Back in March of last season, The Athletic named their top 10 biggest disappointments of the 2023-24 NHL season (subscription required). This list included the Edmonton Oilers' Connor Brown, and with good reason.
As we wrote at the time, Brown had managed just five points -- all assists -- in 54 appearances, along with a team-worst -9 rating. His average ice time of 12:59, was projected to the be lowest of his then nine seasons in the NHL.
As alluded to in Brown's point total at the time, he hadn't scored a goal all season and in fact was on a 72-game goalless streak, dating all the way back to Mar. 24 of the 2021-22 season. Even allowing for him being limited to four games in 2022-23 due to an ACL injury, it didn't make for good reading.
Not helping the situation was the contract the 30-year-old had signed, even though you couldn't blame him for agreeing to it. While the basic cap hit was for one-year and just $775K, a $3.225 million bonus had kicked in after playing just 10 games for the Oilers.
Can a guy not even catch a break?!?!
It also seemed as if the sporting gods had it in for Brown, as evidenced by when he appeared to have his goalless streak finallt ended by scoring in a December game versus the New Jersey Devils. However, after Devils coach Lindy Ruff challenged the play for goalie interference it was overturned, as the sporting gods decided they weren't done having fun at his expense.
Throughout it all though, what was noticeable was the support Brown continued to receive from his teammates. They could see he was continuing to work hard for the team and do all the gritty and unnoticed things, speaking volumes about how well-liked he was in the locker room.
Things finally turned around for the Etobicoke, Ontario native on Mar. 13, against his previous team the Washington Capitals of all opponents. He scored a goal and while it didn't open the floodgates per se, it did start a run of three goals in six games.
Important part of the Oilers' playoff run
Once the playoffs rolled around, Brown looked more like the player the Oilers were hoping to get when they originally signed him, as he proved to be a vital cog on their run to the Stanley Cup Final. Among other things, he produced six points, 10 blocks, nine hits, eight takeaways and a +4 rating in 16 games.
This persuaded the Oilers to sign Brown to another one-year deal, this time for $5 million. And to date, it's turned out to be an underrated piece of good business by the organisation, with him proving to be an integral part of the lineup.
The 2012 sixth round draft pick has already surpassed his 12 points from the 2023-24 campaign, with 14. Of particular note, he has achieved this in 34 games, which is less than half of the 71 regular season contests he played last season.
Looking as good as ever this season
Brown is well on course to set single-season personal bests in +/- rating and faceoff win percentage, with him currently at +5 and 56.3 percent respectively in these categories. He's contributing on the penalty kill for the Oilers, and overall looking close to just as good as at any point in his NHL career.
As per Allan Mitchell of The Athletic (subscription required), the former Toronto Maple Leaf is producing quality five-on-five numbers this season. This includes a 54 percent goal share and 1.68 PTS-60.
One other thing to note is that Brown is achieving all of this while average 13:32 of ice time per contest, which is well below his career average of 16:13. This is almost the very essence of quality over quantity.
At the end of the day, Brown is continuing to prove why he is so popular and appreciated in the locker room. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what the outside world thinks; the Oilers know how valuable he is to the team and they are reaping the benefits accordingly.