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Around the League 2019-2023 Edition

In the former Leaf department, Connor Brown with a great start offensively with 10 pts in 11 games (75 point pace).

always said he was a really good player. Not ppg good, but very good. Him and Hyman are what we’re lacking right now.
 
He was decent when he could chip in some offense. Babcock clearly beat that out of him though. It was at the point where he wasn't even attempting offensive plays. Chip it out, dump it in.

He doesn't have the board / puck retrieval game to play like Hyman and be effective.
 
sens added a whole lotta gudpro this offseason.

they're on pace for 52pts.

That is because they have no top end talent. I never advocated for a team made only of gudpro types. Doesn't mean they have no value on a hockey team. The Leafs are made up of a bunch of skilled soft players and are on pace to miss the playoffs. Maybe the best option is to have a mix of both?
 
I don’t think he’ll keep up anything close to his 70+ point pace, but I’m not surprised at all that Brown’s offensive numbers are having a revival in Ottawa.

In part, it’s because he’s getting a ton of ice-time and opportunity, and someone’s got to score on a bad team.

But this is also a guy who led the OHL in scoring one year, led the Marlies in scoring in his first pro season (65+ point pace) and then had 20 goals in his first full NHL season.

So he’s undeniably got skill. It’s kind of remarkable how much that disappeared after a couple of years as a star pupil in Babcock’s plugger school. I’m happy for the guy though, and hope he keeps it up. Would be nice for his sake if he extracted a fat third contract on the basis of good offensive numbers this year.
 
Is Brown really a better gud pro than the guys we kept over him though? He's tougher and more physical than Hyman, Moore, MIkheyev, Goat?

Brown isn't tough at all. Or skilled. Thats why he was passed on our depth chart by by everyone.
 
Is Brown really a better gud pro than the guys we kept over him though? He's tougher and more physical than Hyman, Moore, MIkheyev, Goat?
He seems kinda soft to me. Not sure what's so gudpro about him. He's a gudpro in the same way that Kerfoot is a gudpro. Works hard, buzzes around, but not particularly a rugged puck possession/cycling beast. Quite the opposite really. He's soft and not all that skilled.
 
I don;t even see a path for Brown to make it out of the pressbox when this team is healthy. Johnsson/Willy, Hyman/Marner, Mikheyev/Kappy, Moore/Tima/Spezza?

Maybe he could have beat out Tima/Spezza for 8 mins a game.
 
brown has one goal this year.

he's got a bunch of assists, but that comes with an unsustainable 14.2oish%.

he'll definitely see a boost in offense this year, though, given he's getting 20+ minutes per game and top unit PP time.

but remember, even with tavares out, Matthews just cant handle 20+ minutes per game.
 
Maybe he could have beat out Tima/Spezza for 8 mins a game.
That's the path. Brown giving them 8 minutes a game isn't going to suddenly make this team a tough, bruising gudpro team. In fact, it just makes their 4th line worse like he has done for the last 2 years. And softer.

Pick your battles, gudpro boys. You have a decent argument in some ways, but I would avoid bringing up Connor Brown as some big loss.
 
yeah there's no place for Brown in our forward group. for one thing, he literally cannot keep up with most of our forwards.

and, as noted above, our in house 'gudpros' all pretty much do what he does better, or do it for way less money. and he'd be our #4 RW going forward for years.
 
With regards to Connor Brown, just remember that Matt Stajan played at a 60-pt pace as a #1 centre for this team before he was traded for Phaneuf.
 
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