What does Sheldon Brookbank bring to the ice?

Don't get me wrong. I love his play. It's solid every game. But there's always someone bashing on him to be scratched every game, and I want to find out why. His offensive numbers don't shine, but what about his defense? Wasn't he the most outstanding defenseman in the AHL or something?

:help:

I think he is very solid in our zone.

Brookbank's not great, he's not awful. He has a good shot and he can fight. That's about it. I like having him around because he can take care of himself and his teammates.

He has a hard shot but he needs to work on his accuracy and timing. Too many of his shots get blocked and never reach the net, sure they leave opposing players hobbling, but that doesn't help us create scoring chances. This team needs to get a shooting coach, it did wonders for Gomez a few years back and there's a bunch of players on our roster (Brookbank, Zajac, Rachunek, Patty, etc) who can greatly benefit from it.

Don't get me wrong. I love his play. It's solid every game. But there's always someone bashing on him to be scratched every game, and I want to find out why. His offensive numbers don't shine, but what about his defense? Wasn't he the most outstanding defenseman in the AHL or something?

:help:

I think 3-8 honestly, are interchangeable parts. I could care less if one is in and one is out.

Brookbank works hard and plays mostly KISS hockey. Which is definately a benefit, compared, to Oduya, who one game, gives a nice 20+ minute effort, the next game, he forgets everything about KISS, except "stupid".

Brookbank brings size to our Defense. What he needs to be careful of is taking penalties. I'm not talking about fighting but taking stupid penalties like holding, tripping etc. He's otherwise average on defense and he does have some offense, they just need to work with him on that.