Longtime NHL center Derick Brassard is coming out of retirement and has signed with Genève-Servette of Switzerland’s National League for the remainder of the season, as first reported by Nicolas St-Pierre of the “Dans le Vestiaire” podcast.
Brassard, 38, hasn’t played since suiting up for the Senators in the 2022-23 season. He tore a ligament in his ankle late in the season and, after trying to push his recovery as a free agent during 2023-24, announced his retirement after he sat out the year.
The sixth overall pick in the 2006 draft by the Blue Jackets, Brassard did manage to eke out crossing the 1,000-game mark before ending his NHL career. In his heyday, he was a high-end second-line center and fringe first-line piece for the Rangers, who acquired him from Columbus in 2013 in a deal that sent Marián Gáborík the other way. Three years later, he was involved in another high-profile trade, being sent to the Senators for Mika Zibanejad.
That deal marked a turning point for the worse in Brassard’s career. He’d flirted with the 60-point mark in his last two years with the Blueshirts and had averaged 50 points per 82 games. After the deal, he’d only top 40 points once and 30 points three times. He didn’t last a full two seasons in Ottawa either, and was shipped to the Penguins at the 2018 trade deadline. That kicked off an all-time journeyman run for Brassard, who ended up playing for eight teams in the span of five seasons. Between 2017-18 and 2021-22, he logged stints for the Panthers, Avalanche, Islanders, Coyotes, Flyers, and Oilers in addition to his time in Ottawa and Pittsburgh. He then returned to the Sens as a free agent before wrapping up his career.
Now, the Quebec native will play international hockey for only the second time in his career. He saw six games of action for Austria’s EC Salzburg during the 2012 lockout, recording four goals and an assist.
He’ll link up with a Genève-Servette roster that includes plenty of familiar faces. They boast over 2,200 games of NHL experience, including Jimmy Vesey, Jan Rutta, Jesse Puljujärvi, and Markus Granlund.
Big Game Brass!
Not a player I envisioned writing about today!
Playing pro hockey in Switzerland sounds pretty darn great
I will loathe this DOG for all time.
Maybe if he cures cancer I’ll forgive him.
Maybe.
Your commitment to the bit is incredible.
There is NO bit. I hate the F’ing guy.
Go back and look at what we gave up to get this pud and then imagine watching your team deploy the 3C you paid a fortune for as a top 6 LW and then finding out this little B was whining his brains out about being on the third line (why Sully didn’t tell him to FO, I don’t know but…) and then hearing him with your own ears talk about how he “just couldn’t get up for games” playing behind two first ballot HOF centers coming off back to back titles.
He’s a F’ing DOG.
He makes Pierre Turgeon seem like Brad Marchand and Dale Hunter had a kid. Tin man gutless whining B pud DOG.
Now that is how to toss a tantrum. And over a hockey player no less. Well done. Hoping that you never let it go.
Perhaps this level of passion for the game will finally inspire you to actually watch hockey, rather than just using it as a vehicle for pedantry.
Cap off the career with a Spengler Cup medal? Good for Big Game Brass
Just when Philip Rivers thought he’d have all of the sports headlines to himself this week.