The Malik Report
Brunner Another European Found By The Wings
by Paul on 02/27/13 at 02:59 PM ET
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from Nicholas J. Cotsonika of Yahoo,
To Wings GM Ken Holland, there is a simple reason why players such as Brunner go undiscovered for so long: The NHL is the best men’s league in the world, and players become men at different ages. Some are men at 18. Most grow into men later – some much later, some in out-of-the-way places.
Brunner is listed at 5-foot-11 and 184 pounds. Now. How much smaller was he at draft age? And how many scouts saw him playing in Switzerland? And who could project how he would develop in the Swiss league, let alone how he would play in the NHL one day?
Consider how all this came together. The Wings didn’t know about Brunner until Holland received a tip over email.
He went way back with a guy named Stacy Roest. Holland knew him from the Medicine Hat Tigers, when Roest was playing in junior and Holland was scouting in western Canada. He had signed Roest to his first pro contract and later promoted him to the NHL. They live on the same British Columbia lake in the offseason.
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