who just bolted.

I would trade 12th overall plus a couple of late 2nds any day for a 25 year old top pairing defender with 2 years left at $4.6M, especially if I know he is likely to stay after that.

Also not sure what you mean by him blocking Sanderson from flourishing - Sanderson is already the best defenceman on this team and will get #1 minutes this year, likely more than Chabot and Chychrun.

What we paid also needs to be weighed against what Arizona's asking price was.

2023 1st
2024 1st
Solid prospect (i.e. Ridly Greig)

vs

2023 1st
2024 2nd
2026 2nd


And like you said, Chychrun's family is from the Ottawa Valley.

I would do this trade all over again as well.

Like you said in the description, all we need to do is stop having Pierre Dorion as our GM


The problem was more that some people can't project players at all. I have projected Brannstrom as a future Tobias Enstrom for years and it's looking more and more like it. EK is an ultra rare player, the chance that Brannstrom developed into an EK was extremely slim. Vegas would have never traded him if that was possible

That said, Brannstrom has not finished rising, he is already a quality 2-way D-man with very good advanced stats. He is panning out but not the way some wanted, which was overhype.


That's an argument I haven't used enough. And Brannstrom mostly played his NHL games with Josh Brown (barely NHL level), Nick Holden (declined version) and now Travis Hamonic (declinign too)? Poor guy, he had to do it all by himself in a lot of adversity

I know it's not how you meant it, but I can't stop laughing at how rude the phrasing "future Tobias Enstrom" comes across as.

Damn, you'll have to explain this one

I have absolutely no idea what is rude in there lol

Tobias Enstrom was a pretty good player, not a star but solid all around

It's definitely my own weird brain - I haven't even thought of the name Tobias Enstrom in years, so just the idea of his ceiling being "guy you will not think about for years before randomly remembering" gave me a chuckle

I see, but why did you use "rude"? Rude for Brannstrom to be compared to a player "we forgot about"?

I use players of past and present to project/compare a young player and in that case, I couldn't think about a more recent player. Both 5'10 LHD from Sweden, thought to be offensive D-men but primarily good defensively. Can run a PP really well but excel in puck retrieval and in transition. They move the puck swiftly. Both can get physically dominated in front of the net or in the corners but won't shy away from contact to make the play.

The main difference between the 2 is that Toby started his NHL career at 23 y/o (EB played his first NHL game at 19 y/o), the age Branny is now. Enstrom averaged 35 pts per 82 games during his career so we'll see what Brannstrom can do offensively from now on. 20 from 23 Brannstrom has averaged 21 pts per 82 games.


Speaking of players of the past, do you know who I compare Shane Pinto with? A less physical David Backes. However, doesn't come from me, it was a fellow Sens fan on another forum.