BRASS’ TACK
Back in playoffs, ex-Ranger aims to bump off old team
OTTAWA — Derick Brassard was made for the spotlight, for the big moments, for the big games. He was made for Broadway.
All things being equal, he would have been a Ranger for longer than three-plus seasons and four playoff runs. Lord knows, nobody but Henrik Lundqvist had more big moments in the postseason than the Blueshirt who wore No. 16.
But the fourth and final playoff experience wasn’t as much a run as a head-first stumble into a brick wall. And that came to equal Brassard’s exit from New York.
“When last year ended I didn’t have a thought that I wouldn’t be back, but that’s a proud organization with very high expectations and when you lose in the first round you know that is not acceptable and there are going to be changes,” Brassard told The Post before playing a major role in the Senators’ 2-1 victory over the Blueshirts in Thursday’s Game 1 of Round 2. “That was me.”
It was Brassard to Ottawa in exchange for Mika Zibanejad and a second-round pick in a trade that essentially was completed at the draft table in late June, but was not consummated until the middle of July because of considerations revolving around a bonus payment due Brassard, who now wears No. 19.
“I didn’t take it personally,” Brassard said. “I think the whole thing started when the Senators hired Guy [Boucher] as coach, because he had me in junior. So I think it was a lot more Ottawa wanting me than the Rangers wanting to get rid of me. Plus, the Rangers got a real good young center back for me, so I wasn’t offended by it.
“The trades that upset you are the ones where they give you away for nothing. Like the one where I was traded to the Rangers.”
That was on April 3, 2013 when, minutes before the deadline, the Blueshirts acquired Brassard, Derek Dorsett and John Moore from the Blue Jackets in exchange for Marian Gaborik and a pair of minor leaguers. Gaborik is most certainly not nothing, but the world-class scorer played only 34 games for Columbus over two seasons before being sent to the Kings for, well, not much.
“I came to New York with Johnny and Dors and they got Gaborik, who didn’t really even play for them,” Brassard said. “That was more like a slap in the face.”
The Rangers got younger and bigger in the BrassardZibanejad exchange, the new guy having turned 24 last week while the old one will turn 30 in September. Plus, in not a small consideration at all, the Blueshirts saved a fair amount of cap space at least for 2016-17, with Zibanejad on the final year of a deal worth a $2.625 million charge and Brassard on the third season of a fiveyear contract worth an annual $5 million hit.
“I think I was a pretty good asset for them,” Brassard said. “It’s not like I spent this season trying to prove to the Rangers that they made a mistake.”
But consciously or not, he sure did in this one, zipping around the ice, helping the Senators dominate in offensive zone time throughout most of the match after an outstanding first period in which the center was perhaps the best player on the ice, both at even strength and with the man-advantage.
“I stayed in touch with a lot of those guys all year,” Brassard said. “But for seven games we’re going to put all that aside. I’m not expecting any taps on the back from them.
“I’m going to do whatever I can to knock them out.”
Game 1 was a good first step.