The Calgary Sun must really, really not like Troy Brouwer.
The Calgary Flames placed forward Brouwer on unconditional waivers this past week, intending to buy out the final two years of his contract. The decision to buy out Brouwer’s contract will save $3 million in cap space annually, and allows the Flames to move on from a disappointing player.
That led to this rather blunt headline regarding the Canadian.
Tell me how you really feel… pic.twitter.com/JsdU1JlbjT
— Darren Haynes (@DarrenWHaynes) August 3, 2018
That’s a rather shocking headline not only because it’s so blunt, but because Brouwer wasn’t exactly that polarizing of a player in Calgary. His contract carried a $4.5 million cap hit, which isn’t that much comparatively speaking. His performance was disappointing (13 goals and 25 points in 2016-17 and six goals and 22 points in 2017-18), but it’s not like he was expected to score a massive number of points after recording 39 points in 2015-16. Few would say Brouwer’s deal would even register when discussing some of the more ugly contracts in the NHL.
Perhaps the most interesting part of this story is the reminder that writers don’t always write the headlines on their articles. That reminder was provided by Darren Haynes, a contributor to The Canadian Press.
It’s cold and what’s too bad is it doesn’t reflect the tone of the story, which fairly and accurately summed up his two years as him simply not living up to expectations. This is the part where I remind you and everyone that the writers don’t write the headlines.
— Darren Haynes (@DarrenWHaynes) August 3, 2018
The story about Brouwer failing to live up to expectations is fair. The headline isn’t. It’s not like we’re talking about a Bobby Bonilla type of deal where the Flames are on the hook for decades to come.
Brouwer has routinely been described as a great player off the ice, which makes this headline even more frustrating. At 32 (soon to be 33 later in August), Brouwer should land on his skates elsewhere. Hopefully that team’s media will treat him a little better.