Confirmed with Link: Lindy to Canucks for F Kuzmenko, D Hunter Brzustewicz, D Joni Jurmo, 2024 1st, Cond. 2024 4th

[Mitch nylander]

Phenomenal return for you guys! Great trade.

 

[Iggys Dome]

Please god be a phat package with a first at least

My prayers were answered

Now flip Kuz

 

[super6646]

Conroy did very good here. Getting some solid futures but also a roster piece with upside who can fill a spot and be flipped later. Can't complain. Its asset management

 

[WTG]

If you are curious about an opinion on Hunter, I made some posts in this thread with video examples. He is a good prospect, and I am very bummed the Canucks gave up on him. Don't let the points fool you. He isn't an offense-only defenseman. He's well-rounded and plays a major role for the team, both defensively and offensively.

Prospect Info: - Hunter Brzustewicz: 75th Overall 2023 Draft (Kitchener) - RD

The problem with the Forsling deal was much less the trading of Forsling and more the terrible pro scouting on the guy they traded him for. I mean sure, but I take iasue with a team with no prospects and terrible amateur scouting trading their hits out of impatience. Especially when you...

forums.hfboards.com

I post my thoughts on him here. I'm not a scout or anything. These are just my initial viewings.

Just a disclaimer: I've watched one game.

He plays the most mature game on a team full of great players. Usually, at this level, you see many players "panic" with the puck and hold on too long or give up the puck when challenged. It seemed like Brzustewicz didn't break a sweat on the ice. One thing that mainly stood out was how calm and cool he was with the puck. Often, tonight, he would circle back with the puck and make the right play.

He got two assists on the play, but those assists were kind of because he was on the ice. There were a couple of plays where he created some great offensive chances because of his edgework on the blue line to open up some space and set his teammates with the puck.

As far as his skating, his strongest tool is his edges and ability to turn away forecheckers and forwards. He doesn't have blazing pace, but he read the game well tonight and never got burned or anything. Made a few nice angle plays along the boards to smother a rush. In the prospect thread, I said that he could do well on tying his man up. I think that's just because of a few plays. Throughout the entire game, he did well along the boards.

Some key plays that stood out to me are when he got pressured off the boards in his own zone, held onto the puck, and made a blind, easy, small pass to a forward, and it was out of the zone. I think stuff like this transfers over well where players don't panic and completely negate a forecheck. There was also a play in the offensive zone that did that thing that Hughes does where he jukes a player by feigning to go one way and then going the other. Then, going down the boards to set up a brilliant chance by passing it into the slot. Brzustewicz also made a few good transition plays up the ice that caused the Otters a lot of issues off the rush.

The Otters didn't force him to skate at all, so I can't tell you if he's quick. But he does seem to have some pace when he does want to skate the puck in. But he seems to be a pass-first type of guy. There were a few times where he lost track of his man's stick, but they weren't that egregious where you could really knock him and really that's just really nitpicky based of one or two plays.

From a one-game viewing, it does look like he has a lot of projectable traits. His most projectable trait, from a one-game viewing, of course, is his transitional play. But I'd like to see him against a better team that does better challenging him. It would serve him well to play pro hockey next year in Abbotsford. I think before you project him to be an NHL player, he needs to play against bigger and faster guys. If he can remain as calm, cool, and collected against pros, he definitely has top 4 potential.

I am really excited for next year's prospect camp; I think he'll be a late cut to the team. Maybe if I watch the next game, I'll record some examples I see, like the good ol' days.

Seeing that I've made that post, and I still have the stream open. I decided to go back and kind of give a bit of a visual of what I'm basing my post on so in case others have a different take. I didn't record a whole shift-by-shift, just smaller things that I thought were applicable to him being an NHL prospect. If others disagree with me, that's okay. It's important people aren't just taking my word for it.

When I was talking about being poised on the puck and very calm in how he handles the puck under pressure. I think the second clip shows his poise quite well as he takes a look at all his options and waits till he finds the right one instead of blasting the puck in deep. He seems to glide into open positions away from the puck and makes good, crisp passes. You see that in the rest of the clips when he has the puck.



These next clips are about him making good reads in the offensive zone, finding his teammates, and using his edges. Although there were no goals, some of these could have easily resulted in a couple of goals.



Now that all that pumping the tires of Brzuwesticz, I wanted to give a bit of an unbiased look at some little oopsies in the game. The first clip shows him making a really unnecessary bad pinch, especially when you are up 3-1. Looking back at the game, I've noticed that he takes a lot of risky pinches. I'm sure these sorts of pinches are completely coachable.

The second clip is one where he got caught looking around and control disconnecting. This is the only instance of him losing track of everything that I saw, but it's something where you do that in the NHL. You are getting stapled to the bench.



Overall, I like this prospect. I might watch more games and provide some video updates. Or I might not. Who knows!

Brzuwesticz gets three assists to close out the game +4. He was in on all non-empty net goals and was 2nd star of the game.

These are all the plays I recorded. You can call them WTG highlights of the game! I'll give a little write-up if you are interested in that a little bit later. But if you want to watch Brzuwesticz highlight package in a snapshot, and not my opinion, just watch this.

So this is my second viewing of Brzuwesticz, and I thought he played a much better game than the last game against a tougher team. I didn't see nearly as many defensive lapses as last game, where he would get a bit lost in the defensive zone. He was also much more physically engaged in this game compared to the last game.

Pretty much all of his defensive lapses this game are because he pinches whenever he can, which leaves the team vulnerable when it doesn't work. I suspect he pinches as much because he got the green light from the coach, and at higher levels, it's a fixable issue. Another thing he could work on is getting more involved in battles along the boards. But he was more physically engaged than in the last game. I added a clip in late where he punts a guy after the whistle, and that's after being on the ice for 2+ minutes.

You can tell he has the trust of his coach as he plays on the first powerplay and penalty kill. He also managed to play the last 3 minutes of the game when the team was up by one. In the highlight package, I put in a clip where the team is up by one late in the period; he makes a simple pass and skates to the other side of his own zone to open himself up to smartly transition the puck out before getting the puck in deep. I felt that in the last game, he was playing a bit too risky and making way too many aggressive plays when he didn't need to be. So I included that one as a standout.

One thing that has been apparent over two games is his ability to see the ice and find himself in good positions on the ice. I think you see that in the highlight package, where he is constantly finding himself in either an open lane or forcing the other team to react to him. That's just smart hockey play.

He is labeled as an offensive defenseman because of the points he gets, but I think that's just a product of his vision and his smart play. He is way more dynamic than just an offensive defenseman. That's reflected at the coach trusting him in every situation. Brzustewicz makes others around him better.

 

[SaintMorose]

Great return, and Tanev wasn't even part of it?
I don't mind gambling on Kuzmenko recovering some value with only a year left on his deal
love getting a 1st and Hunter Brzustewicz exactly the type of return we wanted
Joni Jurmo even isn't bad considering the issues we're having keeping D on our farm teams

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

So i live in the Okanagan. I went to several of the games in Penticton. Bruzstewitz was the one prospect that stood out to me from other teams. He could be a true PP QB.

 

[crazyfisherman]

Friedman just said Bruzstewitz might not have wanted to sign in Vancouver, maybe some cause for concerns there

 

[flames23]

So i live in the Okanagan. I went to several of the games in Penticton. Bruzstewitz was the one prospect that stood out to me from other teams. He could be a true PP QB.

Yeah sounds like a solid prospect. Very happy w this first domino falling.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

Please take good care of Kuz, guys.

Great player and guy, just not a great fit under Tocchet. Sincerely hope he lights it up in Cowtown.

Do us a solid and mutilate the Oilers!!! Thanks

 

[sampollock]

Great trade
Congrats

 

[nucksflailtogether]

You did well Flames. Are we friends now? We keep swapping players, must be some sort of record at this point.

 

[DomBarr]

F**k there goes our Allstar rep

 

[Boomstick]

Man, imagine if we had a shitty year in Gaudreau's final year.
We would have gotten a haul.

 

[TheHudlinator]

Conroy did very good here. Getting some solid futures but also a roster piece with upside who can fill a spot and be flipped later. Can't complain. Its asset management

Yup great return for a guy that wanted out. Next do Hanifin and hopefully Tanev

 

[InfinityIggy]

Most of value is in Brzuwesticz + 1st. If Kuzmenko turns it around here he could be a plus as well, we will have to wait and see on that.

Should note I really like Brzuwesticz. Reminds me much of Andersson/Kylington type guys the Flames can develop well.

Fair deal, not blown away but Conroys best deal to this point.

 

[crackdown44]

Has anyone peeped what the conditions on the 4th rounder are? We do better with those than 1sts around here, could be a deal breaker

 

[TheHudlinator]

Most of value is in Brzuwesticz + 1st. If Kuzmenko turns it around here he could be a plus as well, we will have to wait and see on that.

Fair deal, not blown away but Conroys best deal to this point.

Kuzmenko is another Sharangovich. He could very easily be another middle 6 guy for us.

He has 10 less points for Lindholm not sure how this isn't a slam dunk

 

[super6646]

Kuzmenko is another Sharangovich. He could very easily be another middle 6 guy for us.

Man can't skate which is an issue right off the bat. Still have the issue that you can't play him with Huberdeau for that reason.

 

[Lunatik]

I won't pretend I knew much about the prospects before this, or even now.

But Jurmo is a big ass defenseman that skates very well. Brzustewicz is a RHD that is racking up a ton of points in the OHL.

A first of course is a first.

Kuzmenko is just a year removed from a 39 goal season, maybe a fresh start with the Flames could reignite him.

 

[DomBarr]

I am actually ok with this trade as long as they don’t Huberdeau Kuzmemko and extend him long term based on his 27% shooting percentage

 

[TheHudlinator]

Man can't skate which is an issue right off the bat. Still have the issue that you can't play him with Huberdeau for that reason.

I've given up trying to fix Huberdeau he is what he is. Kuzmenko can be a real threat.

 

[InfinityIggy]

Kuzmenko is another Sharangovich. He could very easily be another middle 6 guy for us.

He has 10 less points for Lindholm not sure how this isn't a slam dunk

The potential exists with Kuzmenko for sure but I wont pretend he hasn’t struggled this year though. Fresh start is all it takes sometimes though. Also comparing him to Lindholm is silly because Kuzmenkos defence and skating can best be described as “existing”.

 

[super6646]

I've given up trying to fix Huberdeau he is what he is. Kuzmenko can be a real threat.

If the team can cover his skating deficiencies. I'm a little skeptical of that at this time, but whatever. Worst case we flip up next TDL for 50% retained.

 

[crackdown44]

Bader is high on Brzustewicz which is good to see

 

[Lunatik]

Most of value is in Brzuwesticz + 1st. If Kuzmenko turns it around here he could be a plus as well, we will have to wait and see on that.

Should note I really like Brzuwesticz. Reminds me much of Andersson/Kylington type guys the Flames can develop well.

Fair deal, not blown away but Conroys best deal to this point.

If Kuz rebounds, he could land us a haul at the deadline next year