The Avalanche’s defense carousel continued on Sunday. Following the waiver wire pickup of John Ludvig, the team made a trade, sending defenseman Erik Brannstrom to the Vancouver Canucks for Tucker Poolman and a 2025 fourth-round draft pick.
Poolman, 31, is injured and will not play in 2024-25. The defenseman missed the 2023-24 season and dressed in only three games in 2022-23. His career is likely over. The Canucks are retaining 20% of Poolman’s salary, which means they won’t need to use LTIR and could instead accrue cap space leading up to the trade deadline. The addition of Brannstrom ($900,000) plus the retention ($500,000) both fit under their $88 million cap. Brannstrom was also placed on waivers by the Canucks following the trade.
For the Avs, Poolman will likely be placed on LTIR once the cap space is needed, whether on Monday or when Valeri Nichushkin is reinstated in November. He will otherwise count against the Avs’ cap at $2 million before his contract expires next June.
The Ludvig addition meant general manager Chris MacFarland would likely offload one of Brannstrom or Oliver Kylington. The team didn’t see enough from either of them during training camp to keep them around. And Brannstrom’s time in Colorado has come to an end before it even started.
More to come.
