Brannstrom excited to finally play with Sens
Patience turned out to be a virtue for Erik Brannstrom.
As the Ottawa Senators wrapped up their road trip Thursday night in Montreal, the 21-year-old defenceman was moved to the active roster and made his season debut against the Canadiens at Bell Centre.
While Brannstrom would have had a shot at making the club coming out of camp Jan. 13, he was only able to participate in one scrimmage because he got stuck in quarantine for nearly a month. He stayed in a hotel for 14 days after arriving from Europe and then was exposed to someone who had COVID-19.
As a result of that close contact, Brannstrom had to spend another 14 days locked up away from others. He had been skating with the club's AHL group at the Bell Sensplex in Kanata while the Senators were on the road and made the short trek to Montreal Wednesday to join the team.
“I'm really happy to be back and I'm really excited to play games,” Brannstrom said on a Zoom call before the game. “I had to quarantine for a pretty long time. I've been able to practise a lot and it's been good.”
When the Senators assigned him to Belleville last month, general manager Pierre Dorion stated publicly he “felt bad” for Brannstrom because he was the victim of circumstances beyond his control. Dorion said at the time that Brannstrom would be back once he had the opportunity to get some practice.
He skated for nearly two weeks with Belleville while the Senators were in Western Canada.
“He's going to help us move pucks back there,” coach D.J. Smith said.
“He's just got to go out there and play. One morning skate and the first game in a month is a hard thing, but he can jump into the play, create some offence for us, break us out, and that's something we desperately need at this point. He's going to get on the power play and he'll get some opportunities.”
OFF THE GLASS
With Brannstrom activated, veteran defenceman Braydon Coburn cleared waivers at noon Thursday and was placed on the taxi squad.
Coburn had been playing regularly due to Christian Wolanin and Thomas Chabot being sidelined with injuries. Chabot is back, but Wolanin remains sidelined.
Meanwhile, centre Josh Norris was looking forward to his first game in Montreal.
“It's the first time for me here so I'm excited to play in a great building,” said Norris. “I went out there just to look around before practice. It's a historic building and franchise so it's exciting to be here.”
THE LAST WORDS
Winger Alex Galchenyuk returned after being a healthy scratch for four games. That meant winger Cedric Paquette was out. Smith noted he wanted the club to score more goals . ... The expectation is the Belleville Senators and Toronto Marlies will get clearance from the province to play in Ontario this season, but both teams may be forced to start on the road. One could play the Laval Rocket in Montreal while the other team goes West to face Calgary's farm team and the Manitoba Moose in Winnipeg.