Flames place Troy Brouwer on unconditional waivers for buyout

The Flames are making the most of their second buyout window, placing right wing Troy Brouwer on unconditional waivers for the purpose of a Bryout.

The 32-year-old winger has been a lightning rod of controversy since joining the team. Initially heralded by many fans and media as a solution for the Flames’ lack of right wingers and general scoring woes, he penned a four-year, $4.5M contract on July 1, 2016. Despite concerns about his underlying production and age, many penciled him in as a first line winger to complement Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan.

The rest of the story is brutally familiar. Brouwer quickly tumbled down the lineup, falling from the first to the fourth line in the course of a season. He was left unprotected and unclaimed in the Vegas expansion draft, and saw his role permanently reduced to fourth liner with special teams time. With two disappointing seasons under his belt and plenty of push from prospects below, something had to give.

The Flames will save $3M in cap room for this season and next, but have $1.5M on the books for 2020-21 and 2021-22 – a necessary step, considering how they have placed themselves in a precarious cap situation for 2018-19 due in part to their moves this offseason.