[Re-signing] Derick Brassard

[Rocky71]

One Derek Stepan must be happy! If Brassard is worth $5 million AAV, Stepan has to be at least $6 AAV (5 years $30 million)... No?

[Cobretti]

Big overpay, they should have saved their money for Stepan

[deantime419]

If MSL sticks around next year I'm not sure they'll be able to afford him, Stepan, and Zucarello.

Front loaded makes it much easier to trade though.

[lucifer316]

One Derek Stepan must be happy! If Brassard is worth $5 million AAV, Stepan has to be at least $6 AAV (5 years $30 million)... No?

the O'Reilly deal already made Stepan worth that kind of money

[DrakeZero]

what exactly is the production of a 2nd line center

In my mind I think a number 2 center has to be going 55-70 pts. In that range. Now if the player is a more of a two way type of forward then I can understand the pts being on the lower end of that range, but Brassard has never cracked the 50 pt mark. His highest being 2010-2011 season with 47 pts. Just a bit lacking in my eyes for someone getting 5 million per season for 5 years. Though to be fair I don't see too many NYR games so perhaps his talents are more on the defensive side of the game then the points.

Its a risky signing in my books and I would have gone only 3 years.

[petegreg21]

If MSL sticks around next year I'm not sure they'll be able to afford him, Stepan, and Zucarello.

Front loaded makes it much easier to trade though.

Don't forget Marc Staal

[JagrBomb]

i have a feeling rangers are gonna regress a bit next couple of years. their depth this year is what made them go far, so they will need guys like lombardi/stempniak to recreate that 3rd line magic.

[lucifer316]

In my mind I think a number 2 center has to be going 55-70 pts. In that range. Now if the player is a more of a two way type of forward then I can understand the pts being on the lower end of that range, but Brassard has never cracked the 50 pt mark. His highest being 2010-2011 season with 47 pts. Just a bit lacking in my eyes for someone getting 5 million per season for 5 years. Though to be fair I don't see too many NYR games so perhaps his talents are more on the defensive side of the game then the points.

Its a risky signing in my books and I would have gone only 3 years.

14 forwards of all positions had more than 70 points last season, i don't see how on earth 70 points qualifies as 2nd line center with that being the case to be honest with you

62 forwards ended up with 55+ points last season, and there are 60 1st and 2nd line centers in the league, i really don't understand how you can define a position by a number which doesn't exist in reality

[RangerFan]

Don't forget Marc Staal

And Hagelin

[DrakeZero]

14 forwards of all positions had more than 70 points last season, i don't see how on earth 70 points qualifies as 2nd line center with that being the case to be honest with you

62 forwards ended up with 55+ points last season, and there are 60 1st and 2nd line centers in the league, i really don't understand how you can define a position by a number which doesn't exist in reality

Yes 62 forwards ended up with more than 55+ points, but you are taking into account LW/RW when we are talking about centers. For centers the numbers were fewer. Here is the top centers that earned above 54 pts last season sourced by nhl.com stats.


1 Sidney Crosby 104pts
2 Ryan Getzlaf 87pts
3 Claude Giroux 86pts
4 Tyler Seguin 84pts
5 Joe Pavelski 79pts
6 Nicklas Backstrom 79pts
7 Joe Thornton 76pts
8 Evgeni Malkin 72pts
9 Anze Kopitar 70pts
10 Matt Duchene 70pts
11 David Krejci 69pts
12 Jonathan Toews 68pts
13 John Tavares 66pts
14 Jason Spezza 66 pts
15 Ryan O'Reilly 64pts
16 Bryan Little 64pts
17 Ryan Johansen 63pts
18 Nathan MacKinnon 63pts
19 Patrice Bergeron 62pts
20 Eric Staal 61pts
21 Paul Stastny 60pts
22 Kyle Turris 58pts
23 Valtteri Filppula 58pts
24 Frans Nielsen 58pts
25 David Backes 57pts
26 Derek Stepan 57pts
27 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 56pts
28 Logan Couture 54 pts
29 Jiri Hudler 54pts
30 Mikko Koivu 54pts


As you can see from the list most players that fell into that 54+ range were either teams first or 2nd line centers. Of course this isn't taking into account teams that had awful years like Vancouver which saw H. Sedin (50pts) and Kesler (44pts) who had terrible numbers. I based my opinion mostly on the past three year average and its always comes to around that 55-70 pts range for that 1st/2nd line center. And you are correct that numbers by position isn't the end all be all of things considering some players like Toews who don't put up monster points like Crosby, but instead shows a impressive defensive side to his game. However numbers I feel are a decent measuring stick as the defensive side of the game can be difficult to track via stats.

When it comes to Brassard, I don't have an issue with the money. 5 million is about right considering the market would bare it, but based on Brassards previous numbers I would have only done a 3 year deal, not a 5 year term, to see if he could do the job. If he could great then you pay the man what he deserves at the end of the three year term. If not we'll 3 years isn't going to harm the salary cap too much. But at 5 years, unless he comes out this season as a quality center that can put up some points then the Rangers will be stuck with that pay on the books for 5 years and it will be difficult to move it if they need quick cap relief.