What Do You Think Of Eric Brewer?

a) he shouldnt have been resigned- playing well for 1/5 of his time in the note simply should not get him a contract. shouldn’t get anyone a contract. bad message to send “hey you sucked” “hey you decided to run a coach out of town” “hey you didn’t play great like the blue code heck you didnt even play good” but lets kiss and make up.

b) he is playing well as a defensive d-man

c) the blues have no offense off the blueline. we were (and perhaps still are) ranked in the bottom 5 of all nhl team in any concievable offensive stat from the d. Backman has dissapeared. johnson is so-so on the power play but his absence proved the blues dont have two valid point options (must less four). Jackman, again, had provided steady output last season has dissapeared as well offensively

d) there generally isnt a noticably drop off between sitting brewer or sitting mckee or probably even if andy starts sitting salvadore. that should tell you all you need to know

Unloading his contract wouldn’t be a bad thing, but, of course, it depends what we could get for Brewer in a trade. I’ve been impressed with his play so far at both ends of the ice. He definitely has a positive offensive impact, though so has the rookie Wagner. I’ve seen them both spark odd-man rushes the other way, leading the way into the zone, for better or worse.

Brewer in Backman out. Brewer is Canadian and very dependable. Backman is European and soft.

We’d be better off with Rich Pilon.

Get whatever you can for him in a deal. If nothing else, it’ll rid us of the Chris Pronger stench.

I don’t like him at all. He has some ability and raw talent to be sure, but I’ve never seen a defenseman make more boneheaded plays while trying to clear their own zone than Brewer. He is the zen master of the float-the-puck-slowly-up-the-boards-right-onto-the-stick-of-the-opposing-teams-best-forward move. No one seems to do that better than him. It drives me crazy. Make a very concerted effort to watch Brewer while he tries to clear the puck out of the zone over the next couple of games and I think you’ll be shocked at just how much he does this.

Other than the one awful giveaway a game he seems to have, Eric Brewer has been steady, not spectacular. You can say that about the top 7 (Poor Matt Walker – hasn’t been on the ice enough to count) defensemen on this team. The Blues defensemen have, on the whole, been solid all season, although Jackman seems to get where he likes to take offensive chances when he probably shouldn’t.

Other than the untouchable Erik Johnson, I think Brewer would fetch the most in a trade, but I’m not sure that he would give us the 30-goal scorer people think he would. Maybe a solid two-way forward and we have enough of those already. Steve Wagner has made Backman replaceable as well; he’s a little more physical, if not as polished a skater.

Besides, the only scoring forwards currently available are the overpaid, underachieving head cases who are making their coaches lose hair and health. It’s probably going to be a while before anybody moves anywhere because of the salary cap. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Backman go at the trading deadline, although he’s our best defenseman in plus/minus. Doesn’t play against the big boys on the other team, either if Andy Murray can help it.

I agree that Backman (and his $2.200 mil salary, $3.400 mil next season) should be the first one to go. But, as Childhood Trauma mentioned above, it doesn’t really matter who stays or goes, our D is solid nonetheless.

Should we be worried about the clog on D? We have 8 NHL-caliber defensemen on the squad, 2 more (at least) in the minors and some good prospects coming in (Junland, Cole, Fairchild etc.). I say trade someone on the squad, preferably Brewer or Backman, and see what you can get for them. Throw in a draft pick if that’s what it takes to get something good in return.

He gets treated unfairly by fickle fans. I think every defenseman (not just Brewer) on the team is good for at least one bone head move per game. I can’t figure out why Brewer gets singled out by Blues fans.

My guess is if he was playing as poorly as the internet “experts” seem to think, he would be sitting in the Gamache box instead of dressing every game.

so since when is a guy who can’t get more than 29 pt.s in this league considered an offensive defenseman? and yes he has been at fault for a lot of the goals the blues give up. he can not move laterally well on the blueline which makes him a bad choice on the pp and further more he continually makes bad choices, hardly gets shots through and when he does they usually miss the mark and not because he was keeping the puck down low because his shooting mane was blocked.

the other day for example in detriot, tkachuk makes a great play steals the puck in the neutral zone and brewer breaks in with walt crashing the net. what action does brewer take? he winds up for a slap shot on a butterfly goalie with walt crashing the net. what would be the logical play to make here? a) shoot high upper 90, b)shoot the puck midlevel for a inside the post c)shoot for the five hole d) shoot it low for the leg pad pass or e) any choice but choice b because that’s the place a butterfly goalie stops most shots? answer is e.

brewer is overpaid. he sometimes plays well. he gives up breakaways on the pp or just the offensive blue line at least once a game. he cost us the game at home against chicago. he lets opposing players walk in front of the net with the puck because he’s out of position. usually makes bad choices on breakouts. when he plays well he milits these mistakes. mckee is a far superior defensive player. i have noticed brewer getting a little better here and there but he’s not better than six other defensemen.

erik johnson’s better than just okay. the kid’s the real deal. how many times have you seen brewer fake a shot on the power play? the fact is both ej and wagner are superior players to brewer. as far as i’m concerned they should trade the bum the best part of the pronger deal is wyowitka and hopefully he gets some more time someday to prove that fact again.

actually slavador leads the blues in plus/ minus at this time. backman might not be putting up the points but he moves the puck well which is what we need more of. the perfect balance in the nhl i think is group that has grit, speed and the ability to move the puck on the transition. buffalo lacks the grittier players and that ends up costing them. jackman’s got the ability to be both gritty and make good outlet passes but hasn’t been very good jumping into the rush this year.

the blues who are rebuilding might just think about some prospects and draft picks unless they can get a good young type of scorer. i hope the blues don’t start getting like some other gms who are locking up every good player on their team and now are starting to look like they may have painted themselves in the corner.
the other thing said about the blues having a lot of two way players, well if you’re refering to the two lines of checking forwards then yeah. but generally the way i understand it, two way players also can score and mayers seems the only one capable of that(surprisingly).

and as far as internet fans being too nitpicky: i sit behind the blues goal and get a close up view of the defensive play for two periods a game. brewer has done what i said and more and some good things. he hasn’t been solid this year. not like he was for those few weeks before he got that big contract. interestingly enough that also coincided with hi drop back into the negative in plus/minus shortly after signing his john hancock. 4.25million for that? i hope he starts getting better in a hurry and plays the way everyone can picture him playing. hell ej’s starting to be that guy. he has the best hands of any defenseman in the nhl right now.

I call them two-way forwards because that’s what they’re supposed to be; not how they’re performing now. Mayers isn’t supposed to be a two-way forward, but Stempniak, McClement, Backes, and Mike Johnson are.

Never thought Brewer was an offensive defenseman; the fact that he’s on the PP indicates how much help the Blues need at the point. Sorry to see Wagner sitting-he knows how to get the shot through. Brewer may have a hard slap shot, but as Chris D points out, it’s inaccurate and takes a long time to get off.

EJ is the real deal. I watched him Sunday – no panic, didn’t rush anything, and the rush that started when he beat a Flame forechecker all by himself without the puck being in any real danger—THAT was extremely impressive.

I still don’t think you could get a decent goal scorer for Brewer or McKee now, anyway, so selling either one in a fire sale doesn’t do anything other than change the locker room chemistry (positive/negative, I don’t know, also depends on who they bring into the locker room, too) and take a salary off the books (most of which the other GM would insist that you eat, or pick up more on the contract you’re getting, so you’re not saving much there, either.)

Oh, and Marcus: trading player x and a draft pick higher than the 3rd round is BAD. You wind up with a team of overpaid veterans whose best years are behind them and no replacements. Been there, done that (although its not our fault we didn’t have any 1st rounders for 5 years).