TORONTO — T.J. Brennan puts up unmatched numbers in the NHL’s top minor league.
He has piled up more points than any other American Hockey League defenceman in two of the past three seasons and finished third overall in league scoring in 2015-16. He recently became just the seventh two-time winner of the Eddie Shore award for the AHL’s top defenceman.
Despite those accolades, Brennan remains stuck in an uphill climb to a secure a steady place of any kind in the NHL. The 27-year-old Toronto Marlies defender and former second-round pick of the Buffalo Sabres has played in only 53 NHL games, including seven at the tail-end of the Maple Leafs’ last-place season.
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Brennan’s last and only real NHL bid came with the Florida during the lockout-shortened 2013 season, when he played 19 games and posted nine points.
He desperately wants another chance even as he tries to bury the thought deep in his mind and focus on a Calder Cup run.
“Obviously that’s where I want to be at the end of the day,” said Brennan, who scored in the Marlies playoff-opening win Friday in Bridgeport, N.Y., “but this is where I am so I just focus my attention here.”
Brennan owns two of the three most productive seasons from an AHL defenceman in the past decade, registering 72 points in 2013-14 and 68 points this past season. He’s one of only two AHL defenders to surpass 70 points since 2005-06 and boasts a feared one-time shot that led him to 25 goals this season, by far the most among AHL defenders and in sniffing distance of the AHL record by a defenceman (30).
That production ultimately hasn’t translated into an NHL gig, though he’s been close.
In the summer of 2014, Brennan signed a one-year deal with the New York Islanders, but just before the start of the regular season the club pounced on cap-troubled teams in Chicago and Boston and added Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk to their blue-line.
Brennan went to the Blackhawks in the swap for Leddy, but never made into a game with the eventual Stanley Cup champions.
There’s a sense that Brennan’s one prime skill, his ability to create offence, just hasn’t been enough to overcome deficiencies, namely defensive issues and foot speed lacking just a touch.
An unrestricted free agent this summer, Brennan believes he could be fighting against a common perception of offensively-inclined defencemen, namely that they can’t be trusted. Defenders like him take chances and make risky decisions that can make a coach nervous.
Brennan has been trying to improve his decision-making, but he also believes his capacity to create goals should outweigh whatever other issues he may have.
“It’s a weird thing,” Brennan said. “If someone’s really defensive I don’t think they’re always keeping the puck out of their net so if they’re not adding offence then what are they really doing?”
Trends in hockey seem to be leaning in that direction, with more clubs looking at numbers which value players who actually keep the puck.
Brennan has found a trusting coach in the Marlies’ Sheldon Keefe, and perhaps a similar coach, who thinks Brennan’s gifts outweigh his flaws, will give him a chance at the next level.
Brennan had only a single point (a goal) in his brief run with the Leafs, but he did play a career-high of nearly 26 minutes in a season-ending loss to New Jersey.
It confirmed his belief that he could play in the NHL if only the chance was offered.
“I just know I was always trending upwards,” he said. “I felt really good and more confident. I felt like I belonged out there.”
