Devils Vs Blaze - PO 1/4 Final - 9th April 23 - 18:00 FO
- Thread starter James
- Start date
Brandt is a conundrum, is being a fan favourite enough to secure a place on a team looking to win. No, he’s not that good, l can’t see him going anywhere else as l don’t believe frankly anyone would want him. I’d like him to stay, l guess we will see, if I’m wrong and he does go, it’ll likely be to a Scottish club.
That seems extremely harsh. For his position on the depth chart, he's not expected to put up a lot of points. His job is to put in some big hits and get opponents looking over their shoulders. The fact that he does it so effectively is why he's a fan favourite.
Now, the question is whether we could find someone else to play on the 4th line who would contribute more for the same pay. I'm not sure that we could.
Now, the question is whether we could find someone else to play on the 4th line who would contribute more for the same pay. I'm not sure that we could.
Clearly there will be an upper limit to what we'll pay for any player, and that will be true of all of the other teams though. The point is that there's a certain value to a player who is a known quantity as opposed to a rookie in the league. I would hope that we'd be prepared to pay Brandt his worth to keep him. A players value to a team is measured in more than just points production. If certainly take his work rate over, for instance, Reid any day of the week.
I don't understand the implications that Brandi is lacking ability, skill or isn't the best. If you're judging him as a player on the first line then granted, he may come up a tad short in the point scoring stakes but when you're talking about a menace on the ice who's role is to hustle, fore check hard and give other players something to think about when they have the puck, then this guy is grade A material. The amount of times he starts a rush, takes a shot and makes the goalie freeze the puck giving us much needed zone time is incredible. He rarely shoots the puck aimlessly, with the puck going around the boards, causing a turn over and a rush the other way - our so called marquee players are the ones most guilty of this. These guys are the ones missing the target from four feet out. Brandt is pure gold in the role that he plays and has deserved his increased ice time and the popularity that has come with it.
Talk of a "lack of skill" or signing him for popularity reasons is complete nonsense in my book and is ill informed. Judge him on the role that he is designed and asked to do.
Talk of a "lack of skill" or signing him for popularity reasons is complete nonsense in my book and is ill informed. Judge him on the role that he is designed and asked to do.
I think a lot of people forget in regards to Riley Brandt that he was the top Goalscorer in his first season USports, with 21 goals, which was higher than a couple names we know well…
Coughler, Cox, Sanford, Phillip Sanche, Steven Owre, Slater Dogget, Josh Roach, Massimo Carozza, Scott Simmonds and Brett Welychka to name a few.
Coughler, Cox, Sanford, Phillip Sanche, Steven Owre, Slater Dogget, Josh Roach, Massimo Carozza, Scott Simmonds and Brett Welychka to name a few.
The main reason Brandt would leave would be to further his career and that would be a team offering him to play higher up the lines with more responsibility and not necessarily money. If Fife were to offer 2nd line minutes and a chance to put up some increased offensive numbers over sitting on Devils 4th line again any player would genuinely think about it. Take the fan romance and nonsense away and these guys will do what’s right for them and that doesn’t mean disrespect or a lack of loyalty but if I’m Brandt I want to play and that might mean joining a different club. Personal decision for him based on options available.
Correct, he had to take 3 seasons basically off due to a knee injury, and covid.
If you then look at his return season in that league though, 7 goals in 10 games, which is one more goal than Donovan Neuls (Giants, who is admittedly the only EIHL comparison I can find) in half the games.
Now, I’m not saying Brandt is some kind of star forward, just that I think it would be interesting to see what he could actually do given more minutes and trust to go out there and show offence, rather than just the defensive, energy style stuff we do see from him regularly - which could possibly come from another team in our league.
If you then look at his return season in that league though, 7 goals in 10 games, which is one more goal than Donovan Neuls (Giants, who is admittedly the only EIHL comparison I can find) in half the games.
Now, I’m not saying Brandt is some kind of star forward, just that I think it would be interesting to see what he could actually do given more minutes and trust to go out there and show offence, rather than just the defensive, energy style stuff we do see from him regularly - which could possibly come from another team in our league.
