Eric Brewer

Brewer was drafted in the sixth round, 81st overall, by the Prince George Cougars in the 1994 WHL Bantam Draft.[15] After being drafted, he played one final season with the Jardine Blazers, recording 38 points in only forty games.[16] The following year, Brewer began his WHL career with the Cougars, playing 63 games in the 1995–96 season. Brewer finished his rookie WHL season with fourteen points, including four goals, and was named Cougars' Rookie of the Year.[7]

In his sophomore season, Brewer became a leader on the Cougars' blue line. He was named to play for Team Orr in the 1997 CHL Top Prospects Game in February 1997 at Maple Leaf Gardens.[17] He doubled his point total from the previous season, finishing with 29 points in 71 games played. Brewer followed his regular season by helping the Cougars go on a playoff run.[18] After clinching the last spot in the West Division with a losing record, the Cougars defeated the number-one seed Portland Winter Hawks in the conference quarterfinals and the third-ranked Spokane Chiefs in the conference semifinals before finally losing to the second-ranked Seattle Thunderbirds in the Western Conference final.[18] Brewer finished this run with six points in the Cougars' fifteen games.

Brewer's final season with Prince George was his best, statistically, in the WHL. After representing Canada at the 1998 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, he was named to the Western Conference team for the WHL All-Star Game in Regina, Saskatchewan, which he missed, as well as much of the season, due to injury.[16][19] However, Brewer finished the year with 33 points in only 34 games, a near one point-per-game average, and was named to the WHL West Second All-Star Team.[20] Brewer was the highest ranked defenceman at sixth overall among North American skaters heading into the 1997 NHL Entry Draft.[21] He was drafted fifth overall by the New York Islanders in June 1997.[22]

Just over a year after being drafted, Brewer signed his first professional contract with his draft team, the New York Islanders, in August 1998. Entering the NHL, Brewer was regarded as a future Norris Trophy candidate, and as a result, his contract was an entry level three-year, $2.775-million deal complemented by a $1-million signing bonus, the highest base salary available for a rookie.[23][24][25] Brewer made his NHL debut on October 10, 1998, against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and on November 5, Brewer scored his first career goal against the Carolina Hurricanes' Trevor Kidd.[16] Throughout his rookie season, Brewer was considered an integral part of the Islanders' defence, and, along with Zdeno Chára, Kenny Jönsson and Roberto Luongo, was considered untouchable by management at the 1999 NHL trade deadline.[26] Brewer finished his rookie season with eleven points in 63 games.

After playing just three games of the 1999–2000 NHL season, Brewer was assigned to the Islanders' AHL affiliate, the Lowell Lock Monsters.[27] It was speculated that the reason behind this move was laziness by Brewer, who was benched during the final thirty minutes by head coach Butch Goring after losing a race for the puck against Mike Knuble in the Islanders' October 11, 1999, loss to the New York Rangers.[28] Brewer also took a bad penalty earlier in the game, putting the Islanders down two men.[28] After a two-week, five-game stint with the Lock Monsters, Brewer was subsequently recalled by the Islanders.[29] After playing 26 games with the Islanders in which he only recorded two assists, Brewer was reassigned to the Lock Monsters on January 8, 2000, for the remainder of the season.[30] Shortly after joining the Lock Monsters, Brewer suffered a sprained knee and missed the next two-and-a-half months of the season.[31] Brewer went on to play 25 games for the Lock Monsters, recording two goals and two assists. He also participated in his first professional playoffs, as the Lock Monsters swept the Saint John Flames in three games in the first round, before being swept themselves in four games in the Eastern Conference semifinals by the Providence Bruins.[32]

At the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, the Islanders traded Brewer, Josh Green and their second round selection (Brad Winchester) in the same draft to the Edmonton Oilers for Roman Hamrlík.[33] Although surprised to be traded, Brewer was excited at the prospect of playing for the Oilers, who saw Brewer as a top-four defenceman.[34][35] However, Brewer's Oiler career began on a sour note as he suffered a bruised left hip and tailbone in his first game with the team.[36] Brewer missed the next four games before returning to the lineup.[37] Brewer scored his first goal as an Oiler on November 7, 2000, against the New York Rangers.[38] Brewer finished his first Oiler season with career highs in goals, assists and points, as well as the best plus/minus rating on the Oilers team, a plus-15.[7] Further, Brewer gained his first NHL playoff experience, a quarterfinal series versus the Dallas Stars.[39] Brewer had six points, but the Oilers were eliminated four games to two by the Stars.[40]

The Oilers re-signed Brewer, who was a free agent, to a one-year, $907,500 contract in August 2001.[41][42] In his second season with the Oilers, Brewer was assigned to play against the opposing teams' best offensive players by Oilers head coach Craig MacTavish.[43] Brewer began to play more minutes in games, typically placing among the NHL leaders in average minutes played per game.[43] With this enhanced role on the team, Brewer finished his season with new career highs in assists and points for the second consecutive season, and matched his career high in goals. Although his single year contract expired, his role on the Oilers had become more important and Brewer expected a large raise for his third season with the Oilers.[41]

After a long holdout that lasted until the beginning of Oilers training camp, Brewer finally signed a two-year, $4-million contract in September 2002.[41] At the half of the 2002–03 NHL season, Brewer was named to play in his first NHL All-Star Game, dressing for the Western Conference in the fifty-third edition of the game.[44] He finished with career highs for assists and points and set a career high for goals for the third consecutive season. He appeared in his second NHL playoffs, another quarterfinal series against the Dallas Stars in which the Oilers were once again eliminated four games to two.[45] Brewer finished the playoffs with four points in the Oilers' six games.

In his fourth season with the Oilers, Brewer continued his role as a top defenceman. On November 22, 2003, Brewer was among the participants in the historic 2003 Heritage Classic ice hockey game versus the Montreal Canadiens at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton. Brewer scored the Oilers first goal of the game in a 4–3 loss in front of a then record crowd of 57,167.[46] Later in the season, in a game on January 29, 2004, versus the Chicago Blackhawks, Brewer recorded his one-hundredth career point.[7] Since his team depended on Brewer to play against the opposing teams' best offensive players, he finished the season with an average time on ice of 24:39, ranking fourteenth in the league.[7] In the final year of his two-year contract, Brewer finished the season with his point totals matching those from his 2001–02 NHL season, a slight fall from his career highs set in his third season with the Oilers.

With the Oilers unwilling to pay what he was expecting, Brewer decided to go to salary arbitration to get a new contract. However, on August 4, 2004, Brewer signed a one-year, $2.65 million contract with the Oilers, avoiding his arbitration hearing set for only a few days later.[47] Brewer was unable to play out his new contract due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout.[48]

Brewer protecting the net in a game versus the San Jose Sharks.

In August 2005, following the lockout, the Oilers traded Brewer, Jeff Woywitka and Doug Lynch to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for defenceman Chris Pronger.[49] At the time of the trade, Brewer was a restricted free agent, so on August 15, 2005, Brewer accepted the Blues' qualifying offer, signing a one-year, $2-million contract.[50] Brewer's first season with the Blues was a particularly poor one. After playing the first 18 games of the season, Brewer separated his shoulder on November 16, 2005, in a 2–0 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.[51] Brewer missed ten games before being activated from the injured reserve list, returning to the St. Louis line-up for a game on December 17, 2005, against the Philadelphia Flyers.[52][53] Less than a month later, in a game on January 13, 2006, against the Atlanta Thrashers, Brewer collided with the Thrashers' centre Karl Stewart, and dislocated his left shoulder, which ended his season.[54] In just 32 games, Brewer finished his season with nine points, including six goals, two shy of his career best of eight set in the 2002–04 season. Despite his limited play, the Blues re-signed Brewer to a one-year, $2.014 million contract for the 2006–07 season.[55][56]

Brewer's second season with the Blues began as a disappointment. By the first half of December 2006, Brewer had only amassed six points and a plus-minus rating of –11, often referred to as "the worst player on the ice" by both the media and Blues fans alike.[57][58] Brewer was often involved in trade rumours, as he was set to become an unrestricted free agent following the completion of the season.[59] Brewer believed his performance was the result of having only played in 32 NHL games since the 2003–04 season.[58] However, after the firing of head coach Mike Kitchen on December 11, 2006, Brewer began playing much better under new head coach, Andy Murray.[60] Over the next nineteen games, Brewer changed his –11 into a +2 and became an integral part of the Blues' defence.[58] His turnaround was rewarded on February 24, 2007, when, rather than being traded as was previously rumoured, Brewer signed a four-year, $17-million contract extension with the Blues.[61] Brewer continued his turnaround through the end of the season, finishing the year with six goals and 23 assists for 29 points, tying his career high for points set in the 2002–03 season and setting a new career high for assists.

In his third season with the Blues, Brewer continued to do well under Andy Murray. Brewer evolved into one of the top two-way defencemen in the NHL, with comparisons being made between him and former first overall draft pick Chris Phillips of the Ottawa Senators.[62] His play and leadership abilities were recognized, when on February 8, 2008, Brewer was named as the nineteenth captain in the history of the St. Louis Blues, filling the vacancy created when former Blues captain Dallas Drake had his contract bought out following the 2006–07 season.[63] On February 17, 2008, in a game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Brewer set a career high for points in a game with four, all assists, eclipsing his previous career high of three points set on January 16, 2007.[57][64] Brewer finished the season with only one goal in his 77 games played, his lowest goal total since the 1999–2000 season, although he added 21 assists, three short of a career high. At the completion of the season, Brewer underwent reconstructive surgery on his right shoulder to repair damage suffered in a fight in the Blues' season opening game against the Phoenix Coyotes on October 4, 2007.[65]

Brewer with the Lightning in 2014.

On February 18, 2011, Brewer was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Brock Beukeboom and Tampa Bay's third-round selection in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.[66] In 22 games with Tampa Bay, he notched a goal and an assist. He also led the Lightning in average ice time per game, with 21:34. At the end of the 2010–11 season, Brewer recorded a career-high nine goals and also amassed 81 penalty minutes, good for the second-highest total of his NHL career. He also appeared in a career-high 18 post-season contests with the Lightning in the 2011 playoffs, registering three goals and 17 points, helping the Bolts in their first playoff appearance in four seasons. During the 2011 playoffs, he set a career-high with three points in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Quarter-finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins and ranked third among all post-season skaters with 51 blocked shots. On June 24, 2011, Brewer signed a four-year, $15.4 million contract extension with the Lightning.[67]

On November 28, 2014, while in the final year of his contract with the Lightning, Brewer was traded to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.[68] At the time, Brewer had appeared in 17 games with the Lightning during the 2014–15 NHL season and had four assists on the year. He finished his career with the Lightning having played in 246 games and scored ten goals and 46 assists.[69] The next night, Brewer played in his first game with the Ducks, recording 15:07 in ice time in a 6–4 loss to the San Jose Sharks.[70] On December 3, 2014, after playing in only two games for the Ducks, the team announced that Brewer was expected to miss four-to-six weeks after breaking a bone in his foot from a blocked shot.[71] Brewer returned to the Ducks lineup two months later on February 3, 2015 against the Carolina Hurricanes and scored his first goal for Anaheim on February 8, 2015 against his former teammates in a 5–3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.[72][73]

On March 2, 2015, the 2015 NHL trade deadline, the Ducks traded Brewer and a fifth-round pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for defenceman Korbinian Holzer, ending a brief nine game career with the Anaheim Ducks.[74] Brewer's first game as a member of the Maple Leafs came on March 5, 2015 against the Tampa Bay Lighting.[75] On March 21, 2015, Brewer became the 300th NHL player to play in 1,000 career games in a 5–3 loss to the Ottawa Senators.[76] Two days later, the Maple Leafs honored Brewer's achievement with a ceremony prior to their game against the Minnesota Wild, at which they presented him with a silver stick, and Rolex watch, and a $10,000 charitable donation in his name.[76] He scored his first goal with the club two games later, the game-winning overtime goal in a 4–3 victory over the Ottawa Senators on March 28, 2015.[77] After missing the playoffs with the Maple Leafs, Brewer finished the 2014–15 NHL season with two goals and three assists in eighteen games with the Maple Leafs. Through his entire 2014–15 NHL season with the Lightning, Ducks, and Maple Leafs, Brewer scored three goals and eight assists in 44 games played, the fewest games played of his career since his injury-plagued 2008–09 NHL season with the St. Louis Blues.

Ahead of the 2015–16 NHL season, Brewer was not re-signed by the Maple Leafs and became an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2015. He spent the summer training in hopes of signing an NHL contract, but realized by mid-August that he was unlikely to find a team interested in his services, and chose not to extend his career by playing in Europe.[78]