Fabian, in better days The Dallas Stars waived former prospect Fabian Brunnstrom and the Dallas Cowboys released offensive tackle Robert Brewster.
Brunnstrom, 25, was a hotshot Swedish star when he decided to "defect" to the NHL three years ago, thus conjuring up a nice little bidding war mainly between the Stars, Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs. The Stars won through the magic of then co-GM Les Jackson.
Brunnstrom tallied a hat trick in his first professional game and managed 29 points in his first season in 55 games. His ice time and games played dwindled along with his output last season under new coach Marc Crawford and GM Joe Nieuwendyk. With the development of Jamie Benn and the signing of Adam Burish, Brunnstrom was an afterthought.
If not picked up by another team, Brunnstrom could wind up in a development league for the Stars.
Brewster was a third-round pick (second overall for the Cowboys) in that now famous 2009 "special teams" draft. Remember, the Cowboys traded down and down even further. Although they had 12 picks, their first was in the third round (Jason Williams).
Of the 12, just six now remain with the team and John Phillips (probably the best pick in the sixth round) and Stephen Hodge are injured. Of the remaining four (Jason and Brandon Williams, Victor Butler and David Beuhler) only Beuhler gets significant time and that's only because he's the kicker.
Brewster was an odd development. It was pretty highly regarded coming out of Ball State and could provide, we thought, depth to an old offensive line.
Once the old offensive line started to break down in this training game (leaving left tackle Marc Columbo out out practice and pre-season) it was discovered that Robert Brewster couldn't play. Quite literally, he was too "raw" to step onto the field and block an opponent without the assistance of a tight end.
This makes me think that if it was unable to play this year, then he must have been a disaster a year ago in training camp as a rookie.
