What happened to Brian Lee?

[Pitlick*]

I can't wait until Lee moves on. What a disappointment. Yes, he's become serviceable defensively, but he is so undynamic and uncreative offensively, and his shot is so incredibly weak, I can't believe he was drafted so high. If he was taken late 1st round, I'd be alright with a guy who is a bottom pairing D-man, with potential of 2nd pairing on a bad team. Just disappointing for the 9th overall pick, especially with Staal / Kopitar available, I'll never get over this. So I'd prefer that Brian Lee would be some other team's serviceable #5 defenseman.

 

[SpezDispenser]

I have seen him a play a few times and what struck me was how "un-physical" he played. His skating kept him in position but he rarely played the body nor did he look to take the forward to the boards and paste/hold him there.

Then I read he was sent down, then waived and openly reported to being shopped around with no takers.

To Lee's credit he made the best of his latest chance when called back up.

From the January call up he seems to have played about 20-22 minutes a game on average with a few stinkers namely a -3 against Buffalo on March 13th and a bunch of -2 games against detroit, pitt, nyr and van.

He was a -9 in March alone

top 4 ? well I hope so because I have him in my sim league

but 5/6/7 seems more likely

then again he is only 24 years old

best of luck to him and the senators this upcoming season

He wasn't physical enough until he got the 2nd chance last year and was called back up. Then he started to take the body in a big way and played his way onto a pairing with Phillips (who desperately needed someone 'safe' to play with). I'm not sure when he became one of the hardest working guys in the weight-room, but I can assume it was the threat of his NHL career going out the window that motivated him.

To me, that speaks volumes of his character that he took it upon himself to pump up and not be tossed around like a doll anymore - and he also appears to have listened intently to Kleinendorst in Bingo and molded his game into a much more physical, shutdown D-man (because the reality is, he'll never have the shot needed to be an offensive D-man).

One of two things will happen with Brian Lee. 1 - he will stay in the league as a cheap shutdown guy - likely a 5/6 pairing player and carve out a nice niche for himself in the NHL. 2 - he'll fade into oblivion because teams have their own shutdown players coming in that they've drafted and farmed - and let's face it, most of those teams would rather play their own draftees.

Which brings us back to the Sens and Brian Lee - an odd circumstance in that Lee was taken by Muckler and his scouting staff of 3 (I'm not kidding) and is not a Bryan Murray pick - which doesn't matter as evidenced by Colin Greening, Erik Condra etc., but in this particular instance, I think it means something. Murray will undoubtedly want to get his own guys in there next year, guys like Eric Gryba, Patrick Wiercioch, Mark Borowiecki etc., so time is running out on the Brian Lee era in Ottawa.

Maybe the biggest 'bust' that comes out of this isn't Brian Lee, but the position he was taken in and the time and resources put into making him an NHL player by Ottawa, only to have him leave soon (I'd all but guarantee he's a tiny deadline day deal for a 5th or similar). Damn shame, life goes on though.

 

[TheBradyBunch]

Just an interesting point re: his physicality... Lee was 2nd on our team in DMan hits, and if he played the full season his hits would be prorated to 144. Thats good for 32nd in the league. He's not a physical beast but I'd say he is probably a top 20-30 DMan in terms of hitting based on his 2nd stint last year. He was very physical in his 2nd stint. If he keeps that up, he will be a legitimate #4 by the end of the year IMO. If he plays a full 82 game sched, I'd expect about 15 pts, 150-160 hits, and 19-20 mins/game. Lee will likely be dealt, and only then will he really be affirmed as an NHLer. I expect him to get a trade to a contender where he will slot into the 5 or 6 role, and he will then prove his worth in the playoffs and show just how good he is. My guess for him is that he will have a career of 2-3mil contracts and several roles as an elite #5 or crap #3. Definitely a good career, and if he was picked 5 spots later there would be no qualms about it.

 

[YogiCanucks]

He's a bust, there's no doubt about it.

What's interesting is that he became a serviceable defensive defenceman after having been described as an offensive-type guy during his draft year. He's a 5-6 Dman,

I know we're quite liberal with throwing the word "bust" around. But how many guys outside of the top 3-5 actually live up to their potential. For every Jerome Iginla there are dozens of Manny Malhotra's, who pretty much follow the same path. They are highly touted prospects, don't live up to their billing, find something they're good at it, become servicable players in the league.

Karlsson and Cowen are where it's at anyways.

EDIT: Sounds a lot like what I think of Luke Schenn. Schenn is already superior defensively but like Lee will NEVER have an NHL offensive game. Never going to be part of the "core" of a championship team but certainly an important part.

 

[Smif]

I know we're quite liberal with throwing the word "bust" around. But how many guys outside of the top 3-5 actually live up to their potential. For every Jerome Iginla there are dozens of Manny Malhotra's, who pretty much follow the same path. They are highly touted prospects, don't live up to their billing, find something they're good at it, become servicable players in the league.

Karlsson and Cowen are where it's at anyways.

EDIT: Sounds a lot like what I think of Luke Schenn. Schenn is already superior defensively but like Lee will NEVER have an NHL offensive game. Never going to be part of the "core" of a championship team but certainly an important part.

I am fighting the urge to say something defending Schenner but I don't want to be the one who hijacked the Brian Lee thread and turned it into another Luke Schenn thread so I will simply say: very interesting opinion.

 

[kyle747]

Lee was bowling guys over in his own end last year - good players - and not chasing behind his own net. He seems like a serviceable NHL player, and while I'd have loved for him to turn out to be a star, or have drafted Kopitar I'm not going to cry over it.

Muckler's drafting was not great in Ottawa.

 

[NaiveLeafsFan]

I am fighting the urge to say something defending Schenner but I don't want to be the one who hijacked the Brian Lee thread and turned it into another Luke Schenn thread so I will simply say: very interesting opinion.

Get this man a medal.

Or a statue.

 

[DJB]

I still cringe when I think of Lee.

And I still can't beleive that we passed on Staal. Thoughts for sure he was our pick and I was hoping that we would going to take him.

That being said, Lee has made himself into a serviceable bottom pairing shutdown guy with a decent first pass.