Derick Brassard (born September 22, 1987) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Rangers, Ottawa Senators, Pittsburgh Penguins, Florida Panthers, Colorado Avalanche, New York Islanders, Arizona Coyotes, Philadelphia Flyers and Edmonton Oilers, as well as a brief stint in the Swiss National League (NL) with Genève-Servette HC. The Blue Jackets selected him in the first round, sixth overall, of the 2006 NHL entry draft.
Born and raised in Hull, Quebec, Brassard grew up attending ice hockey games at the Robert Guertin Centre. He began ice skating at the age of five and played minor ice hockey for the Gatineau L'Intrépide. The Drummondville Voltigeurs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) selected Brassard 18th overall in 2003, and he joined the team as a rookie in the 2004–05 season. After recording 25 goals and 76 points, Brassard received both the Michel Bergeron Trophy and RDS Cup at the end of his rookie season. He doubled his offensive production the next season and received the Michael Bossy Trophy for the top prospect in the QMJHL. Brassard missed most of his final junior ice hockey season after suffering a shoulder subluxation during a preseason game.
Brassard spent most of the season in the American Hockey League with the Syracuse Crunch, save for a brief stint in the NHL in January and February. The following season, he was one of several rookies to make the Blue Jackets' opening night roster. Brassard missed large parts of the and seasons with injuries, but he broke out offensively in . The next two seasons were hindered by clashes with coach Scott Arniel and the 2012–13 NHL lockout, and Brassard was traded to the Rangers at the 2013 trading deadline. Brassard reached the Stanley Cup playoffs all four seasons he was with the Rangers, including their loss to the Los Angeles Kings in the 2014 Stanley Cup Final.
The Rangers traded Brassard to the Senators before the season, where he struggled with coach Guy Boucher's frequent offensive line adjustments. He found more difficulties in Pittsburgh due to injuries and limited playing time on the lower lines. By 2019, Brassard had become an NHL journeyman: the Penguins traded him to the Florida Panthers, who flipped him to the Avalanche three weeks later. He spent a year apiece with the Islanders and Coyotes before joining the Flyers for the season. Brassard's trade deadline move to the Oilers made him one of nine NHL players to dress for 10 or more teams in his career.
Brassard returned to the Ottawa Senators on a professional tryout for the season. After a solid showing in training camp, he was awarded a one-year contract. On March 2, 2023, Brassard played in his 1,000th NHL game.
Early life Brassard was born on September 22, 1987, in Hull, Quebec, to Suzanne and Pierre Brassard. His father was a star junior ice hockey player for the Pembroke Lumber Kings of the Central Junior Hockey League and was selected by the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL) in the 1976 NHL entry draft. Pierre was cut from the team after training camp, however, and did not play in the NHL. Brassard began ice skating at the age of five, and he took up hockey shortly after that. He was raised near the Robert Guertin Centre and would often attend ice hockey games held there. Brassard played minor ice hockey with the Gatineau L'Intrépide; during the 2003–04 season, he scored 19 goals and 64 points in 32 games.
Playing career Junior The Drummondville Voltigeurs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) selected Brassard in the second round, 18th overall, of the 2003 draft. He played in only 10 games during the 2003–04 season, spending most of the time with the Gatineau L'Intrépide, but recorded one assist in those 10 games. He also appeared in seven postseason games but did not record a point in any of them. The following season he joined Drummondville in full, and by the end of November, Brassard led the Voltigeurs with 11 goals and 25 points, including five power play goals, and he was named the QMJHL Offensive Player of the Week for the week ending November 29. He was named the QMJHL Rookie of the Month for December 2004 after recording four goals and 15 points in 10 games, including two power play goals and three game-winners. Brassard took home the honour again the next month when he recorded three goals and 11 assists in 13 games, including a four-assist game against the Quebec Remparts on January 25. Brassard finished his first full QMJHL season with 25 goals and 76 points in 69 regular season games, as well as one goal and six points in six playoff games. He was awarded both the Michel Bergeron Trophy for the offensive rookie of the year and the RDS Cup for the Rookie of the Year, and he was named to the QMJHL All-Rookie Team.
Brassard had a hot start to the 2005–06 season, with 18 points through the first week of October. He missed most of November with a broken wrist but returned once the cast was removed, recording two assists in his first game back. During the year, he was named both to the Canadian roster for the ADT Canada–Russia Challenge and to Team Cherry at the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game. Brassard doubled his offensive output between the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons, finishing with 44 goals and 116 points in 58 games for the Voltigeurs. At the end of the season, he was named to the QMJHL First All-Star Team and was awarded the Michael Bossy Trophy for the best prospect in the QMJHL. That June, the Columbus Blue Jackets of the NHL selected Brassard in the first round, sixth overall, in the 2006 NHL entry draft. He signed a three-year, entry-level contract with Columbus in September.
During the Voltigeurs' 2006 preseason training camp, Brassard suffered a subluxated shoulder after a check from Bryan Main of the Gatineau Olympiques. The injury kept him from attending the Blue Jackets' training camp and potentially gaining a place on their opening night roster. The injury required surgery that would keep Brassard out of both the Blue Jackets' and Voltigeurs' line-up until at least March. At that point, he would be eligible to finish out Drummondville's season before joining the Syracuse Crunch, the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the Blue Jackets. Doctors cleared him to play for Drummondville on February 15, 2007, with just over one month remaining in the QMJHL season. He missed a total of 56 games with the injury but began scoring as soon as he returned, with 17 points in his first nine games of the season. In 14 regular-season games after his return, Brassard scored six goals and recorded 25 points. He added nine goals and 15 assists in 12 postseason games before the Voltigeurs were eliminated by the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in the second round of QMJHL playoffs. Brassard finished his junior ice hockey career with 218 points in 151 games, and the Voltigeurs retired his No. 61 jersey in 2016.
Professional Columbus Blue Jackets (2007–2013)
After spending training camp and the NHL preseason with Columbus, Brassard was assigned to the Syracuse Crunch, the Blue Jackets' AHL affiliate, to begin the season. On November 13, he suffered a fractured mandible after colliding with Derek Dorsett during a practice skate, and he spent six weeks recovering from the injury. Despite this setback, Brassard scored five goals and 20 assists in his first 21 games with Syracuse, and he received an invitation to play in the 2008 AHL All-Star Game shortly before being called up to Columbus on January 10, 2008. He made his NHL debut that night, wearing No. 16 and centering the fourth line with Jody Shelley and Jared Boll for a game against the St. Louis Blues. He recorded his first NHL point on January 20 with an assist on Fredrik Modin's late-game goal against the Colorado Avalanche. On February 7, Brassard scored his first NHL goal in a 4–1 loss to the Minnesota Wild. Those were his only points in 17 games for Columbus, and he was sent back down to Syracuse on February 26. Brassard played a total of 46 games for the Crunch, recording 15 goals and 36 assists for a team that fell to the Toronto Marlies in the second round of Calder Cup playoffs.
Brassard was one of several rookies named to the Blue Jackets' opening night roster for the season, part of a new core of young players that also included Nikita Filatov and Jakub Voráček. He primarily skated on a productive rookie line with Voráček and Jason Chimera. Through the first seven games of the 2008–09 season, Brassard had two goals and four assists, while Chimera and Voráček combined for an additional three goals and three assists. He took home the NHL Rookie of the Month title that October after leading all freshman players with four goals and five assists through the first 10 games of the season, and seemed poised for a break-out season by December. On December 19, 2008, however, Brassard suffered a separated shoulder during a fight with Dallas Stars forward James Neal. The injury ultimately required a season-ending surgery, bringing Brassard's break-out season to a premature end. At the time, he continued to lead all rookies in scoring with 10 goals and 15 assists through 31 games.
On September 4, 2009, the Blue Jackets signed Brassard to a four-year contract extension that would keep him under team control through the season. Fully recovered by the beginning of the season, Brassard rejoined Filatov and Voráček on the second offensive line. He struggled at the start of the season with the return from his shoulder injury, telling ESPN that he was "just not playing like a great player" before snapping a 14-game scoring drought with a late goal in Columbus's 3–0 win over the Florida Panthers on December 10. On February 14, Brassard burned his left hand from the thumb to the index finger while attempting to repair his hockey stick with hot glue. The burn became infected, causing Brassard to miss several games in March. Upon his return, he was offered ample playing time from new head coach Claude Noel after several other player injuries created gaps in the line-up. Brassard finished the season with nine goals and 36 points in 79 games, while his −17 plus–minus was tied with defenceman Anton Strålman for the worst on the team. Although young players like Brassard improved after Noel replaced Hitchcock, the Blue Jackets' 3–14–7 record from November 21 to January 5 kept them out of contention in the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs.
When Scott Arniel took over coaching duties in Columbus for the season, he placed Brassard on the top offensive line with Voráček and captain Rick Nash. In the first ten games since putting that trio together, Brassard recorded five goals and seven assists, and his face-off percentage improved significantly. On February 16, 2011, Brassard injured his left hand after being struck by a Jan Hejda slapshot in the Blue Jackets' game against the Los Angeles Kings. Although the hand was not fractured, he was placed on injured reserve regardless. At the time of the injury, Brassard had a career-high 14 goals and 39 points through 57 games, including five goals and eight assists in the last 14 games before the injury. He missed eight games with the injury before being activated on March 9. Although the Blue Jackets went only 34–35–13 for the season and missed the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs, Brassard had a break-out season, setting career highs with 17 goals, 30 assists, and 47 points.