Eric Brewer

[Coopers Gum]

He is playing pretty well. But I think Hedman will have something to say about the Lightning d-man lead. Kid lead rushes, determined plays, and, in general, looked awesome out there.

 

[WeedCrimes]

Having a heck of a season so far, great game tonight! Do you think he leads Lightning D in points by the season end?

Brewer has showed up on the stat sheet more, but I'm not ready to hand him the James Norris yet.

Cautiously optimistic is a great way to describe how I feel about Brooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-er

 

[Tyler Durden]

You may be right but for second it will come down to Salo (if he stays healthy) or Brewer in my opinion. Who plays on the top Powerplay?

 

[Bolt32]

You may be right but for second it will come down to Salo (if he stays healthy) or Brewer in my opinion. Who plays on the top Powerplay?

I believe Brewer does....Ive seen Hedman out there as well, though I think that is the second unit. Honestly I wouldn't mind seeing him out there on the first Unit before the end of the season. Hes really been stepping his game up.

 

[IdealisticSniper]

Hedman will be the points leader. He has been giving the green light for offense and hes starting to like doing it. Hes also getting some decent PP time now finally. And is shooting more. I think Hedman breaks 25 points in this shortened season.

And Brewer has been great but thats because hes slotted where he should as a 3/4 guy and he isnt having to play 25+ mins a game now either.

Picking up two top 4 guys put everyone in the proper slots. Its working out beautifully right now.

 

[LTIR Trickery]

Its amazing what time off to heal combined with more defenders to cut big minutes with him change what he looks like when we're over 45 minutes into a game. Its like night and day. His legs are still moving, he isn't panicked, making crisp passes. Lets just hope Salo stays healthy and Aulie continues to take a bigger role, just in case.

 

[IdealisticSniper]

Its amazing what time off to heal combined with more defenders to cut big minutes with him change what he looks like when we're over 45 minutes into a game. Its like night and day. His legs are still moving, he isn't panicked, making crisp passes. Lets just hope Salo stays healthy and Aulie continues to take a bigger role, just in case.

Speaking of Aulie. I wasnt a big fan of his last year. Wasnt sure about him overall. But he has been a nice surprise thus far. Poor guy has been having to do double duty being pair with Lee.

 

[LTIR Trickery]

Speaking of Aulie. I wasnt a big fan of his last year. Wasnt sure about him overall. But he has been a nice surprise thus far. Poor guy has been having to do double duty being pair with Lee.

Oh I downright hated his play last year. He would disappear into corners and chase people like a puppy that was just brought home. His time in Syracuse has been nothing short of wonderful for him, he hasn't had that nervousness he had last year, hes just being smart and sound while playing the body and keeping people away from Anders. If anything, my biggest knock on him so far is that hes not playing enough - i'd like to see him consistently at the 15:00 range. His little flash of offensive ability tonight was excellent, too. He has a damn decent first pass and footspeed really isn't bad at all. I've been so happy to see this version of him, the kid that looked like a big top four guy when he was in Toronto.

 

[newham89]

Another great thing about Aulie this year is how Ashton seems to have failed (so far) in Toronto. Poor numbers in the AHL this year to go with his 0 points in the bigs last year.

 

[chasespace]

The only two of our defenders I haven't liked this year so far are MAB and Lee. Liking 5 out of 7 is a massive improvement compared to the previous years though.

 

[Tyler Durden]

No love for Sami Salo? C'mon Man!

 

[LightningStrikes]

Brewer had to do everything last season. Hedman and him were our only two legit top-4 defenders and when Hedman went down with a concussion all hell broke loose.

Thank god Yzerman got Carle and Salo to spread the workload more evenly.

 

[The Macho King]

I think Yzerman re-earned the moniker SFY. Salo has been beyond clutch. I love the way our D is playing. Ashton for Aulie is looking like a steal, Downie for Vasilevski is looking great, Crombeen is so much more than an enforcer, and Carle is fitting in well. Plus Conacher and our organizational depth...

SFY

 

[TLinden]

So glad to see Salo is playing well for you guys. He was far from finished last season, and a shortened season is just what he needed to keep that leve lof play up.

As long as there is the talent in place to replace him when the inevitable injury happens, he is a great guy to have on the backend.

 

[jg39]

The only two of our defenders I haven't liked this year so far are MAB and Lee. Liking 5 out of 7 is a massive improvement compared to the previous years though.

This is the truth!! In years past it's been 2-3 defenders that I haven't had problems with, with the rest driving me crazy.

MAB's shot is good, but I can't fault the guy for being a little more offensive. It's nice to have him available for PP. Lee has been a bit diabolical (to quote English football managers) on defense so far this season. His mistakes have been easy to notice on D along with some of his awful penalties. Hopefully he can get it together...if he doesn't, someone from Syracuse may need to see a chance.

 

[Ricebox]

I'm creating this thread, in conjunction with the start of this season, as in the past few seasons, i have been extremely unimpressed with Brewer and his Defense, as this season progresses i would like to use this thread as an on-going discussion on his play

His stats are not very impressive, and there has been ALOT of people complaining about him, and i would like to hear some insight from everyone on Brewer.

Some questions are:

Would we be a better defensive team without him, and someone else in his place? if so, Who?

Is his salary worth his skill & effort?

 

[The Macho King]

His salary is certainly not worth it, but I don't think we'd be a better team right now without him. One of the reasons Tampa is trying to get a stay at home guy so much is so we can let him out to pasture as well as having an "oh ****" valve for when Salo goes down.

 

[Coopers Gum]

Handsome fellow at least:

Wish we had someone better. He was great the year we got him, but since then... there are no words.

 

[Lord Stan 2020]

I hope we can find someone on bottom pairing one of three I guess barberio aulie or sustr who works well with him. He is still playing a little in boucher style think will figure that out and play better. He has honestly lost a step or two and recovery speed is bad.

For all of that he will block shots and hit. So not worth salary at all can he play better absolutely cant blame everything on him he needs his help etc.. Is he willing to sacrifice yes.

So you just have to hope he becomes the guy we first had or close to that guy.

Unfortunately he doesnt have a lot of trade value at this time and is not options to upgrade and the kids need to get adjusted to NHL etc.. having a vet like him maybe not as great physically as was but is mentally as smart as ever is HUGE in the development of kids.

So yes HATE him but also see the plus minuses and is what it is So hope good luck mr brewer we are still pulling for you!!

 

[DFC]

Brewer's value depends completely on where he's used. If he's playing 20+ minutes per night, you're in trouble. But 15-17 minutes? Brewer is a pretty good guy for that role. He can give you that. As a 5th or 6th defenseman, Brewer's an asset.

Unfortunately, he's getting paid like a top 4. So no, there's no way he's worth his contract. But you can say that about a large part of the NHL right now.

 

[Steve Yzerman]

Brewer has played himself into the third pairing where he should be fine. I don't know why people would still rag on him, when we won't be depending on him as much. Bigger issue defensively is to find that player who will replace Salo if he retires at the end of this season. Currently, I see NO ONE who could fill that hole within the organization. We'd be forced to put Carle there when he works better on the 2nd pairing with a more defensively minded defenceman (like Gudas). Or we'd be forced to move up Gudas to the first pairing when he isn't ready, at least not yet.

 

[LTIR Trickery]

Brewer's value depends completely on where he's used. If he's playing 20+ minutes per night, you're in trouble. But 15-17 minutes? Brewer is a pretty good guy for that role. He can give you that. As a 5th or 6th defenseman, Brewer's an asset.

Unfortunately, he's getting paid like a top 4. So no, there's no way he's worth his contract. But you can say that about a large part of the NHL right now.

Even 15 in the 4 hole is good for him. I don't think hes as bad as the last season and a half as shown, mainly because nobody looked good over the last one and a half minus 26 and 91.

 

[CSampson]

Sometimes I wonder if players come on and read this stuff about themselves...lol. In any case, Brewer did not play well and I think a big part was that Boucher required both D to follow the puck in our zone and have a forward drop down to cover...but I don't think Coop will do this. And that should help Brewer. Like people have said, not worth the cash, but I dunno if we are better off without him. Maybe.

 

[LTIR Trickery]

Sometimes I wonder if players come on and read this stuff about themselves...lol. In any case, Brewer did not play well and I think a big part was that Boucher required both D to follow the puck in our zone and have a forward drop down to cover...but I don't think Coop will do this. And that should help Brewer. Like people have said, not worth the cash, but I dunno if we are better off without him. Maybe.

Bingo.

 

[DFC]

Brewer just laughed in all of our faces on the TB 1st goal of the year.