This piece will be another in my series of player profiles, where I’ll give some thoughts on the performance of a member of the New York Islanders this season. This article will focus on Derick Brassard.

Brassard was a little bit all over the place this season. He was added near the end of the offseason to center the third line but ended up bouncing around the middle-six. When the Islanders went on their winning streak early in the year, Brassard was excellent and in a stretch of 12 games between October and November, he scored six goals and 15 points. He was on pace to finish the year right around the 40-point mark.

There was a noticeable difference in Brassard’s game depending on whether he had someone to play with. He can’t drive a line and was usually a non-factor when centering the third line. However, while playing wing in the top-six and working with more talented linemates, Brassard was much more effective. Having said that, putting him with better linemates didn’t guarantee better results, as like the many other forwards on the roster, sometimes he’d simply fail to show up.

Regardless, at $1.2 million for a middle-six forward, Brassard was a solid addition for the Islanders. With Jean-Gabriel Pageau now on the roster, I think it’s less likely Brassard is back next year, however, if New York could manage to re-sign Brassard at a similar price for a year or two, they’d likely consider keeping him around to play on the wing. This year, he proved to be a solid addition to the roster and added a bit of depth to the Islanders up front.


Check back tomorrow for a player profile on Casey Cizikas.


For more, follow @BenShelley_20 on Twitter.


OTHER ISLANDERS ARTICLES FROM MARCH

Reviewing the season (so far): Johnny Boychuk

Reviewing the season (so far): Anthony Beauvillier

Reviewing the season (so far): Mathew Barzal

Reviewing the season (so far): Josh Bailey

The good and the bad of the Islanders’ season (so far)

Islanders need answers

Islanders have a favourable schedule to end the regular season

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