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The player named later: T.J. Brennan waits for his chance with the Flyers | Mike Sielski

The defenseman, a South Jersey native, has had a great AHL career. But can he be more than a mentor for the Flyers’ young prospects?

ALLENTOWN - The most accomplished defenseman in the Flyers' minor-league system is 28 years old, has spent eight years in the American Hockey League with five teams, grew up a half-hour drive from the Wells Fargo Center, and is one decent Ron Shelton script away from becoming the Crash Davis of hockey.

Nobody mentions T.J. Brennan when discussing the Flyers' future and all those prospects in the organization's pipeline - Sam Morin, Travis Sanheim, Robert Hagg, Phil Myers - and it's hard to shake the thought that he might be consigned to that purgatory that a select few pro athletes know: great in the minors, not good enough to stick in the majors.

It would seem an excruciating way to go through a career, and for Brennan, whom the Flyers signed in July to a two-year, two-way contract and who had 21 goals and 60 points in 76 games this season for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, it was. How could it be anything but? You go to four straight AHL All-Star Games. You win the Eddie Shore Award, given to the league's top defenseman, twice. You score 132 goals, the second-most by a defenseman in AHL history. If those achievements have led you to a grand total of 53 NHL games since the Buffalo Sabres drafted you in 2007, if those achievements weren't enough to earn you a promotion to the Flyers this season, how at this point do you hold out any hope? Yet Brennan, who grew up in Moorestown, has come to accept his unique and important place within the Flyers organization.

He is here to help make the Phantoms, who went 48-23-5 this season after failing to qualify for the postseason for eight straight years, more competitive. He is here to be a role model for Morin, Sanheim, Hagg, and Myers - a valuable role in the still-old-school mind of Flyers general manager Ron Hextall, who believes in the benefits of having a promising young player humbly bounce around on buses in the minors for a while. He is here to give Hextall some options, and those options are interesting. He is happy if not satisfied.

"The one thing I understand about myself, which I think takes maturity, is understanding that you are an influence, and I want to be an influence," he said Tuesday at the PPL Center here after the Phantoms, down two games to none in their first-round series against Hershey, finished practice. "Being in the position we're in now, you have a little more comfort. You have that experience to rely on. Hopefully that leads into helping someone who hasn't been through it."

At 6-foot-1 and 216 pounds, Brennan has the requisite size to be an NHL defenseman, and he certainly has the skill. "Offensively, he's the best in the league by far," Morin said. The greatest flaw in his game always has been in attention to detail in his own defensive zone, though Phantoms coach Scott Gordon said that Brennan has been their soundest defensemen through their two games against Hershey and has improved throughout the season.

"He's made a lot of subtle, right plays," Gordon said. "Maybe we didn't see the consistency of it. I think, sometimes, the game gets easy for him. But he's been really focused. He's experienced, with the years he's been in the playoffs. He's kept it simple and tried to win the game on every shift. He doesn't get rattled. He's poised. He's elevated his game to where he's one of our more reliable guys."

There are scenarios, with other franchises, in which Brennan might be on an NHL roster or at least have an easier path there. But in Shayne Gostisbehere, the Flyers already have a defenseman whose primary function and strength is to carry the puck and create offense, and since Brennan is at least six years older than Morin, Hagg, Sanheim or Myers, it's difficult to envision him as part of the Flyers' long-term future.

"It's all about timing," Morin said. "If, for example, Ghost or a guy on the first power-play [unit] gets hurt, I think he'd be the guy. They'd call him up."

Better yet, let's get wild and consider something else: The Flyers need more scoring punch among their forwards, and they may have to trade one or more of their young defensemen to acquire it, and if Ivan Provorov is untouchable, then Gostisbehere would seem a potential trade candidate (once the Flyers re-sign him, since he's a restricted free agent). He has a body of work in the league. He is still just 24. And Brennan, in theory, could replace him.

Has Brennan himself envisioned such a scenario? He smiled at the question.

"I think I used to," he said, "but when you give those hypothetical scenarios too much thought, whether it's positive or negative, it can affect reality, and you get a little paralysis about what you're supposed to do every day. As realistic as it could seem - or maybe it could be a possibility; you never know what Ron Hextall is thinking - as cliche as it sounds, you really try to focus on what you can control. I look at someone like Shayne Gostisbehere and think, 'He's a really good player, and maybe we're similar.' That's a good thing. Two is better than one.

"To me, it's understanding what's in my control and if I can influence that. Just because you want to tell someone you want to play more doesn't mean you're necessarily going to get that. It's not as easy as 'Hey, I want a promotion at work forever.' You can't just go in and ask the boss. Maybe they have to see a little more. You have to do good work for a couple of months. I'd like to think the same thing applies here."

It is a nice thought, to leave purgatory behind, but first things first for the player who is always named later. Game 3 will be Wednesday night, in Hershey.

msielski@phillynews.com

@MikeSielski