Why the Eric Brewer Trade Was Inevitable

It was announced earlier this afternoon that Tampa Bay Lightning Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman had elected to trade Lightning Defenseman Eric Brewer to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for a Third-Round Draft Pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.

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While there are many people out there who would disagree with the next statement, I think it is pretty safe to say that this has been coming for quite some time.

Let’s take a look at why this was inevitable for the Lightning to build a sustainable future.

Eric Brewer is a very personable guy off the ice, but unfortunately, off the ice doesn’t help the Lightning in their quest for a second Stanley Cup Championship. When the Lightning first acquired Brewer in the 2010-11 season from the St. Louis Blues, he looked as if he had some real potential here.

Unfortunately, over the course of the last few seasons, we have watched that potential which once shined so bright began to fade away into oblivion; and we are not just talking about on the scoreboard.

Just as a matter of principle, and simplicity, let’s take a look at the scoreboard first. Last season, Brewer skated in 77 games with the Tampa Bay Lightning. In this amount of time, Brewer netted 4 goals and 13 assists for a total of 17 points.

At the same time, Victor Hedman skated in a total of 75 games with the Bolts where he scored 13 goals and 42 assists for a total of 55 points. The winner on the scoreboard is clearly Victor Hedman.

When it comes to the matters most important to a defenseman, in the last couple of seasons, with the exception of a spark of light this season, has seemed to have thrown his hands in the air and given up. It got to the point where fans of the team had given Brewer a nickname; traffic cone.

In case you can’t gather the meaning of this, it means that he stands in one place and watches and people, and the puck, sail right past him. This is simply not something you want on a team when you are planning a run to the championship.

One of the first things that people find themselves inclined to ask is “If he is so bad, then why haven’t we caught onto it earlier?” The simple fact of the matter is that some of us have, all you had to do was dig just a little bit deeper.

A friend of mine made a very valid point a little earlier this afternoon, and it put everything into perspective just a little bit better. Hopefully, it will help people see things from another perspective.

Back when we first acquired Eric Brewer, we also made two other acquisitions. We acquired Brett Clark from the Colorado Avalanche and Pavel Kubina returned to the Lightning from the then Atlanta Thrashers.

Both of these defensemen were at one point teamed up with Eric Brewer, and what happened to the two of them after two years had passed? They were both gone. Why? Because they spent so much time trying to cover the holes left in the defense at the hands of Brewer that they were essentially blamed for the issues.

Both Kubina and Clark found themselves on new teams by the end of the 2011-12 season; Clark moved on to the Minnesota Wild and Kubina to the Philadelphia Flyers. Yet Eric Brewer remained with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

When we came into training camp this season, Jason Garrison and Anton Stralman have made little effort to cover up for the mistakes of others and have concentrated on doing their jobs. This has exposed the holes in Brewer’s game, and made it much clearer for people like Jon Cooper and Steve Yzerman to see.

I think the first sign that there was something amiss is when Brewer was mad a healthy scratch earlier in the season. Cooper said that it was nothing more than it simply being his turn to sit out, but given the fact that Brewer seemed so slighted by it made it feel like something completely different.

When Brewer returned to the ice after being scratched, we saw brief glimpses of the player that we all thought he could be, but more quickly than it came, it disappeared. When he began being made a healthy scratch more times throughout the season, at least the twenty-three games we have played thus far this season, that there was something awry.

I think the tipping point here is the imminent return of Victor Hedman. As I mentioned in a previous article, with Hedman about to return to the ice, someone on the roster has to go.

At this point, the two that would involve the least amount of work for the team would have been centers Vladislav Namestnikov and Cedric Paquette; however, given the level to which these two have been playing in the time they have been on the main roster, would anyone really want to see one of them return to Syracuse?

At the end of the day, someone had to go, and Yzerman decided that it should be Brewer. Was this the sole reason in which Brewer was traded, we may never know. The only person who can answer that question thoroughly is Yzerman.

Don’t get me wrong, I do not particularly hate Eric Brewer. Off the ice, he is a very personable guy who has always been nice to my friends and I whenever we have crossed paths; however, if I sat back and watched another puck go sailing by him as he stands there with a look of wonder in his eyes I would lose my voice, and my mind, in the process.

Now that the decision has been made, what are your thoughts on the matter? Do you agree with Steve Yzerman’s decision to trade defenseman Eric Brewer for a third-round pick in next year’s draft? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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