Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
Yes, if Brouwer cannot elevate himself above the fourth line, I agree, he is done. But as has been pointed out numerous times already on this board both he and Bennett were not half bad through the first two months of the season when they were paired primarily together. Brouwer's game clearly suffered after having returned from injury, and I think it is a reasonable expectation to project that in full health he will again approach his career average. He was on pace to enjoy a +35-point season before breaking his finger on 23 Dec.
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Without turning this into a Brouwer thread, here's a quick look at Brouwer pre-Dec23 and post, strictly 5-on-5:
Before Dec 23:
On-Ice
CF/60: 49.13
FF/60: 34.81
SF/60: 24.93
SCF/60: 21.34
HDCF/60: 7.16
SH%: 6.90
GF/60: 1.72
After Dec 23:
On-Ice
CF/60: 47.84
FF/60: 34.72
SF/60: 26.11
SCF/60: 21.87
HDCF/60: 7.69
SH%: 7.11
GF/60: 1.86
Before Dec 23rd
Individual
P/60: 0.86
SH%: 8.82
iCorsi/60: 8.74
iShots/60: 4.87
iChances/60: 5.16
iHDChances/60: 2.15
Giveaways/60: 2.01
Takeaways/60: 1.72
Hits/60: 9.6
After Dec 23rd
Individual
P/60: 0.66
SH%: 11.11
iCorsi/60: 7.02
iShots/60: 3.58
iChances/60: 4.51
iHDChances/60: 2.12
Giveaways/60: 1.72
Takeaways/60: 0.53
Hits/60: 11.66
Nothing at 5-on-5 changed appreciably other than his big reduction in takeaways. His P60 before Dec 23rd was as bad as Bouma and his P60 after Dec 23rd was marginally worse.
The stark difference in his "production"? Power play points where Monahan was returned to his comfortable and dominant bumper position. You want Brouwer back there, you have to take that away from Monahan or put Brouwer on PP2 and take that away from ~Backlund/Bennett.
That date does seem to show some significance for Bennett though...
Before Dec 23rd
P/60: 1.94
After Dec 23rd
P/60: 0.65
Correllation is not causation though. If I had to speculate a
reason Bennett's 5v5 production might have plummetted around that time, I would point to Frolik replacing him on the power play, which would be a frustration device / confidence killer. Continuing to play with Brouwer probably didn't help though, and I highly doubt will help next year. Finally I think between his penalty issues prior to then and his slump during a contract year, things just snowballed for Bennett.
By the way, a sustained P/60 of 1.94 at 5 on 5 would have been equal to NHL stars like Mats Zucarello, Jeff Carter, Mark Stone, Sean Monahan, Jason Spezza, Logan Couture, Tyler Seguin, Blake Wheeler, Jamie Benn, John Tavares.
Yeah, first half Bennett, despite his imperfections, was definitely one of our best players. Despite Brouwer, Not Because. Brouwer was bad at 5 on 5 then too.