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Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher
Yep. But that is only half the tenure that Brouwer was on the team. And what did Brouwer do to earn his PP time the first half the season? Nothing. Based on offensive talent Brouwer should have never been on the powerplay when our team was healthy. Tkachuk and Ferland were both better at his role. Gaudreau, Monahan, Backlund, Bennett, Jankowski and Jagr have better offensive skill and touch than Brouwer. He should never have been in consideration for a PP spot at all this year. GG obviously had to take him of the PP at some point but he should never have been there at all, that's the point.
You can try to explain it away all you want, it doesn't really change things. Brouwer got opportunities over the last two years he didn't earn based on his on-ice play but strictly because of his salary. Fans resented him for it and its no surprise that some players did as well. They aren't blind, they have a great view from the bench.
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I could just imagine the players sitting together talking about this; Have to admit at times last season there were some very uninspired efforts against struggling teams. I know injuries were a factor, but there were many times I thought we played well enough to lose. Vegas got their team to focus on something exciting the focus became a goal, and a team destiny. Putting
Brouwer in ahead of some of these young guys becomes a distraction of sorts especially when your team is losing. When you add in the coaches doing the same things over and over even when it is not working, this is not a very inspiring approach. It becomes discouraging and shakes team confidence. At some point the players have to wonder, "do these coaches know what they are doing?". Take the stick throw, the team showed they could play to win if they really wanted to for a stretch but then mailed it in when it really mattered.
I have a hunch that the players knew before the end of the season the coach was getting tanked. Just too many efforts down the stretch seemed mailed in and key losses to struggling teams. We hardly saw any players apologizing for the coach getting canned which was telling.
I will say that lack of effort didn't seem to sit well with Gio or Matthew Tkachuk.