Brandon Prust

Brandon Prust
Born	Brandon Raymond James Prust (1984-03-16) March 16, 1984 London, Ontario, Canada
Occupation(s)	Ice hockey player, coach
Years active	2006–2017 (playing)
Known for	Professional ice hockey winger and enforcer; head coach of London Nationals (GOJHL)

Brandon Raymond James Prust (born March 16, 1984) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey winger. Selected 70th overall by the Calgary Flames in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, Prust competed for the Flames, Phoenix Coyotes, New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens, and Vancouver Canucks, mainly fulfilling the role of an enforcer.

He is presently the head coach of the London Nationals, competing in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (GOJHL).

Junior

Originating from Thorndale, Ontario, Prust played three seasons with the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), where he helped secure both the J. Ross Robertson Cup and the Memorial Cup. Initially bypassed in the OHL Priority Selection Draft, he earned his spot on the Knights’ roster as a walk-on player.

Professional

After being drafted by Calgary in 2004, Prust returned to the London Knights during the 2004–05 NHL lockout. He then joined the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights of the American Hockey League (AHL) for the 2005–06 season. Prust made his NHL debut on November 1, 2006, facing off against Detroit.

During the 2008–09 season, Prust endured a broken jaw caused by an elbow from Cam Janssen. On March 4, 2009, he was traded to the Phoenix Coyotes along with Matthew Lombardi and a first-round draft pick in exchange for Olli Jokinen. However, he was sent back to Calgary that June in return for Jim Vandermeer.

On February 1, 2010, Prust and Jokinen were traded to the New York Rangers in exchange for Aleš Kotalík and Chris Higgins. The Rangers secured his services with a two-year contract worth $1.6 million in July 2010. In the 2010–11 season, Prust was one of seven NHL players who recorded at least ten goals and engaged in ten fights. That year, fans voted him as recipient of the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award.

At the 2012 Winter Classic, Prust contributed two assists during a Rangers victory and played a vital role on penalty killing units. Following that season and entering free agency, he signed a four-year contract valued at $10 million with the Montreal Canadiens on July 1, 2012.

In the lockout-shortened 2012–13 campaign, Prust netted his inaugural goal for Montreal against goaltender Martin Brodeur and earned recognition as the team’s unsung hero by receiving the Jacques Beauchamp Molson Trophy. During the 2014 Eastern Conference Finals versus his former team New York Rangers, he faced a two-game suspension after delivering a hit that resulted in Derek Stepan sustaining a broken jaw.

On July 1, 2015, Prust was traded to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Zack Kassian and a fifth-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft. His offensive performance declined with Vancouver; he was placed on waivers on February 2, 2016, subsequently assigned to their AHL affiliate Utica Comets before being sidelined due to an ankle injury. The Canucks opted not to renew his contract following that season.

Concerns regarding injuries affecting his foot speed and ankle kept Prust unsigned during summer 2016. Nevertheless, he accepted a professional tryout offer from the Toronto Maple Leafs on August 22 to pursue his lifelong ambition of playing for them. Despite participating in training camp amid intense competition for roster spots, he was released on October 11 without securing a contract.

In late November 2016, Prust signed with Germany’s Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL), where he added physicality and tallied eight points across 29 games during the 2016–17 season.

Aiming to return to the NHL, he attended Los Angeles Kings training camp on a professional tryout basis prior to the 2017–18 season but was released after ten days on September 25, 2017.

Post-playing career

Although Prust never officially declared retirement, his active professional hockey journey effectively concluded when he accepted a coaching position with his former major junior team, the London Knights, on November 29, 2017.

On June 4, 2018, Prust revealed through Instagram that he had begun a new role at Navigator Financial, a financial advisory firm based in London. Additionally, in December 2023, he inaugurated a fitness facility named "BP8 Fitness."

Later, on April 26, 2024, Prust took on the role of head coach for the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League's London Nationals, the very team where his junior hockey career originated.

Personal life

Raised in London, Ontario, Prust attended Regina Mundi Catholic College. As a youth, he was a devoted fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs and emulated his playing approach after Wendel Clark.

He has a family connection to the performing arts through an uncle who performed on Broadway. Beyond hockey, Prust enjoys participating in golf and baseball.

In 2010, Prust began a relationship with French-Canadian television personality Maripier Morin. The pair became engaged in June 2015 and married two years later in 2017. Morin is recognized for her appearances on the Canadian reality show Hockey Wives and as a talk show host in Quebec. They ended their marriage in September 2019.

During 2020, Prust’s charitable organization initiated a campaign to assist families with sick children requiring lodging in London amid the COVID-19 crisis. Despite this, he later became an outspoken critic of COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine passport policies. In August 2021, after receiving criticism for a contentious response on Twitter, Prust issued an apology and withdrew from social media platforms. Prior to this incident, he had stirred controversy with divisive online comments regarding racial issues and the 2020 U.S. presidential election, expressing opposition to Democrat Joe Biden.

Career statistics

  2009–10 NHL season  Calgary Flames  NHL  43  1  4  5  98  —  —  —  —  —  2009–10 NHL season New York Rangers NHL 26 4 5 9 65 2010–11 NHL season New York Rangers NHL 82 13 16 29 160 5 0 1 1 4 |- 2011–12 NHL season New York Rangers NHL 82 5 12 17 156 19 1 1 2 31 |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" 2012–13 NHL seasonMontreal Canadiens NHL38     5     9     14     110     4     0     1     1     14 |- 2013–14 NHL season Montreal Canadiens NHL52     6     7     13     121     13     0     2     2     32 |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" 2014–15 NHL season Montreal Canadiens NHL82     4     14     18     134     12     1     3     4     35 |- 2015–16 NHL seasonVancouver Canucks NHL35     1     6     7     59 |- bgcolor="#f0f0f0" 2015–16 AHL seasonUtica Comets AHL9     1     6     7     5 |- 2016–17 DEL seasonThomas Sabo Ice TigersDeutsche Eishockey Liga29     3     5     8     67     11     2     4     6     51 |- bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! colspan="3" | AHL totals !230 !40 !57 !97 !758 !6 !0 !3 !3 !20 |- bgcolor="#e0e0e0" ! colspan="3" | NHL totals !486 !40 !75 !115 !1036 !53 !2 !8 !10 !116 |}

Awards and honours

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2001–02	London Nationals	WOHL		52	17	35	52	38		—	—	—	—	—
2002–03	London Nationals	WOHL		6	2	3	5	0		—	—	—	—	—
2002–03	London Knights	OHL		65	12	17	29	94		14	2	1	3	21
2003–04	London Knights	OHL		64	19	33	52	269		15	7	13	20	33
2004–05	London Knights	OHL		48	10	20	30	174		15	3	5	8	71
2005–06	Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights	AHL		79	12	14	26	249		—	—	—	—	—
2006–07	Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights	AHL		63	17	10	27	211		6	0	3	3	20
2006–07 NHL season	Calgary Flames	National Hockey League		10	0	0	0	25		—	—	—	—	—
2007–08 AHL season	Quad City Flames	AHL		79	10	27	37	248		—	—	—	—	—
2008–09 NHL season	Calgary Flames	NHL		25	1	1	2	79		—	—	—	—	—
2008–09	Arizona Coyotes	NHL		11	0	1	1	29

Distinction	Year
CHL
Memorial Cup winner	2005
OHL
J. Ross Robertson Cup winner	2005