hockeykicker
Global Moderator
- Dec 3, 2014
- 35,859
- 14,106
Me either. It's 2024 not 23 thankfully but still a weird one unless they think they're going to flip him at the deadline for a similar pick.I don’t like this deal
Explain please.
He's just kind of a mediocre player. He's not a particularly good driver of offense, he's not particularly good defensively, he's not a great special teams player. He's a third line winger on a team that needs a top 6 winger badly. They profile a bit differently, but he's basically another Conor Sheary to me. Except he makes $3.6 million and restricts much else that can be done with the roster.
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He's not a particularly adept scorer either. He's a career 1.6 points/60 at 5v5, which puts him in the bottom half of the league.
Washington should have been looking for a player who makes their star players better and I don't see it in Connor Brown. Connor Brown is a minute eater but he doesn't do much with those minutes. He won't actively harm them, but for a team that needs a significant talent infusion this move falls short.
Very confused by this assessment. Connor Brown finished 17th in Selke voting in 20-21 (despite playing on horrendous Ottawa teams) and has a reputation as a valuable PK player / middle 6 winger.
He's definitely not someone you lean on to power your offense, but to say his defensive play is "not particularly great" is something I've never heard said about Brown by any fan from Toronto or Ottawa, nor from any hockey pundits or professionals. Shoot, he was selected as an assistant captain on Canada's world champs team and only wasn't able to play for that team again this year due to being COVID positive.
It sounds like the Caps need much more for next season than what he can offer, but he's surely not a bad pickup on a contract year.
Washington doesn't need PKers or middle six wingers, they need a top line winger who can drive offense.
His defensive numbers don't match his reputation either. He's slightly above replacement when it comes to even strength defense over the past 3 years, but hardly worthy of anything near Selke consideration IMO. And his PKing numbers are actually below replacement.
Again, he's a fine enough player. He's a third line winger who's been getting a lot of minutes in Ottawa. But he's not what Washington needs. And more importantly there is quite a large opportunity cost with this pickup given his cap hit.
You just have to brush them off, if it’s not directly in the numbers they don’t want to hear it, nothing is ever human or intangible about the sport and (get this) defensemen don’t actually really improve after their rookie seasons.Sure, I'm not disagreeing with you on the fact that he's not solving Washington's issues by himself. It does sound like this team is going to need some real help scoring the puck AND is operating on a tight budget due to the Wilson/Backstrom situations.
I was looking to speak more to the defensive play comments. I'm surely not an expert on advanced stats, so what you've provided as evidence of being "not particularly good defensively" is something I'm curious about. I just haven't heard that kind of thing said about Brown before. He's always been praised for his forechecking, defensive zone play and his PK abilities. These are the traits that earned him a spot on Team Canada and ultimately helped them win a World Championship.
I've had the ability to watch him as a player since he was in Erie and closely followed him while in Toronto and Ottawa. Unfortunately, these teams have all been relatively poor in terms of team defense. Some of those years in Toronto were decent, but they're beyond the years you provided for stats. The three years provided had him on very poor Ottawa teams (7th in Atlantic in 22, 6th in 21 and 7th again in 20) I'd argue that stats of many middle 6 calibre players would suffer on teams that were overall that poor (much so beyond a single RW) and finishing with an above replacement even strength defense on those teams is a small accomplishment in its own right.
Curious to see how he plays in Washington, but I'm optimistic that he can contribute more than what some folks are expecting. I won't be surprised if his talents earn him the admiration of yet another city's fanbase.
Sure, I'm not disagreeing with you on the fact that he's not solving Washington's issues by himself. It does sound like this team is going to need some real help scoring the puck AND is operating on a tight budget due to the Wilson/Backstrom situations.
I was looking to speak more to the defensive play comments. I'm surely not an expert on advanced stats, so what you've provided as evidence of being "not particularly good defensively" is something I'm curious about. I just haven't heard that kind of thing said about Brown before. He's always been praised for his forechecking, defensive zone play and his PK abilities. These are the traits that earned him a spot on Team Canada and ultimately helped them win a World Championship.
I've had the ability to watch him as a player since he was in Erie and closely followed him while in Toronto and Ottawa. Unfortunately, these teams have all been relatively poor in terms of team defense. Some of those years in Toronto were decent, but they're beyond the years you provided for stats. The three years provided had him on very poor Ottawa teams (7th in Atlantic in 22, 6th in 21 and 7th again in 20) I'd argue that stats of many middle 6 calibre players would suffer on teams that were overall that poor (much so beyond a single RW) and finishing with an above replacement even strength defense on those teams is a small accomplishment in its own right.
Curious to see how he plays in Washington, but I'm optimistic that he can contribute more than what some folks are expecting. I won't be surprised if his talents earn him the admiration of yet another city's fanbase.
Very confused by this assessment. Connor Brown finished 17th in Selke voting in 20-21 (despite playing on horrendous Ottawa teams) and has a reputation as a valuable PK player / middle 6 winger.
He's definitely not someone you lean on to power your offense, but to say his defensive play is "not particularly great" is something I've never heard said about Brown by any fan from Toronto or Ottawa, nor from any hockey pundits or professionals. Shoot, he was selected as an assistant captain on Canada's world champs team and only wasn't able to play for that team again this year due to being COVID positive.
It sounds like the Caps need much more for next season than what he can offer, but he's surely not a bad pickup on a contract year.
That's where "analytics" become totally Pejorative Slured. It's for people who never laced them up and don't watch hockey games. Don't listen to the noise
This nerdy assnalytics are too stupid to even take context into account. Connor Brown has gotten the hardest matchups and defensive missions possible in Ottawa, he has been the coach's swiss army knife in every situation. The average hockey fan doesn't have any idea about all of this, they might refer to hockeydb.com or analytics
Brown is a fantastic 2-way player, you gonna love him. Nice steal, abusing a poor ass budget team that needed to get the dollars OUT today for some reason...
Some might think wow they signed Giroux and got DeBrincat. It's true and it's great but they had to get Murray, White and now Brown money OUT to make it happen. Still a pathetic dollarama hockey team.
But if you want a more "realistic" read on Brown, sometimes some analytics match the eye test more
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Capitals acquire Connor Brown from Senators for 2nd-round pick
The Washington Capitals acquired winger Connor Brown from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for a second-round draft pick in 2024, the teams announced.Brown, 28, has one year remaining on his contract at a cap hit of $3.6 million before hitting unrestricted free agency next season. He's been an...www.thescore.com