Every player needs their hands. Not a single NHL player can be effective without healthy hands. Suggesting otherwise shows a serious lack of knowledge of the game. The guy had the worst year of his career and it all came after the hand injury (not broken finger, broken hand, significant difference), one he returned early from because other players were out injured. Brouwer played tentative after returning from injury, which is the opposite of how he has played the majority of his career. I don't know why that is so hard to understand.
As for asset management, your views are let's say..... misguided. You don't do what you can do dump any poor contact, because guess what? It costs assets to give up a bad contract! What do teams want to absorb poor contracts? Draft picks, something we can't exactly afford to give away right now because our 2018 first round pick and next three second round picks are all tied up in trades already. And let's be perfectly honest here, if your worst contract is Troy Brouwer, you are in better shape than most teams in the NHL. And before you suggest that the Flames eat salary in a trade, let's not forget that the Flames have NEVER absorbed salary in a trade since that was implemented.
Because that was Brouwer's worst year of his career and his "decline" was sudden and following a broken hand, he deserves an opportunity to rebound. And to
@Mobiandi pointing at his 5 on 5 vs PP production, that was one of the reasons the man was acquired, because of his PP production (the others being his PK ability, leadership and grit). He a third line player that is effective on the PP, as his career numbers would show.
