Hunter Brzustewicz, or ‘Brew,’ turning heads at Flames’ coaching camp

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For a man making an attempt to make a reputation for himself within the professional ranks, the reward is way more vital than the pronunciation.

Apart from, Calgary Flames defence prospect Hunter Brzustewicz doesn’t thoughts the shortened model.

Go forward and name him, ‘Brew,’ like the primary button you push in your espresso maker within the morning or that favorite grownup beverage within the fridge.

“Oh yeah, I really like ‘Brew,’ ” Brzustewicz mentioned, approving the nickname.

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Which may come as a reduction to Ryan Huska.

Over the weekend, the Flames’ bench boss was requested if any of the up-and-comers had actually caught his eye throughout the first few coaching camp twirls.

Coaches are sometimes hesitant to single out any particular participant, however there was one identify — or not less than just a few letters of that identify — that popped to thoughts.

“The one man, and I’ve such a tough time announcing his final identify … I simply name him ‘Brew,’ ” Huska mentioned with a large smile. “I believe he has accomplished an excellent job. He appears to me like he’s snug on the ice. I’ll say that he’s becoming in rather well. He jogs my memory of a younger Rasmus Andersson, if there’s a comparability, the place they each have poise to their recreation. They typically see the following choice via the primary choice. So I’ve been actually impressed with the way in which he’s performed. He’s one man that involves the highest of my head proper now.”

The 19-year-old Brzustewicz, whose identify was amongst these scribbled on the travelling roster for Sunday’s preseason opener towards the Kraken in Seattle, acknowledged that he did catch wind of that go with from the coach.

“I watch all of these press conferences, the scrums, simply to sort of study and to see what they do throughout these,” Brzustewicz mentioned. “So yeah, I noticed it.

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“It means so much. I believe it’s nice. I believe it offers me confidence, as properly. I believe it’s fairly cool that he sees me like that, and hopefully I can simply hold it going.”

If he retains this up, it feels prefer it received’t be lengthy earlier than Flames followers are speaking about ‘Brew’ as they settle into their seats on the Saddledome.

Whereas Brzustewicz is predicted to begin his professional profession with the AHL’s Wranglers, this robust September — together with a standout efficiency on the Younger Stars Traditional match — is just reinforcing his standing as certainly one of Calgary’s most promising prospects, as motive to imagine there’s a brilliant future forward.

It appears the joy has been steadily constructing for the reason that Flames landed this offensive-minded blue-liner in January as a key piece of the return within the Elias Lindholm commerce. It speaks volumes that Huska sees shades of Andersson, who has led the staff in common ice time in every of the previous three seasons.

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It’s not solely the boss who has been impressed with Brzustewicz, who checked in for camp at 6-foot and 195 kilos.

Throughout his first media scrum, top-pairing defenceman MacKenzie Weegar was requested about Calgary’s crop of on-the-rise rearguards and talked about the 2 children in his observe group that day — Brzustewicz and Artem Grushnikov — “are nice gamers, each of them” and “you’ll be able to inform they’ve quite a lot of compete in them, quite a lot of spark.”

Weegar had apparently accomplished his analysis, too.

“I noticed that ‘Brew’ had 92 factors in Kitchener,” he marvelled, acing the stat-line that made Brzustewicz a second-team all-star within the Ontario Hockey League in 2023-24. “That’s fairly elite. They’re doing issues that I most likely can’t do with the puck.”

What’s key for Brzustewicz, who undoubtedly has high-end playmaking abilities, is proving that he can hold the puck out of his personal web.

He’s been crunching to study the Flames’ zone-style construction, which he admits is “very totally different from what I’ve accomplished prior to now.” In observe, he’s centered on his hole management and stick work and “making an attempt to get my angles proper on all these guys.”

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In Sunday’s exhibition in Seattle, towards a lineup that featured forwards Matty Beniers, Jordan Eberle and Jared McCann, he was going to be making an attempt to place these early classes to good use.

“I believe somewhat bit is the tempo of the sport, studying the right way to shut fast,” Huska mentioned when requested about Brzustewicz’s recipe for achievement in his personal zone. “And over time, the extra you’re in these conditions, whether or not it’s observe or video games, it’s understanding the right way to place your physique towards a man that’s 230 kilos. That’s going to return into play for all our younger guys, actually.

“As I discussed, (Brzustewicz) jogs my memory somewhat little bit of Ras. So when you begin to perceive the tempo that you must play at constantly, I simply see him as a defenceman that’s going to maintain getting higher and higher.”

ICE CHIPS: Sunday’s veteran-heavy observe session supplied a primary glimpse of the Flames’ potential power-play items. Weegar quarterbacked the highest troupe, with Nazem Kadri because the faceoff man, Jonathan Huberdeau and Yegor Sharangovich on the flanks and Andrei Kuzmenko because the net-front presence. The second unit included forwards Mikael Backlund, Blake Coleman, Anthony Mantha and Connor Zary, with Andersson and tryout hopeful Tyson Barrie each taking activates the blue-line … 4 days into camp, defenceman Kevin Bahl has but to skate on account of a lower-body harm. “We’ll nonetheless classify him as day-to-day, however he’ll be on the market quickly,” Huska promised … The Flames and Edmonton Oilers will hook up Monday for his or her annual split-squad showdowns. Most of Calgary’s large names must be within the house lineup on the Saddledome.

wgilbertson@postmedia.com

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