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Senators Re-Sign Erik Brannstrom

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Saturday: The Senators announced that they’ve signed Brannstrom to a one-year, $2MM contract.  GM Pierre Dorion released the following statement:

Erik took a big step forward last season. Over the year’s second half of games especially, he demonstrated a strong ability to raise his game to the level where he’s using his confidence as an asset. We’re happy to have him under contract for another year.

Friday: Earlier today, the Senators tendered defenseman Erik Brannstrom a qualifying offer to retain his rights.  While that makes him a restricted free agent, he might not be one for long as Chris Johnston of NorthStar Bets and TSN reports (Twitter link) that the two sides are making progress on a new deal.

The 23-year-old was acquired by Ottawa as one of the centerpieces of the Mark Stone trade back in 2019 with the hopes that he’d be able to become an impact offensive defender in the NHL.  That hasn’t exactly played out as planned, however, as Brannstrom had just two goals and 21 points over his first 116 career games as of the end of 2021-22.  Unsurprisingly, that yielded a low-cost one-year bridge deal worth $900K back in September.

However, things went a little better for Brannstrom this past season.  He played in a career-high 74 games with the Sens, picking up a career-best 18 points along the way while averaging just over 16 minutes a night.  Clearly, it’s not the type of production they were hoping for when they got him a few years ago but he has at least now shown he can handle a full-time workload which is an important step for a young blueliner to take.

Brannstrom’s qualifier checked in at $945K but he should be able to land more than that this summer.  He’s eligible for arbitration for the first time and the fact that he has nearly 200 NHL appearances under his belt now along with 49 points should be enough to get at least a small raise from an arbitrator if it was to come to that.  Based on this report, however, it’s unlikely to get to that point.

Maple Leafs Expected To Sign Ryan Reaves

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It appears that the Maple Leafs will be adding some toughness to their roster once the UFA market opens up in less than three hours.  Last night, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported (Twitter link) that Toronto will be signing rugged winger Ryan Reaves to a multi-year contract.  Today, TSN’s Darren Dreger adds (Twitter link) that the AAV for that deal should be around $1.3MM and that it remains to be seen if it will be a two-year agreement or a three-year one.

The 36-year-old started the season with the Rangers but asked to be moved early on after having a very limited role in New York.  He got his wish and was moved to Minnesota in late November, becoming a regular in the lineup for the Wild for the rest of the way.  Reaves was relatively productive in his role, collecting five goals and ten assists in 61 contests with his new team; his 15 points matched the second-best point total of his career.

Of course, Toronto isn’t bringing in Reaves for his point-producing ability.  He has been one of the more physical wingers in the league for more than a decade and while he doesn’t drop the gloves often anymore, that ability remains part of his game.  New GM Brad Treliving evidently would like to see his club get a little more physical up front and bringing in Reaves will certainly help to make his fourth line that much tougher.

Red Wings Re-Sign Gustav Lindstrom

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For the second time in less than an hour, the Red Wings have re-signed one of their non-tendered players.  This time, it’s defenseman Gustav Lindstrom as the team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve signed him to a one-year, $950K contract.

Detroit opted not to tender the 24-year-old an offer of just under $1MM yesterday that also would have given him salary arbitration eligibility.  That proved to be a wise move considering they were able to get him for less than the qualifier by matching the salary he received last season.  Lindstrom will once again be an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent next summer.

Lindstrom played in just 36 games last season, dealing with a couple of injuries while also spending time as a healthy scratch.  He picked up a goal and seven assists in those appearances but saw his ice time dip to a career-low 14:10 per night.

At the moment, Detroit has just five blueliners under contract for next season but with more than $27MM in cap space at their disposal per CapFriendly, that’s likely to change before too long.  Assuming they add a capable veteran or two, it’s likely that Lindstrom will remain in a depth role for 2023-24.

Red Wings Sign Klim Kostin

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A day after non-tendering him, the Red Wings have agreed to terms with winger Klim Kostin, announcing (Twitter link) that they’ve signed him to a two-year contract.  The deal will carry an AAV of $2MM.

The 24-year-old was acquired at the draft from Edmonton along with Kailer Yamamoto (who was later bought out) in exchange for future considerations.  The move allowed Detroit to get a head start on contract negotiations and while it might have taken a little longer than they would have liked, they were able to get a deal in place.  By non-tendering Kostin, the Red Wings eliminated the risk of a higher-than-desired salary arbitration award.

Last season was an interesting one for the 24-year-old.  After failing to crack St. Louis’s roster in training camp, Kostin was placed on waivers and went unclaimed, allowing him to be sent to the minors.  That actually upped his trade value and the next day, Edmonton moved blueliner Dmitri Samorukov (who had also just gone unclaimed) to the Blues to pick up Kostin.

It took a month before Kostin got his first NHL opportunity but when he did, he didn’t look back.  He wound up being a capable bottom-six winger for Edmonton, notching 11 goals and 10 assists in 57 games while averaging a little under three hits per game in just over ten minutes a night.  Kostin also was a good contributor in limited playoff playing time, recording five points despite seeing ATOI dip to less than eight minutes per contest.

While Edmonton certainly would have liked to keep Kostin for themselves, the threat of salary arbitration was too much for them to take the chance, resulting in them giving him away to Detroit.  Clearly, with this contract, the Red Wings feel that Kostin will be capable of playing at least a bigger role for them next season and if he has a performance similar to his 2022-23 campaign, they should get at least a decent return on this deal.

Ryan O’Reilly And Luke Schenn Expected To Test The Market

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The Maple Leafs were hoping to keep a pair of their pending unrestricted free agents in the fold but it may not play out that way.  Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that center Ryan O’Reilly will test the market today while Chris Johnston of NorthStar Bets and TSN adds (Twitter link) that defenseman Luke Schenn will do the same.

O’Reilly was one of Toronto’s key trade deadline acquisitions, coming over in a trade from St. Louis.  The 32-year-old fit in well with his hometown team, picking up 11 points in 13 games down the stretch while winning 62% of his faceoffs.  O’Reilly then put up nine points in 11 playoff contests, cementing himself as one of the top middlemen on the open market; he ranks seventh on our Top 50 UFA list.

LeBrun notes that the Maple Leafs had interest right to the end so it’s possible that the veteran circles back depending on how his market plays out today.  That said, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that Detroit, Montreal, Nashville, and Vancouver are all linked to O’Reilly as well so there could be enough interest to push his price tag out of Toronto’s price range.

As for Schenn, Johnston reports that again, there was mutual interest in getting something done but the level of interest in the 33-year-old has yielded an offer from another team that’s too strong for the Maple Leafs to match.  Schenn matched his career high in points with 22 last season and chipped in with a career-high 318 hits.  After playing for the last four seasons on contracts worth less than $1MM, that seems sure to change today for the 37th-ranked UFA on our list.

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