Flyers ink Derick Brassard to one-year deal

The Philadelphia Flyers announced on Wednesday that they have signed veteran center Derick Brassard to a one-year deal that is worth $825,000.

For the 33-year-old, the carousel continues as he joins his eighth different team since the start of the 2015-16 season.

After his first five professional seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Brassard rose to prominence with the New York Rangers where he tallied 174 points in 254 games over four seasons, including a 27-goal season in 2015-16.

He has yet to find that same level of success after he was traded to the Ottawa Senators as a part of the deal that sent Mika Zibanejad to New York. He scored 21 goals in 2017-18 but has tallied a combined 32 over the last three seasons, which included stops with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Florida Panthers, Colorado Avalanche, New York Islanders, and most recently, the Arizona Coyotes.

Brassard was a member of the Islanders team that defeated the Flyers in seven games during the Eastern Conference semifinals in the Toronto playoff bubble in 2020, adding to an already expansive postseason resume that features 25 goals and 43 assists (68 points) in 117 career playoff games. His 44 points in 59 playoff games with the Rangers earned him the nickname “Big-Game Brass.”

It will be that experience that the Flyers will look to lean on as they try to take the next step in contending — all while bolstering their bottom-six, which was in dire need of a boost last season as they sputtered to a postseason-less finish to the 2020-21 campaign.