[Rumour] Flames have possibly traded Brouwer?

[PugnaciousIntern]

Originally Posted by rodszta

Anderson?

Tre is never going to do that.

He's serviceable on the 4th line, we are entering the season with a reasonable roster, what's wrong with just continuing on?

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by rodszta

Anderson?

You mean Andersson? No thanks, would rather keep Brouwer

[Moneyhands23]

Hmmmmm... i wish this had happened today

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by PugnaciousIntern

Tre is never going to do that.

He's serviceable on the 4th line, we are entering the season with a reasonable roster, what's wrong with just continuing on?

Because Brouwer might have requested a trade.

[rodszta]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

You mean Andersson? No thanks, would rather keep Brouwer

auto correct... but yes, if they trade Brouwer, whoever takes him would want a decent prospect, a goalie or D?

[Flamesm]

I wouldn't want salary retention to be very high if that was the case.. we might as well buy him out next summer and have the same hit cap wise

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

Because Brouwer might have requested a trade.

This has been suggested a couple of times -- but I hope it isn't true. Brouwer needs to act like a vet and play whatever role is asked of him -- including on the 4th line. If he didn't play like garbage last year he might actually have some trade value. As it stands, he should be wanting to play his butt off and show that last year was an anomaly -- injuries do happen and he could be moved up the lineup before all is said and done.

[Vinny01]

Armstrong overpaid and traded Oshie for Brouwer once. Simply taking him off our hands would be all that is needed here.

With the Blues reaching out to Jagr there could be desperation there. Remember the Blues traded their 1st rounder for Schenn so they do not want that pick in the lottery.

[ThaBrink]

Originally Posted by Flamesm

I wouldn't want salary retention to be very high if that was the case.. we might as well buy him out next summer and have the same hit cap wise

The problem with a buyout is it increases the length that we hold onto salary. If we trade him with salary retained (?%) then it only lasts the length of his contract.

[PugnaciousIntern]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

Because Brouwer might have requested a trade.

Is this speculation or is there any sort of weight behind it?

Beyond specific personalities, I'm not sure where he would want to go to. A destination with weak RW depth?

[Love]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

Because Brouwer might have requested a trade.

Please be true

[1991 Canadian]

Something I think people seem to have forgotten about Brouwer is he injured his hand and likely wasn’t 100% for the second half of the season. Before the injury, he was more or less on pace for his typical 40 point season.

Personally I’d rather see him play for the Flames. I think he’s got something to prove. I also think that even with the addition of Jagr, the Flames are weak on the right side.

That said, if Treliving can work his magic and get a fair deal to offload him, I’d be all for it. But I think the Flames are better off playing Brouwer than making a bad trade to offload him. It is not like he is a locker room cancer or a liability on the ice. He’s just overpaid. I think some people are losing sight of that fact.

[Calgary4LIfe]

I wouldn't absolutely hate it if Brouwer doesn't move, and I do think that he could have a bounce-back season. However, I really do prefer that he moves. Getting rid of him would be like getting pulled over by speeding. You think you are smarter than the rest of the pack, but then suddenly you get pulled over. Getting rid of him is like the cop just issuing you a warning.

At this point, I don't see Brouwer moving up the line-up. He won't displace Ferland any longer on the top line - Ferland is a really good forechecker with his speed and he causes a lot of turnovers. That helps that line. Frolik... forget about it. Jagr? Man, Jagr has to basically look his age for that to happen, and I bet he will look much better than Brouwer.

Even if Ferland gets moved to the 3rd line LW spot while Jagr gets promoted to the 1st line, Versteeg is the guy that I see moving over to the 3rd line RW spot. Injuries is the only way out for Brouwer.

I also believe that Brouwer's best on-ice contribution was his net-front presence. I do think that Jagr will probably take over his spot on the PP, and I would rather have Ferland or Bennett start to take that net-front presence over and develop their skills.

So, in my mind, Brouwer is a 4.5 million dollar 4th liner until injuries happen. I do think that it is nice to keep him around as such, but I find his ability to work his way up the line-up limited with the amount of minutes he will be utilized in.

In that scenario, I much rather have Lazar in the line-up as the 4th line RW. He is a much quicker player, better defensively (since he has the wheels to hustle back and interrupt plays for instance), and I really do believe he has offensive ability that we haven't seen much of yet. It makes playing Jankowski on the 4th line much more palatable for me.

Will be interesting to see what happens between now and the start of the season. Him going to St. Louis makes some sense given that it hasn't happened yet (maybe they are waiting for LTIR to kick in after they announce their roster?).

Brouwer has just been a bad fit on this team. He just didn't click on the top line long enough, and I thought he was just not a good fit with Bennett either. He didn't bring too much to the table in other areas either which makes him stand out negatively at the moment (like he just wasn't gritty enough - Versteeg is smaller and he showed way more grit and on-ice leadership). I think given a good fit, Brouwer will likely return to his averages, but he just doesn't fit well with the Flames.

[SeanCharles]

Originally Posted by 1991 Canadian

Something I think people seem to have forgotten about Brouwer is he injured his hand and likely wasn’t 100% for the second half of the season. Before the injury, he was more or less on pace for his typical 40 point season.

Personally I’d rather see him play for the Flames. I think he’s got something to prove. I also think that even with the addition of Jagr, the Flames are weak on the right side.

That said, if Treliving can work his magic and get a fair deal to offload him, I’d be all for it. But I think the Flames are better off playing Brouwer than making a bad trade to offload him. It is not like he is a locker room cancer or a liability on the ice. He’s just overpaid. I think some people are losing sight of that fact.

I think some just have their sights set on the long term success of the team and its players, especially ones that are up and coming.

You are right there really is no harm in keeping him around and having him as some added depth even if it's on the 4th line. I think the hitch for most people is that this team is transitioning to a team that is going to be led by their young players that they have put time, money and effort into developing. In order to do this properly you need to be wise with your cap spendature. This teams foundation in the forward ranks is Gaudreau, Monahan, Tkachuk, Bennett, Ferland, Backlund and Frolik. Having valuable vets on good contracts like Verteeg and Jagr are also a huge boost to the group.

We all know the younger players mentioned above are going to be here for a while as they each offer skillsets that contribute to our ongoing success. Having guys like Backlund and Frolik who are a little older is important due to their ability to outplay the line they go up against on much more occasions than not.
That leaves you with not a lot of roster spots to open up for the young up and comers like Jankowski, Dube, Mangiapane, Foo, Poirier etc. Having the bottom end of the roster on cheap, short term deals is important to allow youngsters to take spots and when the time comes pay them.

Having a contract like Brouwer is not feasible for the team moving forward because we have the top guys in Johnny and Monny making good chunks from the cap, and we have Backlund, Tkachuk, Bennett and Ferland all needing new deals in the next 2 yrs. We could replace Versteeg and Jagr with younger cheaper players, and I expect we will, but they are already on good value deals.

Maybe none of it will matter as the cap hits of Smith, Stajan, Lack, will be replaced by the likes of Jankowski, Gillies, Parsons, Rittich and players like Stone will be moved and replaced by Andersson at some point. However a player like Brouwer was brought in here to play a type of physical game that we just have not seen out of him, last season or the preseason so far. When he doesn't supply that the team doesn't really have much use for him as we have so many other players ahead of him on the depth chart that provide more offense.

So it doesn't make much sense having a 4.5 million dollar 4th line forward taking up a roster spot and a sizeable chunk of the salary cap. Even if his is essentially the only bad contract on the team, soon Gio's will creep towards that territory and he has at least earned the right to be played and respected in a lower role despite his pay. Brouwer has done a lot league wide but so far for the Flames it has been nothing short of a disappointment.

If you can move him and retain salary without giving up any valuable futures you do it because, as mentioned above, players like Jankowski, Foo, Dube etc. will demand icetime in the near future and having the vets on value contracts will allow us to accommodate this transition. Anchor contracts with too much money and term for players over 30 that are becoming less effective will hinder our development into becoming a perennial contender.

[FireGilbert]

Interesting rumour. I'm sure the Flames have been shopping Brouwer, especially now that he has been bumped to the 4th line, however any other teams being interested is a different story.

I suppose Vegas might work with their abundance of deference. Maybe a Left D for Brouwer and a player who has already cleared waivers like Wotherspoon.

[kehatch]

Brouwer was sought after a summer ago. Is it unreasonable a team wants him at 3x3? Sure, 1.5 million in dead cap space sucks, but we get that if buy him out next summer anyway only for longer. And it beats 4.5 on the fourth line.

[Flames_F.T.W]

So with roster deadlines today, does that mean we should have an answer to this rumour sometime today?

[Itse]

If it's St.Louis, not until the season starts and they get their LTIR space. That's tomorrow I believe?

[Wyguy]

It should happen before 5 if it will happen any time soon.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by rodszta

auto correct... but yes, if they trade Brouwer, whoever takes him would want a decent prospect, a goalie or D?

Then he can stay. If someone wants him on some salary retained for a bag of peanuts that is fine but if we have to include a decent prospect then I would rather keep him.