The news isn’t great for Senators center Derick Brassard. After being injured in Thursday’s victory over Philadelphia, head coach D.J. Smith told reporters including Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch (Twitter link) that Brassard has undergone surgery to repair a fractured fibula. In a separate tweet, Garrioch adds that the recovery timeline is at least six to eight weeks and that Brassard had a plate put in.
It’s certainly a tough end to the season for the 35-year-old. Brassard had been a quality depth contributor for the Sens this year, chipping in with 13 goals in 62 games, his highest goal total since the 2019-20 campaign. Perhaps more impressive is that he was able to do so while logging just 12:11 per contest, his lowest ATOI since his rookie year back in 2007-08.
Brassard had to settle for a training camp PTO last fall but was able to earn himself a one-year contract at the league minimum. Having bounced around considerably in recent years – Ottawa is his eighth different team since 2018-19 – he’s someone whose ability to earn a contract for next season was already in question. Unfortunately, an injury like this certainly doesn’t help in that regard. Accordingly, it’s quite possible that Brassard will have to settle for a tryout once again if he looks to try to extend his 16-year NHL career any further.
Meanwhile, TSN’s Claire Hanna relays (Twitter link) that defensemen Travis Hamonic (lower body), Thomas Chabot (upper body), and Jakob Chychrun (hamstring) won’t accompany the Sens on their upcoming three-game road trip. Of the three, Smith noted that he’s hopeful that Hamonic will be able to return by the end of the season so it appears Chabot and Chychrun have seen their 2022-23 campaigns come to an end.
That sucks, but probably doesn’t matter at this point. Hopefully he can recover and be brought back in a similar role next year.
That’s why Coyotes traded with the Sens, they knew they were playing way above their talent level and they’d fall sooner than later. Gonna get some nice picks for a middle aged injury prone dman
They’ve been playing at a better level since that trade, the draft pick has gotten worse for the Coyotes…
.500 hockey is better ? 4 wins last 10 games ?
Yes, .500 hockey is better than the below .500 rate they were playing at before lol
They were 5pts out before deadline and are still 5pts out…haven’t played any better, and now they’ve lost their 1st rounder on top of it.