The Vancouver Canucks acquired defenceman Erik Brannstrom from the Colorado Avalanche for defenceman Tucker Poolman and a 2025 fourth-round draft pick.
Brannstrom, 25, had spent his entire six-year career with the Ottawa Senators before signing with the Avalanche in free agency in July. He signed a one-year, $900,000 US deal. The five-foot-10, 185-pounder had three goals and 17 assists in 76 games for Ottawa in 2023-24.
Brannstrom was the 15th overall pick in the 2017 draft by the Vegas Golden Knights. The Swede has seven goals and 62 assists in 266 career games.
Poolman last appeared in an NHL game on Oct. 18, 2023 for the Canucks and has been sidelined since due to a head injury. He skated in three games for Vancouver in 2022-23 and had one assist.
The 31-year-old is expected to miss the 2024-25 season due to injury, according to a release from the Avalanche. Vancouver is retaining 20 per cent of Poolman’s salary as a part of the deal.
Bruins sign Swayman for 8 years, $66M
The Boston Bruins signed goalie Jeremy Swayman on Sunday to an eight-year contract that will pay him $66 million US, ending a second straight summer of contentious negotiations just two days before the season opener.
The deal comes a year after the team took Swayman to arbitration and less than a week after Bruins president Cam Neely told reporters: “I have 64 million reasons why I’d be playing right now.” Swayman’s agent, Lewis Gross, denied that the team had offered the 25-year-old from Alaska $64 million.
But in the end they did, avoiding a holdout that threatened to derail the season for the Original Six franchise that has had six (non-pandemic-shortened) 100-point seasons in a row but hasn’t gotten past the second round of the playoffs since 2019.
The $8.25 average annual value makes Swayman, who has never before worked a season as a team’s sole top goalie, among the top five highest-paid goalies in the NHL. Only Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky, Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy and Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck make more.