Despite playoff exit – Erik Brännström hopes his season isn’t over
March 14th is no date to end your hockey season. For Vegas Golden Knights’ prospect Erik Brännström, it’s way too early.
The slick defensemen experienced a playoff exit with reigning Swedish champions HV71 yesterday. And boy, did it sting.
“It was an empty feeling this morning. I’m used to having longer seasons than this, but we weren’t good enough in these two games and that’s an awful feeling, awful and empty”, a downbeat Brännström told Swedish website hockeysverige.se earlier today.
The 18 year-old, chosen by Vegas as the 15th player in the first round of last summer’s entry draft, can look back on a season where he met expectations. At the beginning of the season, HV71’s coaching staff didn’t give Brännström a whole lot of responsibility, but as the year progressed and injuries hit their blueline hard, the youngster became one of the team’s most relied upon players.
In their last playoff game against Linköping, Brännström logged 22.22 minutes of ice time. More than any other player on the team besides the goalie. As his confidence has grown, so has Brännström’s offensive output. After going goalless for a large chunk of the season, he tallied twice in three games as February turned into March and ended the regular season with 15 points in 44 games.
“I’ve been playing pretty well, even though I didn’t have as many points as I would have liked in the beginning of the season”, Brännström said.
“I still think I’ve been able to create som offense and I’ve felt comfortable out there. By the end of the season, I got going more and more. I’ve been putting up more points and contributed more. I’m very content with how I played towards the end here.”
And although HV71’s season might be over, Brännström’s is probably not. As he’s signed to a contract by the Golden Knights, everything points to him flying to North America to finish the year with Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League.
“I’m going to talk to my agent today and then we’ll see what happens. Nothing is decided yet”, Brännström told hockeysverige.se and added that he would really like to go. “Of course. The season ended pretty early here and I would like to keep playing for a few more months.”
For Swedish hockey fans, last night’s game might have been the last they get to see of Erik Brännström in a really long time. If he gets to decide, he’ll play in the NHL next season.
“Obviously, I would like to go there (in camp) and do everything in my power to grab a jersey. Nothing is decided yet, but I would like to go there, that’s no secret. Moving there is my primary goal.”