Kyle Brodziak is one of the more interesting Oilers youngsters. The guy was drafted to be a 2-way presence and solid bottom-6 player, and after a few years of tumultuous development, we're seeing him blossom into a great NHL player. The knocks on him after being drafted were his speed and offensive skill, but he was able to overcome and both and make the NHL last season. It's hard to project just how far a kid like him can go.
Although it took Brodziak longer to become a player, he was able to grab the bull by the horns at age 23 and put up 80-14-17-31 playing on the 4th line all year.
Not only did he put up solid numbers in those limited minutes, we saw flashes of some of his undeveloped skills. Brodziak was a solid passer, solid shutdown presence on the PK and ES, a strong presence along the boards, and had a great shot. Remind you of anyone?
Shawn Horcoff broke into the league at age 23 and had 61-8-14-22 playing 4th line minutes with Laraque (Stortini) and Moreau (Glencross). Pro-rated to 80 games, he would have had slightly lower numbers than Brodziak in terms of points.
Brodziak's defensive game is even more advanced compared to Horcoff's at the same age, while Horcoff's speed back then was better than Brodziak's now. But with Brodziak working hard on his deficiencies, I really think he can eventually fulfill the same potential Horcoff did here.
Now, Horcoff was upgraded to that 2nd/3rd line role in his next full season, and put up a solid
78-12-21-33. This is essentially what Brodziak did last season, only he was younger and had less minutes.
If Brodziak can mirror or improve upon his stats from last year, while also maintaining the quality defensive play that he showed, he may be worth keeping for a very long time.
1 comment:
I don't think you can quite expect the kid to become Horcoff. There's a reason Horcoff's story is so remarkable; improvements to that degree are highly unusual.
I think Brodziak's best-case scenario is a very smart two-way second line player who can put up fifty to sixty points and playing directly against other offensive players. He's got enough skill to be a productive third line center, and considering how much talent this team has drafted and brought in, a guy like Brodziak could be centering a third line with a couple of other decently skilled line-mates.
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