Oilers make puzzling decision with Connor Brown in playoff lineup

Connor Brown has been a polarizing player all season long for the Edmonton Oilers. Now after committing to him all year, it seems that coach Knoblauch and the Oilers have no interest in playing Brown in the playoffs.

Brown was signed to a unique contract that paid him $3.225M in salary bonus after he played ten games. The bonus seemed like a safeguard to cut Brown if they needed to, after a horrible start all season the Oilers committed to playing him with disastrous results. Brown never lived up offensively to his contract, only scoring 4 goals in 71 games, but Knoblauch maintained the fact he was contributing to the team. Now when the games matter most, Brown is nowhere to be found.




Instead of cutting Connor Brown early in the season when it was clear the signing was going to be a failure, the Oilers decided that they'd already spent the money, and deliberately iced a worse lineup with Brown in it. What's most disappointing is that after the awful year, Brown started playing his best hockey down the stretch and looked like he could impact the playoffs.

Dylan Holloway seems to have displaced Connor Brown in the playoff lineup, and that's understandable given the rookie's incredible play in recent weeks. Still, it feels like a total waste of time, money, and a lineup spot for the entire year if Knoblauch can't find a way to mix in Connor Brown. At the very least, he'll be around as a serviceable depth forward in case of injury.