Can Troy Brouwer be salvaged?

[Jiri Hrdina]

I think there could be something to that but I also think for aging players the tipping point is just coming a lot faster.
They go from being contributing members of teams to not being able to really stake in the league at all very quickly.
Which means teams should really think hard about signing and re-signing players on the wrong side of their career slope. What's changed is that wrong side appears to be happening earlier and earlier.

[Classic_Sniper]

Has anyone thought to question our Pro Scouts yet? Just who are these guys? Treliving’s brain trust continues to go after players who are severely underwhelming or just straight up bad. Here’s a quick list of players they’ve decided to target:

Troy Brouwer
Mason Raymond
Jonas Hiller
Curtis Lazar
Brandon Bollig
Eddie Lack
Alex Chiasson
Freddie Hamilton
Tanner Glass
Hunter Shinkaruk
On the fence: Travis Hamonic

This is just an unacceptable amount of blunders for a few years. Half these guys don’t even belong in this league anymore while we’ve given up on actual players Baertschi, Granlund, Byron and etc. There needs to be some changes in upper management because making that many mistakes and while blowing through a ton of resources is an absolute farce.

[Tinordi]

Originally Posted by Wild GM

I think there could be something to that but I also think for aging players the tipping point is just coming a lot faster.
They go from being contributing members of teams to not being able to really stake in the league at all very quickly.
Which means teams should really think hard about signing and re-signing players on the wrong side of their career slope. What's changed is that wrong side appears to be happening earlier and earlier.

And this was all known two years ago before they signed Brouwer.

[Tinordi]

Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper

Has anyone thought to question our Pro Scouts yet? Just who are these guys? Treliving’s brain trust continues to go after players who are severely underwhelming or just straight up bad. Here’s a quick list of players they’ve decided to target:

Troy Brouwer
Mason Raymond
Jonas Hiller
Curtis Lazar
Brandon Bollig
Eddie Lack
Alex Chiasson
Freddie Hamilton
Tanner Glass
Hunter Shinkaruk
On the fence: Travis Hamonic

This is just an unacceptable amount of blunders for a few years. Half these guys don’t even belong in this league anymore while we’ve given up on actual players Baertschi, Granlund, Byron and etc. There needs to be some changes in upper management because making that many mistakes and while blowing through a ton of resources is an absolute farce.

Brian Burke has clearly had some hand in bringing some of these guys in.

[Yoho]

Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper

Has anyone thought to question our Pro Scouts yet? Just who are these guys? Treliving’s brain trust continues to go after players who are severely underwhelming or just straight up bad. Here’s a quick list of players they’ve decided to target:

Troy Brouwer
Mason Raymond
Jonas Hiller
Curtis Lazar
Brandon Bollig
Eddie Lack
Alex Chiasson
Freddie Hamilton
Tanner Glass
Hunter Shinkaruk
On the fence: Travis Hamonic

This is just an unacceptable amount of blunders for a few years. Half these guys don’t even belong in this league anymore while we’ve given up on actual players Baertschi, Granlund, Byron and etc. There needs to be some changes in upper management because making that many mistakes and while blowing through a ton of resources is an absolute farce.

None of those players are the reason this team is good or bad.

He went for a few tweeks and the players decideded to nose dive their productivity to all time career lows.

Brouwer's contract is the only one that really might “hamstring” us

It’s tough to find a diamond in the rough when your not searching.

[Britflamesfan]

It’s not surprising really that these player in their final years lose interest. Let’s face it Brouwer knew when he was chased by the flames that this was his last swan song. He gets a nice long contract at big bucks that should be enough for him and his family to live extremely comfortably for the rest of his life, so what incentive is there? Cannot really be sacked he still keeps his money so it now comes down to if he thinks the team can win the cup and he has probably looked at it and though unlikely, so there is very little incentive.

These contracts should be kept short and bonus laden and if they don’t come then get Your younger players going.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Yoho

None of those players are the reason this team is good or bad.

He went for a few tweeks and the players decideded to nose dive their productivity to all time career lows.

Brouwer's contract is the only one that really might “hamstring” us

It’s tough to find a diamond in the rough when your not searching.

None of those players individually are why the team is good or bad, but that's a list of ten players plus Hamonic. Ten bad to awful acquisitions.

Brouwer's buyout is 1.5M over four years if we do it next summer. With the cap rumoured to go in by $12M, fire him into the sun.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Machiavelli

It's obvious that he's been coasting ever since he joined the Flames. This guy used to muck it up and get in scrums all the time. He got paid and he doesn't care anymore

Buy him out. He's done

He is a terrible example for a young team that was expected to do some growing this year.

Flames don't need a complacent player as an example for the rest of the team.

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by Yoho

None of those players are the reason this team is good or bad.

He went for a few tweeks and the players decideded to nose dive their productivity to all time career lows.

Brouwer's contract is the only one that really might “hamstring” us

It’s tough to find a diamond in the rough when your not searching.

A lot of these players in their own ways have contributed to us not being where we need to be. We’re still pay for Mason Raymond by the way so he’s still negatively effecting the team. Hiller ruined our 15-16 season with his .879 sv%. Deciding to keep Bollig cost us Paul Byon whose been unreal for the Canadiens. Shinkaruk cost us a servicable NHLer whose team is currently ahead of us in standings right now. Hamonic and Lazar cost this team a potentially unprotected 1st round lottery pick along with 3 x 2nd round picks. Lack’s performance speaks for itself and Troy Brouwer may be the worst UFA signing in franchise history. That’s a lot of screw ups in a short period of time that doesn’t give me much confidence in upper management going forward.

While overall these decisions may not be considered egregious, you only need 8 other teams in the conference to do a better job and that’s why we’re currently sitting outside the playoffs despite heroic efforts from Mike Smith and Johnny Gaudreau. We would be Arizona bad if it weren’t for these guys.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

It seems that once players are financially secure for life their enthusiasm for playing really hard diminishes.

Flames are loaded with financial secure players. 14 players with more than 10M in career earnings, Tampa has 11, Winnipeg has 11, St. L has 11, Nashville 13, LA 12, Columbus 8.


The list of Flames with less than 10M in NHL earnings is really small: Tkachuk, Bennett, Ferland, Lazar, Jankowski, Kulak.

I think you've figured it out!

Lets dump all the players that have made $10M in career earnings and go completely with players that haven't.

And it will be perpetual from that point on too! You can always draft next to last, draft high, play them until that $9.9 mark and then trade them for more futures and rinse and repeat!

[activeStick]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Before Brouwer hurt his hand he had 8 goals and 17 points in 35 games. That is right on track with where he was expected to be after signing his big contract. Before last season Brouwer had turned in seven straight years of +30 points and +15 goals with three +20-goal seasons and 3 +40-point seasons.

I think it is foolish to think that if reasonably healthy he will not improve over last year by quite a bit. It is utterly unbelievable to imagine that he will be any worse.

He's on pace to be worse.

[Vinny01]

It is easy to turn every thread into a Gulutzan one but I feel under a new coach there is potential to salvage Brouwer otherwise he will continue to be an overpaid bad 4th liner

[Karl]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

I feel under a new coach there is potential to salvage Brouwer

I can't see it. Brouwer's hockey skills have declined way too much and he's way too slow.

Brouwer just screams buyout.

[Ashasx]

I'm not sure it's worth it to buyout Brouwer. That's a significant hit for 4 years beyond this one.

Just send him to the AHL. Yeah, you only save 950K on the cap, but at least it's only for 2 more seasons.

Such a huge miss by Treliving.

[heep223]

He hasn’t scored a goal since last March.

[Karl]

Another scary thing about Brouwer is that he apparently came into camp in great shape according to all reports.

Yet it doesn't seem to have made a lick of any difference with him, and he looks even worse than he did last year.

My goodness. So depressing.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by heep223

He hasn’t scored a goal since last March.

I'm still trying to figure out what the coaches are thinking trotting him out on the first powerplay unit? Seriously a guy that hasn't scored a goal since last season is the best these coaches can do for player utilization on special teams? I just feel like this coaching staff's mission is some bizarre experiment where the team is trying to see how far they can go with the team going against the grain on player utilization and schemes.

[N-E-B]

Troy Brouwer should be embarrassed every time he gets paid.

[SeanCharles]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I'm still trying to figure out what the coaches are thinking trotting him out on the first powerplay unit? Seriously a guy that hasn't scored a goal since last season is the best these coaches can do for player utilization on special teams? I just feel like this coaching staff's mission is some bizarre experiment where the team is trying to see how far they can go with the team going against the grain on player utilization and schemes.

I completely agree but to me it seems that the coaching staff really wants a RH shot on each PP unit. With Versteeg out they are trying Brouwer again.

The obvious choice is Hamilton and Stone on a unit each but for some reason they are forcing Brouwer into that role.

The team could really use a top 9 forward that shoots RHed. Brouwer was supposed to be that guy and now is a massive detriment to the team due to his contract.

I'm fairly certain the bottom end of our roster will be completely revamped next year and Brouwer will be bought out or traded with Calgary retaining half his salary.

Stajan, Bartkowski, Lack and Brouwer should all be gone and unfortunately, due to age and injury, Jagr and Versteeg may not be brought back next year either.

I feel like it might be the end of the line for RFAs Shinkaruk, H. Smith, Carroll and possibly F. Hamilton.

It will be interesting to see what is done with Wotherspoon, Hrivik, Poirier and Klimchuk. I think all should be retained in some capacity.

Gaudreau-Monahan-Ferland
Tkachuk-Backlund-Frolik
Bennett-Jankowski-Hathaway
Mangiapane-Dube-Lazar
Klimchuk-Hrivik-Poirier
Phillips-Lomberg-Foo


Looking at these depth charts we really need some better RHed players. Hathaway and Lazar are best suited as at best 4th liners while Foo and Phillips still have a lot to prove.

[Machiavelli]

Originally Posted by SeanCharles

The team could really use a top 9 forward that shoots RHed. Brouwer was supposed to be that guy and now is a massive detriment to the team due to his contract.