TSN’s Bob McKenzie reported Thursday night that Eric Brewer‘s name is “out there” in trade talks. This came just hours after it was revealed that Brewer was not happy about being a healthy scratch for the Lightning’s home opener against the Florida Panthers.

“It’s their decision,” Brewer said to Tampa Bay Times writer Joe Smith about being scratched. “I don’t like it. We talked about it, and it was not an easy conversation, and there are no details that are going to make it any easier. But that’s the way life is.”

Brewer has seen his role with the Lightning diminish over the last two seasons.

Last year, he found himself a third pairing defenseman for the first time since very early in his career. He averaged just over 17 minutes of icetime. He also, however, had one of his more solid seasons in recent memory.

“He’s worked his tail off for us,” Coach Jon Cooper said. – Joe Smith, Tampa Bay Times

Despite that, it was apparent that in the coming season Brewer’s role would decrease even further. But perhaps the one person it wasn’t apparent to was Brewer himself. With the Lightning bolstering their blue line this past off-season, adding veterans Jason Garrison and Anton Stralman, and with the emergence of young defenseman like Radko Gudas and Andrej Sustr, the writing, for Brewer, was on the wall.

And perhaps last night’s scratching was an eye-opening moment for Brewer. His contract is up at the end of the season and the Lightning have several more young defenders pushing their way through the prospect pipeline. Not an enviable position for a 35 year-old who, while still a valued asset, has skills that are in decline.

“The one thing we have is depth on this team,” Cooper said, when asked about scratching Brewer, “and it was a situation where, if we want to have a chance, we can’t just have 20 players. You need 25 players. Because guys get hurt, guys go into slumps, and somebody has to sit.” – Joe Smith, Tampa Bay Times

Whether the trade request is coming from Brewer or talks are simply being initiated by GM Steve Yzerman is unknown. But the timing of events lends some weight to the former theory.

It’s also important to remember that Brewer is playing for his next contract this season, and being a regular healthy scratch is not a good way to showcase one’s skills. Given that Brewer has always been unlikely to return to the Lightning beyond this year, perhaps he believes his best move would be to play for a team on which he could make the case that he’s still a valuable defender in the NHL, and thus earn a better contract for the twilight of his career. Considering the Lightning’s depth, that won’t be an easy feat for him in Tampa Bay.

From the Lightning’s point of view, Brewer carries a cap hit of $3.875 million, which is substantially more than players in his role generally make. Moving Brewer off the roster, while risky given the leadership Brewer brings to a very young team, would give the Lightning salary cap flexibility. And that could come in handy come trade deadline.

Because the rumor is coming from Bob McKenzie, there’s little doubt that there’s some fire to this smoke. McKenzie is among the most respected journalists active in hockey media today (arguably the single most respected) and not known for reporting anything he hasn’t confirmed.

So whether Eric Brewer is eventually traded remains to be seen. But it seems clear that the option is, at the very least, being discussed.