Avalanche trade defenseman Erik Brannstrom to Canucks

The Colorado Avalanche traded defenseman Erik Brannstrom of Eksjo, Sweden to the Vancouver Canucks for defenseman Tucker Poolman of Dubuque, Iowa and a fourth round pick in the 2025 National Hockey League Entry Draft according to nhl.com on Sunday. In an interesting decision, the Canucks then placed Brannstrom on waivers.

Erik Brannstrom

Brannstrom previously played the last six seasons with the Ottawa Senators from 2018 to 2024. In 76 games with the Senators this past season, he had three goals and 17 assists for 20 points. Brannstrom was a +5 with 36 penalty minutes, one shorthanded point, 317 shots on goal, 328 blocked shots, 176 hits, 74 takeaways, and 191 giveaways.

Brannstrom’s shorthanded point came in a 4-1 Senators win over the Montreal Canadiens on January 23. He helped set up Ridly Greig of Lethbridge, Alberta to open the scoring at 7:45 of the first period. Joshua Norris of Oxford, Michigan had the other assist. This was also Brannstrom’s first and only shorthanded point in his NHL career that has spanned 266 regular season games.

Brannstrom has had seven goals and 62 assists for 69 points in his career. He is a -13 with 145 penalty minutes, 11 power-play points, 317 shots on goal, 328 blocked shots, 176 hits, 74 takeaways, and 191 giveaways. Brannstrom signed a one-year deal worth $900,000 with Colorado on July 2,

Tucker Poolman

Poolman is joining his third NHL franchise after three seasons with the Winnipeg Jets (2017 to 2018, and 2019 to 2021), and two seasons with the Vancouver Canucks (2021 to 2023). In 2022-23, he had one assist for one point in three games. Poolman was a +1 with three shots on goal, two blocked shots, two hits, one takeaway, and one giveaway. Poolman missed the entire 2023-24 NHL regular season, and is expected to miss the entire 2024-25 NHL season too due to concussion issues, which has led to neurological complications from serious migraines according to Jagraj Lalli of canucksarmy.com.

The Canucks initially signed Poolman to a four year deal worth $10 million on July 28, 2021. In 163 NHL regular season games, he had six goals and 17 assists for 23 points. Poolman was a +2 with 38 penalty minutes, one shorthanded point, one game-winning goal, 191 shots on goal, 201 blocked shots, 182 hits, 35 takeaways, and 110 giveaways.

Poolman’s lone career shorthanded point was also his only game-winning goal. It came on March 3, 2020 in a 3-1 Jets win over the Buffalo Sabres. Poolman scored from Kyle Connor of Shelby Township, Michigan and Andrew Copp of Ann Arbor, Michigan with three minutes and 55 seconds left in the first period to give the Jets a 2-0 lead.