Avalanche trade Erik Brannstrom to Canucks for Tucker Poolman

Colorado Avalanche General Manager Chris MacFarland continues to be hard at work prior to puck drop on the NHL season. The club announced today that they have traded Defenseman Erik Brannstrom to the Vancouver Canucks, in exchange for Defenseman Tucker Poolman, and a 2025 4th round pick.

Poolman, who has not played in an NHL game since October 2022 and is not expected to play this season, should land on LTIR. Vancouver will also retain 20% of Poolman’s salary in the deal with the Avalanche on the hook for $2M. As for Brannstrom, he was placed on waivers as soon as he officially joined the Canucks organization.

Brannstrom, who signed as an RFA with the Avs this past July after not receiving a qualifying offer from the Ottawa Senators, was an exciting signing for Avs fans at the time. A first round selection of the then newly-expanded Vegas Golden Knights in 2017, Brannstrom was subsequentially dealt to the Sens at the 2019 NHL trade deadline in the deal that saw Mark Stone go to Vegas.

He was never quite able to live up to his draft pedigree as a Senator, and many Avs faithful were hopeful of a resurgence in a system that caters heavily to Brannstrom’s strengths as a puck moving defenseman.

Brannstrom just didn’t put together a standout camp for Colorado, and had some rough moments defensively in preseason play. Competing for a bottom pairing job with the likes of Calvin De Haan, Oliver Kylington and Sam Malinski, Brannstrom was soundly outperformed by perhaps his most comparable competition for a job in Malinski.

With the claiming of John Ludvig, a more physical breed of defenseman from the Pittsburgh Penguins yesterday, it crowded the competition even further.

The Avs come out of this move with one less defenseman competing for a job on the bottom pair, but how Poolman’s LTIR situation will benefit the club as they sort out the situations surrounding Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin in the coming weeks remains to be seen. The Avs cap situation will continue be something to monitor as Nichushkin’s eligibility for reinstatement on November 13th nears.