Rangers' Jonny Brodzinski playing the hockey dad role for rookie Brennan Othmann
Rangers center Jonny Brodzinski skates against the Sabres during an NHL game at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 23. Credit: Ed Murray
MONTREAL — When the Rangers arrived in Montreal on Friday, a group of them went out to dinner, including rookie call-up Brennan Othmann, who was celebrating his 21st birthday. When the bill came, Jonny Brodzinski picked up Othmann’s tab.
It’s what dads do.
“I like to joke around, he’s like a hockey father figure for me,’’ Othmann said of Brodzinski, 30, who again was his linemate against the Canadiens on Saturday night at Bell Centre, Othmann’s second game in the NHL. “A guy like that, I mean, that goes a long way for a younger guy like me.’’
Mentoring Othmann, and other young players during his four years in the Rangers’ organization, is part of who Brodzinski is and part of the reason the Rangers signed him to a two-year, $1.525 million contract before last season.
The Minnesota native joined the Rangers on a one-year deal as a minor-leaguer/taxi squad player for the 56-game COVID-shortened season in 2021, then signed a second one-year deal the following season when he bounced up and down between the Rangers and AHL Hartford.
Rangers GM Chris Drury gave Brodzinski a two-year deal after that, partly to be an emergency call-up from the minors when the team needed it and partly to serve as captain for the Hartford team, help groom the team’s young prospects and turn them into professional players.
“For me when I was younger . . . I didn’t really have a true mentor, especially like being in the American League for a little while,’’ Brodzinski said. “I always wished I had somebody like that to tell me what to do, how to do it, kind of like, how to be a pro.’’
Some of what Brodzinski has passed along to Othmann is on-ice tips — such as advising him where to set up on the power play for one-timers — and some is off-ice stuff, pointing out what team personnel to go see if he has a problem or a question.
The duo played on the same line in Hartford until Brodzinski, who was leading the AHL in scoring at the time, got called up at the end of November when forward Kaapo Kakko got injured. When Othmann got called up Thursday after an injury to Tyler Pitlick, coach Peter Laviolette put the youngster on a third line with Brodzinski and veteran center Nick Bonino.
“You’re talking about a guy that was their leading scorer and captain down in Hartford, and playing and having some time [with Othmann] together down there,’’ Laviolette said. “I think that helps. It maybe provides a little bit of a comfort level. But I’ve also coached Nick and I know his disposition and his detail, and he’s a good mentor and teacher as well.’’
Brodzinski’s abilities as a mentor/teacher/dad make him a natural to consider becoming a coach someday. And he said he has thought about that.
“Yeah, that’s something that I’ve always wanted to do,’’ he said. “I think that the teammates feel really comfortable coming to me . . . I always like to make people feel comfortable, like they’re a part of the team right away, just so everything can start off on the right foot and we’re all pushing together as a team instead of one guy, or a couple of guys on their own page.’’
Until that time comes, Brodzinski still has some hockey to play. He said he’d like to pick up his goal-scoring. He entered Saturday’s game with only one (plus seven assists) in 18 games.
“I’m a goal-scorer at heart,’’ he said. “I have done it at every level, in every league, so when we get those [scoring] opportunities, I’ve just got to bear down a little bit . . . We’re working for those chances. We’re getting them. Now the puck’s got to find the back of the net.’’
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
