Bad News Surfaces for Former Maple Leafs Defenseman T.J. Brodie
Former Maple Leafs defenseman T.J. Brodie has struggled in his first season with the Blackhawks and a recent article doesn't hold back on criticism.
After enjoying a very solid NHL career that included a three-year stint with the Toronto Maple Leafs, T.J. Brodie has had a less than stellar start to his Blackhawks tenure.
Struggling to be the offensive weapon the team hoped for, a new article from the Chicago Sun-Times thinks the team is wasting their time and money.
TJ Brodie Has Outstayed His Welcome With Chicago Blackhawks
The 34-year old Brodie was a healthy scratch yet again for the Hawks and with a shift toward a younger team, Brodie's absence was almost inevitable:
It's not like Brodie's experience has added value. In the first year of a two-year contract carrying a $3.75 million salary-cap hit that has aged terribly since July, he has enjoyed plenty of opportunities to find a rhythm.
Yet aside from some short-lived improvement in late November, he has failed to take advantage of those opportunities."
The team has been outscored 36-17 with him on the ice, and while he's never been known to be a defensive standout, his lack of offensive production and awareness is costing them. Though it would be hard to trade him, there is a possibility of the team cutting ties come summer:
The Hawks will need to make a decision this summer, however, and they should decide to buy out his second year.
General manager Kyle Davidson elected not to buy out Nikita Zaitsev in a similar situation two years ago, but times have changed.
Unfortunately, a Brodie buyout wouldn't yield much financial relief. The Hawks would incur a $3.23 million cap charge next season and a $258,000 charge the following season."
Chicago isn't hurting for cap, so perhaps losing the dead weight is necessary to accelerate their rebuild, and clearly Brodie shouldn't be a part of it.
With the Maple Leafs, Brodie played in 274 games, registering eight goals and 72 assists and was a brilliant plus-70 in his tenure with Toronto.
This season however, Brodie has only two goals and seven assists but is a minus-18 with nearly four times as many giveaways as takeaways and his time with the team could be coming to a close way sooner than anyone anticipated.
