Quote:
Originally Posted by Monahammer
I haven't seen much to suggest he's especially popular. Our players don't go around panning each other.
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Insiders say this. He's supposedly a very funny guy and the players like him. In addition, it was apparent in the skills competition when the players interacted, which I saw. He's pretty similar to Versteeg in this. With Brouwer, this has been his rep for his career, not just Calgary.
You can tell when players like each other and when they merely tolerate the others as a teammate. It was obvious between Iggy and Conroy, Between Newy and Roberts. The opposite was palpable between Regher and Phaneuf. Fleury was a guy that teamates didn't seem to really cotton to.
Brouwer has also been known to call out players (i.e. Semin) for a lack of effort so I'd think he takes that seriously. In any event, his decline is not from lack of effort that I can see. He, like a lot of players of his ilk, has just hit a wall. Look at Lucic.