Fantasy Impact: The New York Islanders have signed veteran center, Derick Brassard to a one-year contract worth 1.2 million dollars. 

New York Gets: A versatile pivot with nearly 900 games of NHL experience. Brassard struggled to find his footing last season while living out of a suitcase. The former sixth overall selection from 2006 split his time between Florida, Colorado and Pittsburgh. In the end, he averaged 15 minutes of ice, skated on second power-play units but failed to record 30 points for the first time since the 2012-13 lockout-shortened campaign. The good news is he is just a year removed from playing at a 52-point pace and has been a proven play creator for a number of years. It is expected that he'll be given the third line centre position – a spot most likely between at least one young player. 

Fantasy Players Impacted: The addition of an offensively-minded center is good news for people hoping the Islanders wouldn't roll out Casey Cizikas, Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck as the third line. It likely breathes more life into a world where both Michael Dal Colle and Josh Ho-Sang are regular members and are given the freedom to play with an eye towards producing offense. Both Dal Colle and Ho-Sang will need waivers to be sent to Bridgeport so the club will want to give them extended looks to begin the year. 

The club was light on pivots this offseason with the departure of Valtteri Filppula. This means that no single player will see a downgrade in their even-strength deployment due to this move. Cizikas was never going to anchor an offensive line. However, Brassard will help on the team's second power-play unit which was crying for a playmaker on the half wall. He'll likely kick one of the kids in Dal Colle or Ho-Sang out of the power play mix though. 

Players this helps in order: 

Josh Ho-Sang

Michael Dal Colle

Anthony Beauvillier

Players this hurts in order: 

Casey Cizikas

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