Brassard won’t face former Sens teammates
Derick Brassard got a chance to sit down for dinner with some of his former Ottawa Senators teammates Thursday night.
He won’t get the opportunity to face them Friday evening at the PPG Paints Arena.
As the Senators prepared to play the Pittsburgh Penguins for the first time since the veteran centre was traded Feb. 23 in a deal that brought Ottawa a 2018 first-round pick and goalie prospect Filip Gustavsson, Brassard was looking forward to seeing some familiar faces in the game.
Sidelined with an undisclosed lower-body injury that forced him to miss his fourth straight game Thursday when the Penguins were on the road against Columbus, Brassard is listed as day-to-day.
“I’m going to get the chance to play against the Senators again,” Brassard said in a telephone interview. “I’m aiming (to be back) for the first game of the playoffs. Hopefully, I can be ready (for next week).
“It would be nice to play against my former team, but right now I just feel a lot of frustration just not being capable of playing in the past week or so because the past five, six or seven games before that, I felt that was when I was starting to feel more comfortable. I was turning the corner with my new team.”
Brassard, a Gatineau native, was traded to the Senators in July 2016 by the New York Rangers in a deal that included draft picks and centre Mika Zibanejad. The 30-year-old was moved to Pittsburgh because Ottawa decided to go the rebuild route and the Penguins were desperately in search of a veteran centre who could help them win a third straight Stanley Cup.
Though the Winnipeg Jets made a hard push for Brassard and he was willing to go there, the Vegas Golden Knights helped the Penguins make the deal by taking on some of Brassard’s salary because they didn’t want him going to a West opponent.
The transition to a new role under Penguins coach Mike Sullivan hasn’t been easy, but Brassard has pretty decent numbers with three goals and eight points in 14 games.
“The style of play that we play here is a little bit different than what I was used to for (18 months) in Ottawa,” Brassard said.
“Just playing behind (Sidney Crosby) and (Evgeni) Malkin is a different challenge for me, and it’s a different role.
“Everything was going good until I hurt myself a little bit,” said Brassard, who feels like he has a “great opportunity” to help Pittsburgh win another championship.
While with the Senators, Brassard was the second-line centre behind Kyle Turris last year and was in the same place when Matt Duchene arrived from the Colorado Avalanche. In Pittsburgh, Crosby and Malkin get all the big minutes, and it’s Brassard’s job to take some pressure off of them.
Playing with Crosby and Malkin has been eye-opening because they are driven to be the best and they lead by example.
“The last month or so has just been a great experience because you get to learn from different teammates and a different coach,” Brassard said. “Just to see the work they put in every day, day in and day out, whether it’s in the gym, practices and working on their games, it’s no coincidence those guys are all-star players.
“I see a lot of passion in their games. They love the game, they like to be at the rink. Those guys are running the ship.
“Every time they want to set the tone, whether it’s in practice or a game, those two guys are doing it and everyone has to follow the lead.”
Brassard is hoping to follow their leadership right to a Stanley Cup parade this spring.