Rangers' Brett Berard reveals he suffered a torn labrum last season
Brett Berard of the Rangers skates against the Los Angeles Kings at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 14, 2024. Credit: Jim McIsaac
STAMFORD, Conn. — Brett Berard, the young Rangers winger who made a strong impression last season after being called up from AHL Hartford, revealed Thursday that the injury that caused him to pull out of the World Championships was a labrum tear in a shoulder that he suffered shortly after his initial recall in mid-November.
“It happened against Montreal, right when I got called up in November, and it was kind of just lingering all year,’’ Berard told a group of reporters Thursday at the third annual Shoulder Check Showcase, a charity hockey game at the Terry Conners Rink. “I wore a brace all year.’’
Berard said he didn’t need surgery and that the injury has healed. He said he is fully healthy and will be ready for training camp.
On Thursday, he was one of more than 20 NHL players to play in the event, a fundraiser for the HT40 Foundation, a group that seeks to bring awareness to the issue of mental health by encouraging people to check in on friends periodically to see if they are OK.
The Foundation was started by the parents of Hayden Thorsen, a high school hockey player in Connecticut who took his own life in 2022 at the age of 16.
Berard was one of five Rangers — along with Adam Fox, Jonathan Quick, Matt Rempe and Gabe Perreault, as well as Rangers prospect Drew Fortescue and former Rangers Chris Kreider, Frank Vatrano and Kevin Shattenkirk — who took part in the event.
“Having all these players from all different teams, all different backgrounds, states, everywhere, coming in for this event is super-special,’’ Berard said. “It’s good to show that not being OK is OK, and everyone’s got a support system for them.’’
“I think it opens up a communication and I think means a lot to a lot of people around here. And it’s a very cool event,’’ said Rempe, who also took part in the event last year.
Berard, 22, was a fifth-round draft pick by the Rangers in 2020 who turned pro in 2023 after three years at Providence College. He led Hartford in goals with 25 in 2023-24 and played well enough to get his first NHL call-up last November.
Berard suffered the injury in his third game but managed to play in 35 NHL games in two separate stints with the Rangers and finished with six goals and four assists.
“It’s kind of one of those things you’re up in the NHL, you work your whole life for it, [and I] felt like I was playing pretty good hockey too,’’ he said of the decision to play through the injury. “So I don’t want to really lose that, so you’re just trying to play through it. The trainers are awesome. Did everything we could to kind of get me out there faster, and we did.’’
Berard figures to have a good chance to make the Rangers’ opening night roster out of training camp.
With Kreider having been traded to Anaheim in June, there is a spot open at left wing that will be fought for between Berard, 2023 first-round pick Perreault and 2021 first-rounder Brennan Othmann, among others.
Berard, who said he’s spoken to new coach Mike Sullivan a few times, said he is ready for the fight.
“I’m confident,’’ he said when asked what he thinks about his chances to make the team. “I really don’t try to look at the roster — who’s where [or who’s the competition]. None of that.
“You get one tryout, you get one first impression, and just do your best, so it’s kind of all in,’’ he said. “I’m a big believer in everything happens for a reason, so I feel like if I put myself in the best position I can that it’ll be good.’’
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.
