Last July, Troy Brouwer cashed in, signing a four-year, $18 million deal with the Calgary Flames. Less than a full year later, it looks like he will indeed be left unprotected in the Vegas expansion draft.
This wouldn’t be too much of a surprise. The writing seemed to be on the wall for several weeks now, with reports in April the Flames were likely going to expose Brouwer in the expansion draft.
He turns 32 years old in August and comes with an annual $4.5 million cap hit.
According to Eric Francis of Sportsnet and Postmedia, here is the Flames’ reported protected list. The NHL has not announced any of the protected lists, which will be made public Sunday morning.
Confirming Calgary's protected list: Gaudreau, Monahan, Ferland, Backlund, Frolik, Bennett, Lazar, Giordano, Brodie, Hamilton, Smith.
— Eric Francis (@EricFrancis) June 18, 2017
Can confirm the #Flames didn't do anything silly by protecting Brouwer on expansion list. He was exposed. Ferland, Lazar & Bennett protected
— Eric Francis (@EricFrancis) June 17, 2017
In his first season with the Flames, Brouwer scored 13 goals and 25 points -- his lowest single-season point total since becoming a full-time NHLer in 2008-09 with Chicago -- and missed eight games with a broken finger.