Profile of 2009 U of M Commit Chris Brown

By philc, on July 30th, 2009

Name: Chris Brown
Position: Right Wing
Height & Weight: 6’2” 195 lbs.
Birthdate: February 3, 1991
Hometown: Flower Mound, TX
2009 2nd Rd. Pick – Phoenix Coyotes

INTERVIEW

QUOTES

On playing at U of M: "I want to wear that awesome jersey!. College hockey is what I want most of all because of the education, for me education is a priority before hockey. Michigan is a top ranked school in the nation, and I want to major in business and Michigan has a top program in business. I go to Michigan games whenever I can, and the atmosphere is great, packed every night, its not to terribly big, no matter if the worst or best team is playing it is always packed, fans cheering, it gets you going, I love that there is not a bad seat in the house!"

[more]

Effect of Coach Rob Kuhl on his game: “ (He) has fine tuned me this year working on position and consistency, and I would not have the successes I have had with out him. He has a true passion for the sport of hockey and he is one of the best if not the best coach I have ever had."

On growing up in Texas: "I’m just so lucky to be able to have it all. People will look at me being from Texas and think that it was a struggle or something, but I really believe I’ve had as good a coaching as anyone. I just don’t think of it as being anything different. I just think of Texas being the Dallas Stars and being all about hockey.”

On playing for Team USA: "It was the first time we actually ever heard the ‘USA, USA’ in an international tournament. It was the first time we actually ever heard someone chanting our country’s name instead of Canada and Russia."

ANALYSIS

Don Maloney, Phoenix General Manager: “What impresses me is, he just goes to the net. He’s run over the goalies four or five times. I think that’s him. He just charges the net, and I think he’s one of those guys . . . we really don’t have anybody like him in our prospects system, a guy that just charges the net hard, and might stay around to have a conversation about it. So he’s young and he’s evolving, but I really like what I’ve seen of Chris."

WCHBlog: “Brown probably doesn’t have the potential to be a huge goalscorer in the NHL, which will probably be what keeps him out of the first round of the draft, but he could be a very solid piece of the puzzle for whichever team drafts him. He projects to probably be a third, maybe even second line winger that will play great defense and chip in the occasional goal, and his skating is good enough that he’d be a good match-up against another team’s top line. Plus, the odds of him reaching that potential look pretty good. It may not be a sexy pick, but he could end up being a very valuable hockey player.”

College Hockey News: “The 6-foot-2, 200-pound winger from Texas struggled to utilize his large frame in the early stages of his development at USA hockey. In his final year with the program, he learned to control his frame and utilize it to generate offense. Red Berenson and his staff expect Brown to augment the Wolverines offense immediately; scary considering five of their top seven scorers return from a year ago.”

NHL Central Scouting: Considers Brown an ‘A’ prospect, which is stated as a player who is predicted to be drafted in the first or second round of the upcoming 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

Hockey’s Future: “Brown is an opportunistic goal scorer. Lacks physicality despite his good size.”

Red Berenson: "I think Chris will do well at Michigan. He’s got the right combination of talent and worth ethic, so he should be a good fit…. He’s a big, strong, physical winger who can score.”

U of M Associate Head Coach Mel Pearson: “Chris Brown has had a good career at USA Hockey. I think he’s really come into his own this year. He’s learned to play more physical and use his size. He has really good hands. He has a great shot. We expect him to come in here and use that size and add some scoring to our team.”