Derrick Brassard is back in the Nation’s Capitol.
The Ottawa Senators made their reunion with Brassard official on Monday morning, upgrading the veteran forward’s professional tryout offer into a one-year contract worth $750,000
Brassard entered Senators camp this fall with the unfortunate distinction of being the central return in one of the worst trades in club history, headlining the package that came Ottawa’s way in exchange for Mika Zibanejad back in 2016.
The careers of both players have taken drastically different paths since then.
Zibanejad has blossomed into a legitimate superstar for New York. At the same time, Brassard struggled to remain a productive middle-six center and has since seen himself bounce around between seven different teams over the past 10 seasons.
Brassard most recently spent time with the Edmonton Oilers after being dealt by the Philadelphia Flyers at the trade deadline, appearing in 15 games for the club down the stretch and finishing his stint with two goals and one assist for three points in just shy of 13 minutes of nightly ice time.
The silver lining is that Brassard’s underlying numbers weren’t all that terrible last season if you squint hard enough. During his 15-game stretch for the Oilers, Brassard put up a very respectable 53.01 percent share of the expected goals during his even-strength usage, while nearly breaking even in the scoring chance department, as well. In a pure depth role on a Senators team that is already stacked up top, that could come in handy.
At this point, Brassard is not a regular NHLer. Not for a Senators squad on the upswing, there are far worse veterans to take a flier on as a 13th or 14th forward.
