2024 Report Card: Jonny Brodzinski

Expectations

The Rangers veteran journeyman did not make the opening night roster but ended up playing the most NHL games he’s ever played in one single season. Prior to 2023-24, Brodzinski had never played more than half a season's worth of games in the NHL but at 31-years old, he finally got over that hump. The former fifth round draft pick has been a fringe NHL/AHLer throughout his entire career and after bouncing around between San Jose and LA’s systems, he’s earned himself some consistency and a home in the tri-state area. Heading into his fourth season in New York, the expectations were more or less the same for Brodzinski; Be a veteran presence and top contributor in Hartford while likely being first in line as a call-up option for the Rangers 

Performance

57 GP 6 G 13 A

Brodzinski only suited up for 16 games with the Wolf Pack where he was well over a point-per-game player, registering 11 goals and 14 assists for a total of 25 points. As a result, once injuries occurred and other depth signings for the Rangers proved to be underwhelming, Brodzinski took his opportunity and ran with it. His first game of the season was fitting for the Minnesota-Native as the Rangers took on the Wild on the road. While that game came as a one off, Brodzinski was again recalled after Thanksgiving and would stick with the Rangers for the remainder of the season. 

He kicked off December with an impressive pair of games with back-to-back two assist nights. His first goal of the season came a week later against the team that drafted him back in 2013, the Los Angeles Kings. Filling in for Mika Zibanejad on the top power play unit, Brodzinski surprised fans everywhere with a rocket of a one-timer, quite reminiscent to what we typically expect to see from Mika.

Brodzinski joked at the time that he owed Zibanejad a steak dinner for getting the chance on the team’s top power play unit but the former Wolf Pack Captain owes as much credit to himself for earning his keep. That game proved to be sufficient enough to earn him an NHL roster spot for the remainder of the season. While he cooled off quite a bit in terms of offensive production, Brodzinski became an effective presence to the team’s bottom-six. On top of his strong shot, he’s a quick skater whose acceleration and tenacity helps him be a defensively responsible, two-way forward. 

His month of January was quite underwhelming but to be fair, there wasn’t much about that month that really went well for the team in general. He closed the month out with a goal and an assist in the big win against Ottawa that helped spark the Rangers red-hot February. In that stretch, he had goals in back-to-back games for what became a total of four points across that 10-1 streak. 

With two goals in March and two assists in April, Brodzinski closed out the season as a consistent part of this team’s nightly roster. However, with the rise of Matt Rempe, Brodzinski found himself back in the press box for the start of the Rangers postseason run. It wouldn’t help his cause that it was the new and shiny fan favorite that got the team going with the first goal of the playoffs. That would solidify Rempe’s place in the lineup throughout the entirety of the first round which kept Brodzinski out of the picture until halfway through Round 2. 

He made his postseason debut in Game 4 against the Carolina Hurricanes, seeing just under nine minutes of ice time in the Rangers 4-3 loss. Not only was this their first loss of the series, but their first in the entire playoffs up to that point. Brodzinski was a healthy scratch again in Game 5 but was back in the lineup for Game 6, aka the Chris Kreider Legacy Game. His third and final game of the playoffs would come in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals which is unfortunately where the team’s story ended for the 2024 campaign. 

The long and short of it? Brodzinski didn’t make much of an impact in the playoffs but given his role and the team’s overall performance, it wasn’t necessarily his job to make a difference. It isn’t exactly an easy task to appear in just three games, two of them being life or death outings in the quest for the most difficult trophy to win in all of sports. Brodzinski did as much as he could in limited opportunities and while you could make the argument he should have been given more chances throughout rounds two and three, the fact that a journeyman like him was in this situation to begin with is still a win. There’s no doubt this was a career year for the 31 year old forward who will look to hold onto an NHL roster spot throughout next season. 

Author Grade: C+

Banter Consensus: C+

Final Evaluation

Brodzinski will kick off year one of a two-year extension signed back in February. This deal was quite reminiscent of the extension Jimmy Vesey signed halfway through his one-year reunion with the Rangers. Brodzinski will undoubtedly look to build off his career year with hopes to make the team out of camp and to stay there for the entire 82 game season. This may come as a bigger challenge than expected seeing as the Rangers will likely be forced to carry a maximum of 22 skaters as a result of the on-going salary cap struggles. If that indeed becomes the case, Brodzinski will have to battle Matt Rempe and fellow veteran Sam Carrick for an opening night roster spot. 

It really comes down to whether or not a younger player like Brennan Othmann or Brett Berard makes the team out of camp. If one of them does, Will Cuylle who is assumedly plugged in on the third line, could be pushed to the fourth which leaves one of Rempe, Carrick or Brodzinski in limbo. At the end of the day, this is a good problem for the Rangers who will certainly have some options to start the season. Injuries are always going to come and go so if any of those names competing for roster spots need to bounce back and forth between New York and Hartford throughout the season, it’s not the worst thing in the world by any means. 

However, one very important thing to consider is Brodzinski needs to clear waivers in order to report back and forth to the American League. Is Jonny Brodzinski’s career year enough to make another team want to claim him? That’s a question the Rangers will definitely have to ask themselves when it comes time to make these roster decisions in a little under two months.