Erik Brannstrom was drafted 15th overall by the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017, but as they are wont to do with first-rounders, they soon traded him to the Ottawa Senators, with Oscar Lindberg and a second-round pick in the 2020 draft that became Egor Sokolov, for Mark Stone and Tobias Lindberg. During this time, it was believed that Brannstrom's skating ability, accurate passes and slightly-above average shot would enable him to man the point on an NHL powerplay, possibly on the top unit; if he were to add muscle to his small 5'10", 185-pound frame and round out his defensive game, he could have been top-4 material.
Things started off well enough for him, appearing in the 2019 AHL All-Star Game for the Golden Knight'S affiliate Chicago Wolves in his first pro season in North America, on his way to a 28-point (7 goals, 21 assists) season in 41 games in Chocago, followed by 4 assists in 9 games with the Belleville Senators to close off the season. He would spend four seasons alternating between the AHL and NHL before finding a permanent spot on the main Sens roster, albeit as a depth player behind Thomas Chabot, Jakob Chychrun and eventually Jake Sanderson. He would once again be a "tweener", moving from the Vancouver Canucks to the Abbotsford Canucks in 2024-25, before spending the entire 2025-26 season in the AHL, split between the Hartford Wolf Pack and Rochester Americans. He opted to go back to Europe last season, signing with Lausanne HC of the Swiss League.
Here he is wearing the Sens' third jersey from 2018-20, on card #544 from Upper Deck's 2019-20 O-Pee-Chee set and Marquee Rookies / Recrues De Renom sub-set, signed in blue sharpie:
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