2026 Rangers Report Card: Jonny Brodzinski

This article is part of an ongoing series of Rangers Report Cards, grading the performance of each member of the 2025-26 New York Rangers. To view more report cards in this series, go here. 

To read the Season Preview for Jonny Brodzinski, go here. 

Expectations

I guess this depends on who you ask.

In my Season Preview, I described Jonny Brodzinski as:

Hard-working, well-liked, and endlessly scrappy, Jonny Brodzinski is perfect as the Rangers’ 13th forward—just hopefully not much more than that.

I think Brodzinski does open the season as the team's 13th forward. He'll play more than I want him to, but when he does play he will do so with the kind of passion that is infectious. He will also serve as a mentor and big brother for the young players trying to make their way in the NHL, a role he embraced last year and made him a fan favorite.

So, how'd we do?

Performance

55 GP | 6 G | 10 A | 16 PTS | -1 | 31 SOG | 12 PIM

Yup, that pretty much matches the expectations. He appeared in waaaaay more games than I wanted him to, provided some reasonably scrappy bottom-six play, and the younger players and (some) fans love him.

Initially I wanted to make the point that no one suffered more from the deployment of Conor Sheary than did Jonny Brodzinski. But, as it turns out, Brodzinski still suited up for 55 games, which is a lot. In fact, it's the second most games he's played in his career. The 16 points came in three shy of his career high (19, twice).

He was, in short, fine. A perfectly cromulent 13th forward on a team that had several perfectly cromulent 13th forwards.

Grades

Author Grade: C

Banter Consensus: C

Final Evaluation

Let me tell you a story. When I was just starting out I worked in New York City, and the CFO of the company I worked for would go out and bring back lunch to eat at his desk every day. If he was having pizza, it was Sbarro. If it was a burger, it was Applebee's. Mexican food was from Chipotle. So, at one point I asked him, "John, you're in New York City, there are tons of great restaurants, why are you only eating food from chains?" His answer was that he valued the consistency. He did a lot of traveling as part of his job and when he was on the road he would eat from chains like the ones he was ordering from at home because that way he was never going to be disappointed. He knew that the pizza he got at an airport in Dallas was going to taste the same as the pizza he got on 54th Street in Manhattan.

There's a logic to that, I guess. I mean, it's sad that you would never want to try great pizza. But if you're that afraid of being disappointed, sure.

So, why am I telling you this story? Because Jonny Brodzinski is the Applebee's of hockey players. He's not great, but he's consistent. When a coach writes his name into the lineup he knows exactly what Brodzinski is going to do night-in and night-out. And there's value in that. The problem is when you start relying on him too much. Because, while a player behind him may have greater upside, you're worried about that player maybe making mistakes that Brodzinski won't make. He's the safe choice, butnot always the best.

Want to know a funny thing though? Here's a list of pending unrestricted free agent forwards. Let's put Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, and Anze Kopitar aside, because we know Kopitar is retiring, and Malkin and Ovechkin are either retiring or returning to their current teams. How many forwards on that list would you rather have than Jonny Brodzinski given what they're likely to command on the open market? Five? Ten? If you're looking for a fourth line forward, would you rather give Adam Henrique a two year deal at $3 million per year or sign Brodzinski for two years at $3 million total?

Inexpensive and reliable. There's a reason Chipotle does such good business.