Quote:
Originally Posted by FlamesNation23
. I think people forget the game threads this year and how much complaining there was over Brodie.
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I don't think anyone could forget the hyperbole. Brodie had an inconsistent season, but let's not pretend he never won us any games as our flat out best player. Good players lose their confidence all the time - it's a bad reason to trade them. Oilers fans used to scapegoat Justin Schultz the same way, and lo and behold they were still a tire fire last year and Justin Schultz spent his third straight year as a key piece on a cup contender (in fact, last year it was Kris Letang who took all the "Schultz"isms from his fanbase). And Brodie is a better defensive player than Schultz has ever been.
Brodie doesn't work as Hamonic's partner. Both guys are weak generating offense from the points out of the cycle, particularily if Brodie is on the left as even last year many of his assists came on the right.
Brodie's breakout pass is sometimes telegraphed on the left.
Brodie wasn't nearly as mentally sharp last year as we needed him to be and it did cost us goals against at times.
All true.
Also true:
Brodie would need to simply be on the ice for a TEAM breakdown or a puck simply hitting a rut on the ice and certain vocal people would be up in arms about how terrible he is.
Brodie has some of the worst on-ice shooting and save percentage of his entire career - both factors goaltenders and forwards strongly influence, along with a partner shooting brutal individually. The struggles of guys like Hathaway, Frolik, Bennett, Backlund, Jankowski, Lazar etc do trickle on up considering four of those guys had pretty bad seasons and the fifth guy, Hathaway, was a part time NHLer playing top 9 minutes.
There were games Brodie was our most dominant player. The road trip to Pittsburgh came to mind as the "real" Brodie, along with an actually pretty hot start to his season (i.e. WPG) especially on the power play. In fact our PP did NOT improve overall by moving him to the second unit when it hypothetically should have. Brodie+4Forwards was our best PP unit last year and had us rolling. Regardless of how you feel about the drop back pass or Brodie's refusal to shoot.
Brodie was virtually flawless as a penalty killer last year. I don't think we even got scored on when Gio took a penalty last year, but don't quote me on that as it is anecdotal.
While Brodie isn't the most physical, it also means he rarely takes penalties. Goaltenders should be able to make saves 5v5 even when their skaters screw up. Our goalies - including Smith - can all have better seasons. Heck Smith was barely replacement level at home last year.
Gulutzan's system favoured short passes and point shots. Brodie's skillset favours puck rushing, stretch passes, and creativity. The two were inherently at odds.
Brodie's elite backhand was completely unutilized on the left.
Hamonic shouldn't be absolved of his part in the pair's struggles. For much of the season his gap control was an absolute mess and he had some brutal giveaways of his own. He was also an offensive black hole which DOES matter as you have to score 4 on 5 with him on the ice. He did play better in the last couple months - but so did Brodie before he got injured. The end of the season struggles had very little to do with this D pair.
And finally, Brodie has been our most dominant Dman both times we've made the playoffs and is capable of effortlessly logging 30+ minute games. He's a player you win with. Fixating on some pizzas on a struggling TEAM is the worst way to evaluate a player.
This last one is just my opinion, but Smith's propensity to play the puck into the corners often put Brodie in tough positions. While I do prefer puck moving goaltenders, there was just a disconnect here that resulted in our defensemen having to make flatfooted decisions in vulnerable positions. I think our systems could be better adjusted so that Smith is more in sync with everyone.