Brendan Brisson, Golden Knights’ first-round pick, grew up around NHL stars

By Justin Emerson

Published Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020 | 7:40 p.m.

Updated Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020 | 9:30 p.m.

Being around pro hockey players is nothing new for Brendan Brisson. His father, Pat, is the agent for some of the biggest names in the sport, and a young player can learn a lot when Sidney Crosby, John Tavares and Nathan MacKinnon are hanging around the house.

Brisson, though, will soon be looking at NHL stars as peers instead of idols. The 18-year-old was the Golden Knights’ first-round pick, 29th overall, on Tuesday. He’ll play this season as a freshman at the University of Michigan and hopes that some of the superstar fraternizing rubs off on him too.

“At the time you don’t realize how important it is for a young player’s development until I look back on it now,” Brisson said. “I always wanted to do the things they were doing.”

The draft resumes at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday with the second through seventh rounds. The Golden Knights have two third-rounders, a sixth- and a seventh-round pick. They do not have selections in the second, fourth or fifth rounds.

Brisson had 59 points in 45 games with the Chicago Steel of the United States Hockey League, the country’s top junior league. He was the second American chosen in Tuesday’s first round and the first American selected in the first round by the Golden Knights in four years of drafts.

His father also represents his new organizational teammates in Jonathan Marchessault and Nicolas Roy, and one of Brisson’s teammates works out with Marchessault in the offseason. He skates with defenseman Alec Martinez himself, so he has a little familiarity with the organization.

Brisson will play this season at Michigan, where he spent his draft party at the Big House football stadium on campus. He’ll be teammates with 2019 first-rounders Cam York (Philadelphia) and Johnny Beecher (Boston), hoping to create a force in the Big Ten.

It wouldn’t be much of a change for Brisson, whose Chicago Steel rolled through the USHL last season, thanks in large part to their future first-rounder. Brisson has rocketed up draft boards in recent years, and the Golden Knights were pleased with his development as his game continued to evolve.

“One of the things that really excites us is his trajectory,” Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. “In terms of his projection, it gives our guys confidence that he’s going to have a high ceiling.”

Brisson described himself as “a two-way centerman but my offensive game is what really pushes me.” He was second in the USHL in points last season and eighth with 24 goals, and tape on him shows a monstrous slap shot, a point of pride for him.

There’s always areas that can be improved, though. He said he wants to improve his skating, and at 5-foot-11 and 179 pounds, there is room to grow into NHL size as well.

Unless they’re college hockey watchers, Golden Knights fans probably won’t see Brisson for a few years. As an NCAA player, the Golden Knights will retain his rights for four seasons before he becomes a free agent, and they figure to let him blossom at Michigan before starting his professional career.

There’s still cause for excitement, even if it won’t be immediate. Brisson has seen how the NHL’s best prepare and train and wants to bring that to his own game. Brisson remembers MacKinnon finishing a workout then shooting hundreds of pucks in his backyard and Tavares always cognizant of what he was eating.

“You kind of look up to them as superheroes,” Brisson said. “I didn’t really realize I was learning from those guys being at such a young age. But looking back, I definitely took so many of those experiences with them right to heart, and I felt like it helped me perform and get better as a player.”

Brisson joins a strong prospect pool in Vegas, especially among the forward group, that includes fellow first-rounders Cody Glass and Peyton Krebs. There could come a time in the not-so-distant future when all three are skating in Vegas together, but for now, Brisson is just happy to join the organization.

Even if he doesn’t remember the exact moment it happened.

“I feel like I just passed out for a moment, I don’t even remember. Just the way I felt was something else,” he said. “I couldn’t be more excited to get started.”