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<p>Hunter Brzustewicz is a new name to the Calgary Flames organization and a young defender they received through the process of addition through subtraction. Elias Lindholm wanted an out in the midway part of last season and Brzustewicz was part of the package that the Flames received in the trade with the Vancouver Canucks.</p>
<p>Brzustewicz is highly ranked going into this season after lighting up the OHL with the Kitchener Rangers last year and earned the third spot in the FlamesNation Prospect Rankings this year.</p>
<h1>Hunter Brzustewicz</h1>
<p><i>Defenceman, Shoots Right<br />
Born November 29, 2004 (age 19) in Washington, MI, United States<br />
6’0”, 190 lbs<br />
Drafted in the third round (75th overall) by the Vancouver Canucks in the 2023 NHL Draft.</i></p>
<p>Hunter Brzustewicz has been capturing the attention of scouts and national teams since his early teen years. He was picked up by the U.S. National Team Development Program in 2020-21 for a couple of games and spent the next season with the U18 team. He played in 55 games and put up two goals and 18 assists.</p>
<p>On the National Team Development squad, they also played in the USHL where he skated in 25 games and put up nine assists. At the U18 World Juniors in 2021-22, he played in five games and registered two assists. After this productive year, he made his debut in the OHL for the Kitchener Rangers in 2022-23.</p>
<p>His first season in the OHL was his draft year and he had an exceptional season. He played in 68 games and registered a total of 57 points consisting of six goals and 51 assists. After being picked in the draft by the Vancouver Canucks that summer, the expectation is he would have another year like that. However, he still exceeded expectations and had an insane year with the Rangers in 2023-24.</p>
<p>Hunter Brzustewicz was just a few points shy of a 100-point year last season as a defender. He put up 92 points in the regular season with 13 goals and 79 assets. This put him second in team scoring just behind Carson Rehkopf and had him leading the way in assists with 32 more than the next closest skater. In the post-season, he played in 10 games and put up nine points consisting of a goal and eight assists. The Rangers ended up being knocked out in game four of the second round against the London Knights.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Make it 90 points and a share of the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CHL?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CHL</a> lead by defencemen for <a href="https://twitter.com/NHLFlames?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NHLFlames</a> prospect Hunter Brzustewicz<a href="https://twitter.com/OHLRangers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OHLRangers</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CHLGOTW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CHLGOTW</a> <a href="https://t.co/KHUQRoCl4z">pic.twitter.com/KHUQRoCl4z</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Canadian Hockey League (@CHLHockey) <a href="https://twitter.com/CHLHockey/status/1770247090062385428?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 20, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Brzustewicz’s skillset raises not only his potential but also his trade value. In just one year, he’s already switched organizations as a piece of a large trade involving the Flames. In return for Elias Lindholm, the Flames got Brzustewicz, Andrei Kuzmenko, Joni Jurmo, a 2024 first round pick and a conditional 2024 fourth round pick. This wouldn’t have been an easy prospect to let go of, but the vision for Lindholm was clearly the bigger picture.</p>
<p>McKeen&#8217;s Hockey&#8217;s OHL guru Brock Otten provided some comments on Brzustewicz:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;Really solid developmental year for Brzustewicz. The improvements that he made in the second half of his draft year were sustained over the course of a full OHL season last year I thought, in particular, he looked a lot quicker this past season. Really helped him with his decision making because he was able to create a little more time and space for himself out of the defensive end. He also upped the intensity level in the defensive end, which was great to see. His bread and butter will likely always be how well he sees the ice in the offensive end. He’s like an NBA point guard back there. Calm, cool, collected. He holds the blueline as well as any defender in the OHL. I guess my concern regarding his upside stems from the fact that he’s an average sized defender with a lot of high end qualities, but nothing that I would call truly elite. The jack of all trades types can be difficult to project. Travis Dermott was a relatively similar defender at the OHL level, is built similarly, and he’s had trouble developing into anything more than a bottom pairing depth option. Calgary may need to be patient with Brzustewicz. Let him build up confidence at both ends at the pro level to try to milk every ounce of upside from him.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<h2><b>Expectations for 2024-25</b></h2>
<p>Brzustewicz has gotten to a point in his junior career where he has outgrown the league he was playing for. Instead of spending another year with the Rangers, he is expected to start his professional career with the Calgary Wranglers. He will be one of the younger guys on the roster, if not the youngest once the roster is confirmed. However, he has proven he is ready for the next step. If Jeremie Poirier is back to 100% after his injury-filled year, these two will likely have a friendly competition for top defensive scoring.</p>
<p>The first good look fans and Flames staff will get at Brzustewicz is coming up very soon. With training camp and pre-season approaching, he is going to be a young player to gauge how soon his emergence into the NHL might be.</p>
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Hunter Brzustewicz is a new name to the Calgary Flames organization and a young defender they received through the process of addition through subtraction. Elias Lindholm wanted an out in the midway part of last season and Brzustewicz was part of the package that the Flames received in the trade with the Vancouver Canucks.

Brzustewicz is highly ranked going into this season after lighting up the OHL with the Kitchener Rangers last year and earned the third spot in the FlamesNation Prospect Rankings this year.
<h1>Hunter Brzustewicz</h1>
<i>Defenceman, Shoots Right
Born November 29, 2004 (age 19) in Washington, MI, United States
6’0”, 190 lbs
Drafted in the third round (75th overall) by the Vancouver Canucks in the 2023 NHL Draft.</i>

Hunter Brzustewicz has been capturing the attention of scouts and national teams since his early teen years. He was picked up by the U.S. National Team Development Program in 2020-21 for a couple of games and spent the next season with the U18 team. He played in 55 games and put up two goals and 18 assists.

On the National Team Development squad, they also played in the USHL where he skated in 25 games and put up nine assists. At the U18 World Juniors in 2021-22, he played in five games and registered two assists. After this productive year, he made his debut in the OHL for the Kitchener Rangers in 2022-23.

His first season in the OHL was his draft year and he had an exceptional season. He played in 68 games and registered a total of 57 points consisting of six goals and 51 assists. After being picked in the draft by the Vancouver Canucks that summer, the expectation is he would have another year like that. However, he still exceeded expectations and had an insane year with the Rangers in 2023-24.

Hunter Brzustewicz was just a few points shy of a 100-point year last season as a defender. He put up 92 points in the regular season with 13 goals and 79 assets. This put him second in team scoring just behind Carson Rehkopf and had him leading the way in assists with 32 more than the next closest skater. In the post-season, he played in 10 games and put up nine points consisting of a goal and eight assists. The Rangers ended up being knocked out in game four of the second round against the London Knights.

https://twitter.com/CHLHockey/status/1770247090062385428

Brzustewicz’s skillset raises not only his potential but also his trade value. In just one year, he’s already switched organizations as a piece of a large trade involving the Flames. In return for Elias Lindholm, the Flames got Brzustewicz, Andrei Kuzmenko, Joni Jurmo, a 2024 first round pick and a conditional 2024 fourth round pick. This wouldn’t have been an easy prospect to let go of, but the vision for Lindholm was clearly the bigger picture.

McKeen's Hockey's OHL guru Brock Otten provided some comments on Brzustewicz:
<blockquote>"Really solid developmental year for Brzustewicz. The improvements that he made in the second half of his draft year were sustained over the course of a full OHL season last year I thought, in particular, he looked a lot quicker this past season. Really helped him with his decision making because he was able to create a little more time and space for himself out of the defensive end. He also upped the intensity level in the defensive end, which was great to see. His bread and butter will likely always be how well he sees the ice in the offensive end. He’s like an NBA point guard back there. Calm, cool, collected. He holds the blueline as well as any defender in the OHL. I guess my concern regarding his upside stems from the fact that he’s an average sized defender with a lot of high end qualities, but nothing that I would call truly elite. The jack of all trades types can be difficult to project. Travis Dermott was a relatively similar defender at the OHL level, is built similarly, and he’s had trouble developing into anything more than a bottom pairing depth option. Calgary may need to be patient with Brzustewicz. Let him build up confidence at both ends at the pro level to try to milk every ounce of upside from him."</blockquote>
<h2><b>Expectations for 2024-25</b></h2>
Brzustewicz has gotten to a point in his junior career where he has outgrown the league he was playing for. Instead of spending another year with the Rangers, he is expected to start his professional career with the Calgary Wranglers. He will be one of the younger guys on the roster, if not the youngest once the roster is confirmed. However, he has proven he is ready for the next step. If Jeremie Poirier is back to 100% after his injury-filled year, these two will likely have a friendly competition for top defensive scoring.

The first good look fans and Flames staff will get at Brzustewicz is coming up very soon. With training camp and pre-season approaching, he is going to be a young player to gauge how soon his emergence into the NHL might be.
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FlamesNation’s 2024 Calgary Flames prospect rankings – #3: Hunter Brzustewicz

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