Brunnstrom proves Star Qualities (and receives NHL Star of the Week honors)

Hyped all summer as the "Next Big Thing" Brunnstrom overcomes what many expected to be a wash and provides the NHL with enough ammunition to name him Third Star of the Week.

Just before his debut I was watching Brunnstrom warm up during the pregame from the first row on the glass.  I leaned over to my girlfriend and asked if she knew why I was excited about the kid.  The answer is simple, "in a couple years this kid will be a superstar" I explained to her; to which she shrugged with interest but not the gut feeling I had.  I don't know if you've had a chance to see this kid on the ice yet, NHL ice that is, but he really does have what it takes.

In the Traverse City rookie tournament (this thing really needs a contest name, is "Rookie Tournament" widely accepted as that?) he was described as "less than stellar" by himself and many critics agreed as he posted only four points (1 goal, 3 assists) in four games.  You read that right, with four points in four games he and the critics have described his performance there as sloppy and under whelming.  If only all our players were judged that way!

Not wanting to rush Brunnstrom before he was ready Tippet sat him for the first two games of the season.  When the Stars couldn't make the grade he was put into the line up.  That's the night I described above, a foretelling of the future for this player, directly before his first ever point, goal and subsequently hat trick as an NHL player.

Maybe the European ice did him good - IIHF & Olympic standards, which are used in Europe, define the ice as approximately 95 feet wide by 197 feet long; the NHL uses a rink size of 85 feet wide and 200 feet long.  While ten feet sounds small to us who don't play everyone I talk to describes the size difference as huge.  As I sit here considering the possibilities it makes sense: when driving on the highway you have to pay attention to as many as 6 lanes, watching cars weave in and out of their lanes, many without turn signals; now put yourself on a small 2 way road with one lane in each direction and consider how much easier it is to focus on the road with the fewer amount of lanes.  Of course, the argument could be turned around when consider the same amount of players are on the road - errr - ice.

So here he stands, in 3 games the rookie has tallied 4 goals in 10 shots with line-mates of Morrow, Richards, Avery, Peterson ... I won't suggest what NHL awards he'll get or which NHL superstar he'll be "the next", but does anyone else consider perhaps this is our next "go to" offensive offenseman?

Know who else thinks I may be on the right track?  James Mirtle, while discussing this years early candidates for the Calder Trophey suggest Fabian's debut, which included that slick little hat track was an eye-opener in what was supposed to be a given for Steven Stamkos.

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