Derick Brassard was brought here for this.
Sure, the Penguins knew they needed to improve their third line last year after Nick Bonino left via free agency, but what if something happened to Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin? Who would slide up the lineup?
It’s why the Penguins were willing to give up a key piece of their 2016 and 2017 Stanley Cup-winning teams in Ian Cole, and general manager Jim Rutherford made a few heads spin with the complexity of the deal.
After more than three weeks away because of a lower-body injury that took longer than expected to heal, Brassard is poised to provide the insurance policy the Penguins believe they purchased in that February 2018 trade.
Crosby is hurt. The Penguins need a legitimate top-six center, and Brassard gets to rejoin the lineup – OK, he’ll likely be a game-time decision Saturday in Ottawa – in a role where he’s comfortable, where he’s spent the majority of his NHL career.
“One of the things that we talked about when we acquired Brass was this very scenario,” coach Mike Sullivan said Friday after practice at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. “To have a guy who’s as talented as he is, who has a track record of being a proven top-six center in this league, that’s encouraging from our standpoint.”
Brassard practiced with the Penguins on Friday for the first time since his injury, which he suffered Oct. 25 in Calgary despite producing three assists while actually playing left wing on Crosby’s line.
Without Brassard, the Penguins would lack a legitimate top-six center to play with either Patric Hornqvist or Phil Kessel, depending on which right wing Sullivan chose to play with Evgeni Malkin.
They also lack scoring, period. Since Brassard went out of the lineup nine games ago, the Penguins have scored 15 even-strength goals.
Crosby has four, Malkin has three, Hornqvist and Dominik Simon have two apiece, and Kessel, Jamie Oleksiak, Brian Dumoulin and Jake Guentzel each have one.
The Penguins are in a position to turn down offense from no one.
“If I play [Saturday], I’m just going to try to play my game and keep it simple,” Brassard said. “If I end up playing over 18 minutes, I’m going to do the best I can to help the team.”
The numbers show the Penguins have clearly been a better team with Brassard this season.
They’re 5-1-2 with him and 2-6-1 without, their offense producing 4.4 goals with Brassard in the lineup compared to 2.3 whenever he’s been hurt.
“I liked the way I started the season,” said Brassard, who has one goal and five points in eight games. “I felt like I had a stretch of time where I was producing offense, but nothing was going in.
“Now I have to start from scratch, go out there with an open mind, play free and have fun.”
It hasn’t been fun for Brassard watching the Penguins struggle, that’s for sure. It’s never easy sitting out, but the Penguins’ situation – they’ve lost seven of eight and are in last place in the Metropolitan Division – has made things even more miserable.
“You just want to be out there and trying to help out,” Brassard said, adding that he thought this current skid might actually turn out to be a good thing.
“A little bit of adversity for this team, it’s not going to be bad. We’re going to be a stronger team for the rest of the season.”
The same as he did during this past spring’s playoffs and again in training camp, Brassard refused to say anything specific about his injury. However, he did admit the recovery process was slower than anticipated.
It started out day-to-day but soon stretched into weeks, as whatever was bugging Brassard didn’t respond the way he wanted.
“It took a long time,” Brassard said. “I was getting frustrated a little bit. Some days you’re feeling fine. The next day you wake up, and it’s not [responding]. You feel a little sore. You don’t want to re-aggravate it and be out for a longer time.
“But now that Sid’s not there, I feel like I should be out there with the guys and try to help out.”
On Friday, that meant skating on a line with Jake Guentzel and Kessel and working on a revamped second power play. Assuming he feels fine Saturday, that’s where Brassard can expect to play against the Senators.
Oh yeah, them.
This will also be Brassard’s first game back in Ottawa since the trade, although there’s been too much going on with his health, Crosby’s injury and the Penguins losing games to really care much about it.
“That’s another thing, too, going back home, going against my former team,” Brassard said. “There’s a lot of things right now in my head. I’m just going to have to clear it beforehand, try to play my game and not think about everything else – family, friends and stuff like that.”
Nah, just worry about replacing Crosby. No pressure there.
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: November 16, 2018, 9:04 p.m.