TJ Brennan named to AHL First All-Star Team, Stalock Sent Home

Photo Credit: Christian Bonin/TSGPhoto.com

While the debate flies back and forth as to whether TJ Brennan is talented enough to have a long-term career in the NHL, one thing is for certain – he’s an Elite AHLer. So much so, that for the second time in three years, the American Hockey League has named the Toronto Marlies defenceman to their first All-Star Team.

Brennan receives the honours after another banner year, in which the just turned 27-year-old has picked up 24 goals and added 43 assists in 67 games. Impressively, this puts him in second in AHL scoring, trailing only Chris Bourque of the Hershey Bears. Brennan also ranks 12th in Goals, 4th in Assists, 31st in shots on goal (164), and 3rd in Plus/Minus (+36).

This is Brennan’s second appearance on the AHL’s First All-Star team, the first of which came in his other full season with the Marlies in 2013/14. Toronto seems to be a place of comfort for him, as in that year, he put up 25 goals and 47 assists in 26 games, and followed that up with 14 points in 14 playoff appearances. Brennan was awarded the Eddie Shore Award for the AHL’s top defenceman that year, a prize which he is the odds-on favourite for again this season.

To date, Brennan has a total of 176 points in 181 games with the club.

This news isn’t overly surprising, given the circumstances that the organisation has ahead of them at the moment. Stalock is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year, and the team will likely want to see a bit more of recently-signed prospect Kasimir Kaskisuo as a backup before Garret Sparks comes back to down to the team. While this might end the dream of having two full squads like the 2011/12 team did towards the end of their playoff run, keeping Stalock around to be a #4 on a team he feels no attachment to and will not remain with doesn’t make a heck of a lot of sense.

The 28-year-old native of St. Paul, Minnesota won just one of his three appearances with the Marlies, posting a 0.907 save percentage in an 86 shot sample.