Which of these former teammates is the better own for 2013-13?
The Blackhawks' turn from laughing stock to perennial powerhouse has been something to admire. Obviously they were lucky (and terrible) enough to draft Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, which helped provide them with the core necessary to be a contender year after year but the Blackhawks have also done tremendous job of drafting in the later rounds and in developing those late round picks into competent role-players. Two such players were taken in the same 2004 draft – Bryan Bickell and Troy Brouwer. Neither one is a star on his own but with the right players they can both be extremely productive. Who would you rather own next season?
Brouwer, unlike Bickell, had to go elsewhere to land his millions signing with the Washington Capitals in the summer of 2011. The thinking was that the Capitals had to get bigger and tougher and needed someone with championship experience who could fit in with their star players – Brouwer had in the past skated effectively with Toews and Kane during his time in Chicago so it seemed a natural fit, particularly with the dearth of talent on the right side in Washington.
Brouwer has played effectively in his time with the Capitals expanding his role from 17:11 per game with 2:08 on the power play during his first season to 18:34 per game with 3:23 on the power play in his second. He is now a full time part of the Capitals top six and an integral piece of their league leading power play (26.7%). This led to what was no doubt a breakout season for Brouwer, scoring 33 points in 47 games.
Brouwer has questions to answer about sustaining that production as Bickell. He shot 17.1% last season, which is a fair number above his career average of 14.0%, though not so much above to raise a great deal of alarm. Even if his shooting percentage regresses Brouwer still stands to benefit from increasing his shot rate. Last season Brouwer fired 111 SOG, which damn near matched his career high of 133. Prorated for 82 games Brouwer's shot rate would have seen him fire 194 SOG, which would be damn near a 50% increase on his career high. So even without the bump in shooting percentage Brouwer would have scored at the highest rate of his career simply by generating more opportunities.
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