The Philadelphia Flyers are becoming a little notorious for seeing their former players wriggle their way into newsworthy events. I think this time, this one will bring back more good memories than bad.
Remember longtime NHL enforcer Donald Brashear? At the age of 52, Brashear is still kicking it, playing for the Wendake Black Jack in the Ligue de hockey Senior Lac au Fleuve, or LHSLF for short.
Brashear has spent four of the last five seasons playing in the LHSLF, sitting out only the 2020-21 season. The LHSLF is certainly not the NHL, but the former Flyers forward still has 44 points in 45 career LHSLF games at the time of this writing. That’s not bad at all for a 52-year-old.
Brashear reportedly told Le Journal de Montreal, “I’m going to play until I’m no longer able to.”
Not only has Brashear been putting up the points in the French-Canadian semi-pro league, but he’s also still fighting and causing havoc. Brashear has 30 penalty minutes in 10 games this season, but racked up 111 penalty minutes in only 11 games last season.
Brashear last played for the Flyers in the 2005-06 season after spending the 2004-05 season with the Quebec RadioX in the Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey. Brashear had 166 penalty minutes in his last season in Philadelphia, and went on to play four more seasons in the NHL – three with the Washington Capitals and one with the New York Rangers.
Overall, Brashear played four years as a member of the Flyers, scoring 22 goals, 44 assists, and 66 points to go with 648 penalty minutes. The 52-year-old also managed to play 1,025 games over the course of his 16-year NHL career, which would most certainly be unprecedented for a player in his role these days.
Rangers forward Matt Rempe is not off to a good start in the longevity department, but perhaps he’ll learn a thing or two from Flyers tough guy Nick Deslauriers over the years.
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