For a guy trying to make a name for himself in the pro ranks, the praise is much more important than the pronunciation.
Besides, Calgary Flames defence prospect Hunter Brzustewicz doesn’t mind the shortened version.
Go ahead and call him, ‘Brew,’ like the first button you push on your coffee maker in the morning or that favourite adult beverage in the fridge.
“Oh yeah, I love ‘Brew,’ ” Brzustewicz said, approving the nickname.
That might come as a relief to Ryan Huska.
Over the weekend, the Flames’ bench boss was asked if any of the up-and-comers had really caught his eye during the first few training camp twirls.
Coaches are typically hesitant to single out any specific player, but there was one name — or at least a few letters of that name — that popped to mind.
“The one guy, and I have such a hard time pronouncing his last name … I just call him ‘Brew,’ ” Huska said with a wide smile. “I think he has done a very good job. He seems to me like he is comfortable on the ice. I will say that he’s fitting in really well. He reminds me of a young Rasmus Andersson, if there’s a comparison, where they both have poise to their game. They often see the next option through the first option. So I’ve been really impressed with the way he’s played. He’s one guy that comes to the top of my head right now.”
The 19-year-old Brzustewicz, whose name was among those scribbled on the travelling roster for Sunday’s preseason opener against the Kraken in Seattle, acknowledged that he did catch wind of that compliment from the coach.
“I watch all of those press conferences, the scrums, just to kind of learn and to see what they do during these,” Brzustewicz said. “So yeah, I saw it.
“It means a lot. I think it’s great. I think it gives me confidence, as well. I think it’s pretty cool that he sees me like that, and hopefully I can just keep it going.”
If he keeps this up, it feels like it won’t be long before Flames fans are talking about ‘Brew’ as they settle into their seats at the Saddledome.
While Brzustewicz is expected to start his pro career with the AHL’s Wranglers, this strong September — including a standout performance at the Young Stars Classic tournament — is only reinforcing his status as one of Calgary’s most promising prospects, as reason to believe there is a bright future ahead.
It seems the excitement has been steadily building since the Flames landed this offensive-minded blue-liner in January as a key piece of the return in the Elias Lindholm trade. It speaks volumes that Huska sees shades of Andersson, who has led the team in average ice time in each of the past three seasons.
It’s not only the boss who has been impressed with Brzustewicz, who checked in for camp at 6-foot and 195 pounds.
During his first media scrum, top-pairing defenceman MacKenzie Weegar was asked about Calgary’s crop of on-the-rise rearguards and mentioned the two youngsters in his practice group that day — Brzustewicz and Artem Grushnikov — “are great players, both of them” and “you can tell they have a lot of compete in them, a lot of spark.”
Weegar had apparently done his research, too.
“I saw that ‘Brew’ had 92 points in Kitchener,” he marvelled, acing the stat-line that made Brzustewicz a second-team all-star in the Ontario Hockey League in 2023-24. “That’s pretty elite. They’re doing things that I probably can’t do with the puck.”
What’s key for Brzustewicz, who undoubtedly has high-end playmaking skills, is proving that he can keep the puck out of his own net.
He’s been crunching to learn the Flames’ zone-style structure, which he admits is “very different from what I’ve done in the past.” In practice, he’s focused on his gap control and stick work and “trying to get my angles right on all these guys.”
In Sunday’s exhibition in Seattle, against a lineup that featured forwards Matty Beniers, Jordan Eberle and Jared McCann, he was going to be trying to put those early lessons to good use.
“I think a little bit is the pace of the game, learning how to close quick,” Huska said when asked about Brzustewicz’s recipe for success in his own zone. “And over time, the more you’re in those situations, whether it’s practice or games, it’s understanding how to position your body against a guy that is 230 pounds. That’s going to come into play for all our young guys, really.
“As I mentioned, (Brzustewicz) reminds me a little bit of Ras. So once you start to understand the pace that you have to play at consistently, I just see him as a defenceman that is going to keep getting better and better.”
ICE CHIPS: Sunday’s veteran-heavy practice session offered a first glimpse of the Flames’ potential power-play units. Weegar quarterbacked the top troupe, with Nazem Kadri as the faceoff man, Jonathan Huberdeau and Yegor Sharangovich on the flanks and Andrei Kuzmenko as 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 both taking turns on the blue-line … Four days into camp, defenceman Kevin Bahl has yet to skate due to a lower-body injury. “We’ll still classify him as day-to-day, but he’ll be out there soon,” Huska promised … The Flames and Edmonton Oilers will hook up Monday for their annual split-squad showdowns. Most of Calgary’s big names should be in the home lineup at the Saddledome.