There is a short list of factors that can help determine if an NHL UFA signing is going to be a bad bet:
- The player’s perceived value is strongly based on reputation and intangibles.
- He’s coming off a really good playoff run.
- He’s over 30 years old.
- He’s considered a top UFA target.
- He’s asking for the biggest contract of his career.
Bonus: the words “big body” are often used to describe the player.
In isolation, some of these issues aren’t a guarantee of an overpayment, but put them together and you’re betting big money on a long shot. You have, in order: (1) stuff conventional hockey men tend to overweight, (2) a small sample and recency bias inflating the player’s evaluation, (3) a strong chance of diminishing returns in the near future, and (4,5) an auction-like environment acting to drive up the asking price.
That brings us to Troy Brouwer.
2016-17 season summary
Brouwer’s season began in October, but the Brouwer debates began months earlier when the Flames signed the former Blues right winger for $4.5M/year over four years. Calgary was derided as young, inexperienced, and small by some pundits coming out of the disappointing 2015-16 season. Troy Brouwer seemed to tick all the boxes for a team looking to get more character and more grit.
The problem is, the perceived fit between Brouwer’s scouting report and the Flames’ needs unfortunately obscured the many ways in which the player was a bad bet. We went through why a couple of times here in the wake of the signing, but, shorter version: Brouwer is a mediocre even strength scorer, an underwhelming possession player, and, at 31 years old, was poised to see his results erode over the course of his new contract.
Although some expected him to land on a line with Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau to start the season, Brouwer was actually paired with Sam Bennett through training camp and the initial sweep of games. While the team didn’t get off to a great start, Brouwer at least managed three goals and six points in his first 10 contests. His underlying numbers weren’t good at the time, but then again, no one’s were. At least he was producing.
After October, Glen Gulutzan took the line blender to the Flames roster out of desperation. Brouwer bounced around between the first and third lines before settling down a bit with a struggling Sean Monahan and Kris Versteeg on the third unit.
The trio got crushed during their time together. They managed a sub-45% corsi rate and sub-40% ratios of scoring chances and expected goals for. Only an on-ice save percentage of 95.24% saved them from being run over from a goals perspective.
That stretch was some of the worst hockey I can remember from Sean Monahan. I mention this because it became something of a theme during Brouwer’s season.
Eventually, Monahan found his way back on the top offensive line with Gaudreau. The formation of the mighty 3M unit then consigned Sam Bennett to play with Brouwer through much of the season. It… didn’t go well. Both players suffered through extended scoring droughts (20+ games). Bennett’s underlying numbers took a step back relative to his rookie season. The youngster looked frustrated and ineffectual through January and February.
By the time April rolled around, after weeks of being routinely outshot and out-chanced on a nightly basis, Brouwer was shunted down to the third/fourth line with Matt Stajan. That’s where he stayed during the first round series against the Ducks. And though he managed to count two points in four games, Brouwer didn’t quite live up to his reputation as a postseason difference maker.
On-ice impact
While I considered Brouwer’s signing a bad bet, I didn’t think it would go this bad, this quickly. It’s no hyperbole to call Brouwer’s on-ice impact “disastrous” in 2016-17.
The player spent the entire season below break even in terms of possession. Often well, well below. There was the nice upswing in the third quarter of the year, somewhat in parallel with the team’s improvement. That jump may have been a silver lining if he didn’t fall off a cliff in the final quarter.
We should note here that Brouwer didn’t face the toughest circumstances on the team. Being fed to the wolves could potentially explain or excuse his nosedive this season, but in fact, the tough sledding was mostly reserved for the 3M line and Stajan when he was skating with guys like Lance Bouma and Garnet Hathaway.
On top of all that, Brouwer managed just 0.84 even strength points per sixty minutes of ice, the worst rate amongst regular forwards on the Flames. To put that in perspective, Deryk Engelland scored 0.82 ESP/60 last year. Dougie Hamilton scored at nearly twice Brouwer’s rate (1.60/60).
Most common teammates
There’s no way to sugar coat these numbers.
Almost every player Brouwer spent time with saw their underlying numbers plummet, while everyone also improved immensely away from him. Often times WOWYs can be ambiguous and somewhat sample/circumstance dependent, but there’s only one real conclusion to draw here.
Good news Sam Bennett fans: the kid’s results jumped back into respectable territory when he played with anyone but Brouwer this year.
What’s next?
That’s the big question, isn’t it? Brouwer’s addition did nothing to solve the Flames’ RW woes and his contract projects to be an anchor for the next three seasons. All of Brouwer’s results – from shot generation to scoring to shot suppression – at five-on-five this year were fourth liner quality, at best. If the player takes even a modest step back at any point in the next three seasons, he’ll be unplayable at this level.
There’s some hope Brouwer will be exposed during the expansion draft and former Capitals GM George McPhee will think enough of the player to take a chance on his contract, but it’s a dim light. Aside from buying Brouwer out this summer (no chance given the money it would cost and only one year into the deal), Brouwer is going to be on the opening night roster come October. Flames fans and management simply have to hope against hope that the player somehow rebounds next season.
#1 – Brian Elliott | #5 – Mark Giordano |
#6 – Dennis Wideman | #7 – T.J. Brodie |
#10 – Kris Versteeg | #11 – Mikael Backlund |
#13 – Johnny Gaudreau | #17 – Lance Bouma |
#18 – Matt Stajan | #19 – Matthew Tkachuk |
#23 – Sean Monahan | #25 – Freddie Hamilton |
#26 – Michael Stone | #27 – Dougie Hamilton |
#29 – Deryk Engelland | #31 – Chad Johnson |
This is how I would’ve written the article: http://i.imgur.com/PeicWJp.jpg
If you eat $1.25 million a year in his salary there would be some teams who might consider
Maybe teams looking to tank for the next 3 seasons
There are at least 50 kids under 20 years of age who could match or better Brouwer’s numbers and do it for almost 4M less.
The only way is to take bad money back in return or offer up an asset… or a combination of the two.
Think Troy Brouwer + Shinkaruk or Klimchuk + 2018 2nd for Niemi, or Cam Ward. Then sign another UFA tender like Mason, or even Elliot again to counteract a Niemi or Cam Ward, Back off the 2nd round pick if it’s Halak we’re getting back.
I mean add to the 2nd rounder if it’s Halak coming back (or increase quality of prospect)
Or pay 1.5 million for 6 years to buy him out. Even if McPhee or somebody out there wants him, he’s going to end up costing us for a few years. I’d imagine we’ll see him as the highest paid 13th fwd in the league before he’s dealt.
This will be interesting *grabs popcorn*
Let’s break where Brouwer could slot in next season by line:
First line:Not a fit. He had poor results with Monahan/Gaudreau this season, so why even think of putting him there again?
Second line: Don’t even think about breaking up the 3M line.
Third line: This is Bennett’s line. For the sake of Bennett’s development (not to mention having a good third line) Brouwer needs to stay away from it.
Fourth line: This is where you’d like to give some kids from Stockton a chance to play.
Press Box: Yes, his cap hit is $4.5M, but staying in the press box might be place where Brouwer can most help this team.
Treliving basically needs to find a way to ship Brouwer out of town. It’s that simple. I’d even consider a buy-out at this point.
I agree. If he can’t get shipped out of town, the salary cap is going up and you simply sit him in the press box and call it a loss. It will serve as a daily reminder for Tre not to do it again.
It’s also potentially more expensive to play him and risk missing the playoffs – every point counts.
This is an interesting read as this is how some (most) Oiler fans feel about Eberle…just get him the heck out of town. I would say that Brouwer is a better player than he showed this year and has a chance to bounce back. Having said that, Flames fans have seen a lot more of him than I have and it’s clear optimism is not high. It will be interesting to see what happens with both players.
… Brouwer for Eberle who says no?
Big no there – $6m for small softish player doesn’t help the salary structure. Backlund needs a new deal after this coming season and we don’t know our goalie and D4-6 committments are yet. Don’t add salary.
If anyone can carry Brouwer, it’s the 2 Mikes, particularly if he has a bit of a bounce back year. Tkachuk with Bennett could make a ton of sense, if they are able to mesh. Preseason experimentation could be interesting.
As far as I can see Brouwer has a NTC (15 teams) but Not a NMC, couldn’t the Flames Bury him in Stockton? Until he wakes up or demands a trade?
The leafs seem to make players disappear on a regular basis….Lupul, Robidas, Laich (minors), Corrado. Maybe Lou Lamorello has a trap door like Montgomery Burns.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/joffrey-lupul-starts-pre-season-on-maple-leafs-injured-reserve-list/article31999378/
Assuming he is back, treat him like his name is Troy Brown. Forget his salary level and that he’s a veteran. Let the quality of his play determine where he plays. At the moment, this is the fourth line without power play time. Hopefully, he has a better year next year. This signing reinforces why I have an aversion to free agent signings of high cost, veteran complementary players that are driven largely by their experience and character.
And yet in the Duck series, he got number 1 powerplay time and more icetime than Ferland, who was supposed to be on the number 1 line. GG seems to rate Brouwer higher than most other forwards.
What will really tell where the Flames rank him is if he is left exposed in the Expansion Draft. While I think we all feel he should be exposed, I suspect he may be protected with Ferland exposed.
Or he was attempting to extract any value left in him; and the well is probably empty.
That would be most unfortunate and an epic fail
GG also rated Chiasson higher than most other forwards too. First line time and the Flames lost a lot of points….
Well at least Bennett’s next contract will be more affordable being dragged down all year by Brouwer…
Why do people think that Ferland will be left unprotected. That would be an epic mistake to not protect a player that is inexpensive and finished the season on the top line. The only way he should be left unprotected is if Tre has an agreement in place with Poile to not select Ferland.
I agree with you, but how the Flames ran their lines in the playoffs says different.
Ferland averaged 12:28 of icetime per game. Less than Chaisson, Bennett and Brouwer (14:03), yet he was supposed to be on the first line. Brouwer and Ferland were given the same number of shifts per game (19.8). Brouwer was on the first powerplay getting 12:38 of PP Time, Ferland topped out at 0:38.
Yet in points per 60 minutes of PP time, Ferland led the Flames in the regular season.
I am concerned that Ferland may be the odd man out. No way BT exposes Lazar after giving up a 2nd rounder to get him.
Lazar and the 2nd round selection is a non-factor. Tre wants to expose a forward that a least looks interesting to LV so the Flames can protect who they really want.
Mike Richards. Brooks Laich. David Clarkson.
All players who were no longer good and whose teams managed to scuttle the contract somehow.
I love Treliving’s drafting but his UFA game has been…sometimes not good. I think managing to ditch this contract would be an exquisite move that would put Treliving’s face on a “forever a flame” banner
..and become one of the longest serving GM of the Flames like Cliff Fletcher (Atlanta/Calgary)?
For even more insult, consider that Tre spent to the cap to acquire Brouwer and left himself no wiggle room.
can you imagine how badly the Flames would have done in the post season if they didn’t have Brouwer and his playoff brilliance? without troys magic, they woulda been swept!