Toronto Maple Leafs: Connor Brown Needs Out To Succeed

The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Down Goes Brown Narrative continues.

The Toronto Maple Leafs saw the February 2019 trade deadline come and go without making any blockbuster moves— even after speculation of right-winger Connor Brown possibly being on the trading block once again. The 2018-19 season is the 25-year-old’s third full season with the team, and has highlighted a slump in a relatively sound, multifaceted player’s career.

The Leafs were  Brown’s hometown team— growing up only 30 minutes outside of Toronto, in Etobicoke, he played for the Toronto Marlboros in the GTHL. Brown also played out the 2010-11 season with the St Michael’s Buzzers in the OJHL, where he had 39 points in 49 games played [17G, 22 A]. He was drafted into the Ontario Hockey League in the 2010 Entry Draft, in the 13th round, to the Erie Otters.

Brown’s pro career began in the OHL, playing alongside names like Connor McDavid (EDM), Dylan Strome (CHI), Travis Dermott (TOR), and Andre Burakovsky (WSH). He arguably played his best with the Erie Otters, racking 250 total points in 199 games played overall. Brown was reliable to feed the puck to his team-mates, as well as to be a more than capable scorer on his own.

The 2012-13 season saw Brown as captain of the Otters— a title he held through the following season— as well as being a leading scorer on the team and player of the year. Brown was drafted to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2012 entry draft in the 6th round, 156th overall.

It wasn’t until the 2014-15 season that Brown saw his departure from the OHL to the American Hockey League, where he played with the Leafs’ affiliate Toronto Marlies for two seasons, with occasional call-ups to the NHL in the 2015-16 season. Brown’s numbers were significantly lower in the AHL than in the O,  with a total of 90 points in 110 games played. But his call-ups to the Leafs sealed the deal, with six points in his seven games played. (All Stats from Hockey DB)

Present
Brown finally graduated from the Toronto Marlies into a full-time spot on the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2016-17 season, signing a 3 year, 6.3 million dollar contract worth 2.1 million AAV.

In his past three seasons with the Leafs, Brown has played all 82 games plus postseason, and has played roughly 2744 minutes on ice, averaging about twelve minutes a game. Normally, Brown has been found on the third or fourth line, but in the 2018-19 season, there was more than one occasion on which he was present in the top six alongside Auston Matthews. Brown finished the 2018-19 regular season with a total of 29 points [8G, 21A]. In this year’s postseason, Brown was nowhere to be found, and was simply an easy plug-in in a tight spot. He put up one assist in all seven games played— a low number, considering he had three total points in the 2017-18 playoffs [1G, 2A].

The lack of production begs the question: is it him or us? The classic it’s not me, it’s you. The current roster is arguably the best in the modern era of Leafs hockey; is Brown just not jiving with the chemistry on the rest of the team? Since he has been more than capable of keeping up with elite rosters in the past, what is the block now?

Connor Brown is a well-rounded player. He’s a defensive forward who is able to penalty kill and create scoring chances and has been used on the power play a handful of times. He also has topline experience— there’s no arguing that for a sixth-round pick, he has skill.

Although skilled, he’s barely cost-effective for the Leafs at this point, and could be considered serious dead weight coming into the 2019-20 season. He has only tapered off production-wise in his years with the team, rather than growing his skill or becoming more of the player he previously was. A trade could not only be beneficial for the Leafs, being able to bring in a player better suited for the team, but also for Brown.

A trade to a team that could use his skills and abilities more effectively could lessen the pressure for the player himself, as well as potentially give Brown a fresh start in his NHL career.

All stats from hockeydb.com