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Calgary Flames

2015-16 Report Card: T.J. Brodie

T.J. Brodie continued his ascension towards being a top defenseman in the league.

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T.J. Brodie

A-

Scoring At Average Minutes Noise
G A1 P1 G A1 P1 +/- A2 Hits BS
6 16 22 3.96 12.04 16 4 23 15 104
5V5
G60 A160 P160 xGF60 Rel xGA60 Rel Mod xG% CF60 Rel CA60 Rel Mod CF% Mod GF%
0.14 0.55 0.69 0.3 0.07 52.092 1.64 -2.96 51.63 52.69
5V4 4V5 Penalty
G60 A160 P160 xGF60 Rel GF60 Rel CF60 Rel iCF60 xGA60 Rel GA60 Rel +/-
0.68 0.68 1.36 -2.66 -0.53 -38.46 8.46 1.82 3.07 4

Samwell9 – A+

Thomas James Brodie is a terrific defenseman. Something about those fourth round picks for the Flames. Picked 114th overall in the 2008 draft, Brodie has continually improved his play and in my opinion supplanted Mark Giordano as top defenseman on the Flames. This is by no means anything against Giordano, just rather an indication of how good Brodie has been for the Flames. Brodie led the Flames in average ice time at 25:15 a game, 28 seconds ahead of second place Mark Giordano. Brodie took on tough match ups, played in all situations and was extremely productive. He set a career high in points with 45, even though he only played in 70 games. He was second in assists on the team to Gaudreau, only 9 assists back while playing 9 less games. The fact that Brodie is a defenseman and Gaudreau is one of the top offensive players in the league speaks volumes of Brodie’s ability to help his team generate offense, especially considering how he was generally given the scraps of powerplay time by Bob Hartley.

Perhaps most indicative of the value Brodie provides to the Flames was how much of a disaster the team was without him in the lineup. The team went 2 and 7 without Brodie to start the season and looked like a complete mess. Once Brodie returned, things began to stabilize as much as they ever would this season. I am exciting to see how Brodie's development continues, under a more structured system with Glen Gulutzan, who has promised that the defenseman will still be active in creating offense. The only significant thing I would like Brodie to improve on would be to utilize his shot more often. I have to give Brodie an A+ as he was one of the few players that helped keep the team watchable for the latter half of the season when the ship was burning and sinking.

MarkParkinson14- A

TJ Brodie logged in 70 games on a blue line that was up and down this season. Brodie, like Mark Giordano, was solid all season. Yes, there were some occasional gaffes, but Brodie finished as a +4, which is somewhat of a miracle for this season. He plugged in 45 points, 39 of them as helpers while managing to block 104 shots on the season (5th on the team). He also logged the most ATOI on the team at a robust 25:15. All that and he only missed 12 games. Brodie is a machine for the Flames and should continue to grow as the Flames try and get out of the rebuild they are currently in.

MattyFranchise – A

Forming the second half of the Flames top pairing, Brodie put in yet another stellar season and vastly improved the Flames when he was in the line up. He missed the first nine games of the season due to an injury sustained in the preseason and boy did it ever show. By eye, the team played with a lot more confidence after he rejoined the them and it appeared that he helped settle Giordano down. Over all though, he just wasn't quite as good as Giordano was. That's not to say he won't get there, he is only 26 after all, but he did fall a little short of being the Flames best defenseman.

His 5v5 CF% was second best of all defensemen (minimum 500 EV minutes played) at 49.31, the second best possession wise relative to his fellow defensemen. +1.78 CF%Rel. He was the best at flat out generating goals from the blueline, 50.41 GF% and +2.02 GF%Rel. He did this with a fairly low 48.14 ZS%, third worst of of the team's defensemen, after Gio and for some reason Engelland. Oh, also career highs in assists (39) and points (45).

FlamesMM- A

TJ Brodie remains one of the best kept secrets in the NHL although that secret is slowly slipping out. He's one of the most underrated players in the NHL, and personally I'm fine with it that way.After suffering a pre-season injury, the Flames came out of the gate flat in the regular season and were clearly missing Brodie. They started 2-7 without him in the lineup. When Brodie returned the Flames looked like a different team as they proceeded to turn things around. Brodie's speed, skating, and play making ability is key to driving the Flames offense and he'll continue to get even better over the next few seasons. TJ Brodie won't be a secret much longer. A

HockeyGoalieEh – B+

Brodie at even strength was great to masterful. He was everything that a team would want as a top defenseman. The possession was good to great; there was decent defense and good offense. He helped the Flames penalty differential a bit, something that's not as easy to do as a defenseman. All of these things are great.

However, he also played about 450 minutes on special teams which came out to about 25.5 percent of his total minutes. Those minutes were hardly successful. Brodie only managed four primary points in over 177 minutes of five on four time and the team averaged 1.28 less shots per power play with him on the ice.

The penalty kill wasn't good either. The opponents averaged .4 more shots on goal per penalty kill with him on the ice. The expected goals against and the total goals against were better with Brodie off the ice.

Brodie's volume of special teams play and lackluster performance during that time brought him down to a B+, a slightly below average number two defenseman. The team was noticeably better with Brodie on the ice in five on five situations, but they were noticeably worse with him on the ice on special teams. Hopefully the coaching change can spark the power play and penalty kill numbers.

BizzleJ – B

by samwell9