In the last few weeks, Connor Brown's tenure with the Edmonton Oilers has been trending in a seriously concerning direction. Through 23 games this season, Brown has only recorded a single assist, and has been a negative defensive player with a rating of minus 10. After playing his tenth game of this season, Brown earned a hefty $3.225M bonus.
In recent weeks, head coach Knoblauch has been steadily diminishing Brown's role on the team. He's been moved down from the second to the third line, and is being used less and less on the penalty kill. Now, Brown isn't providing any contribution to the team at all, and Knoblauch is responding with a harsh decision given his salary.
In fact, Brown hasn't provided anything to the Oilers so far, but actually detracted from the team by virtue of him taking a roster spot. According to some advanced statistics, Brown is ranked the third worst forward out of 343 that have appeared in the NHL this year.
For Knoblauch, it's a tough decision given that it's a veteran player with high salary. Considering those reasons, it's also a message from the new head coach to the old general manager - that Connor Brown can not help the Oilers get much needed wins, and that this is yet another signing from Ken Holland that's turned into a disaster.
