New York Rangers Report Card: Connor Brickley

In a year that saw the New York Rangers make some notable trades, the one that brought Connor Brickley to the Big Apple didn’t cause too much excitement.

Connor Brickley – Grade D

As our report cards for the 2018-19 New York Rangers continue, we focus today on Connor Brickley. We will be working through the team in alphabetical order and will be reviewing the performance of all players who suited up for the team this season. That means old friends Mats Zuccarello and Kevin Hayes will be talked about and covered.

His season

Connor Brickley was brought to Broadway from the Nashville Predators as part of the trade that saw Cole Schneider head in the opposite direction on Jan. 14. 2019. He spent the first part of 2018-19 in the AHL with the Milwaukee Admirals, registering seven goals and four assists for 11 points.

The 23-year-old, who was selected No. 50 overall by the Florida Panthers in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, was recruited to add some toughness to the Rangers’ bottom six and he was plugged in on the bottom line alongside Brendan Smith and Boo Nieves for the most part.

That trio played four straight and six of seven from Feb. 17 – Mar. 1 for 33:34 with a 44.0 Corsi and a 1/0 goals for/against advantage. However, that line was dismantled as head coach David Quinn experimented with a myriad of different line combinations.

If you look at Brickley’s NHL career (21 points in 81 games) you will come to the conclusion that he will never be an offensive force, but that’s not his role. His role is to get under the skin of the opposition and inject some energy into his own team.

He registered just four points for the Rangers (one goal, three assists) in 14 games.

Although we are going on a very small sample size, Brickley fared okay in 14 games for the Rangers and largely did the job asked of him. He played the role of a stereotypical NHL fourth-liner perfectly, getting into a couple of scraps with the Edmonton Oilers’ Kyle Brodziak and Brooks Orpik of the Washington Capitals, and he finishes his checks well and can also hit like a train, as perfectly demonstrated in the video below:

Overall, Brickley can be satisfied with his work for the Rangers but, due to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, it remains to be seen whether or not the Blueshirts opt to hand the right-wing a new deal. With his current contract costing just $650,000 against the salary cap, Brickley wouldn’t demand a great deal if he were to come back as a useful depth player.

The numbers:

Games: 14
Goals: 1
Assists: 3
Points: 4
PPG: 0.29
CF%: 36.9
+/-:  +3
PIM: 9
ATOI: 8:59

Next report card:  Pavel Buchnevich