Top 100 Oilers: No. 76 — Eric Brewer

Notable

The New York Islanders selected Brewer as the fifth pick in the 1997 NHL Draft from the Prince George Cougars of the WHL. Behind Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Olli Jokinen, and Roberto Luongo, he was the first defenceman chosen in that year’s class.

The 6-foot-4 shutdown defender made his debut with the Islanders in 1998-99, playing 63 games with the club as a rookie. After splitting the 1999-00 season between New York and their AHL affiliate, Brewer was traded to the Oilers along with winger Josh Green and a second-round draft pick for Roman Hamrlik.

While with Edmonton, Brewer developed into a top-four defenceman capable of logging heavy minutes against high-quality competition. He might have lacked the offence and snarl of a true number-one defenceman, but Brewer was an effective player for the Oilers.

The highlight of Brewer’s career came during the 2001-02 season, when he was among the players who represented Canada at the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. The defender scored two goals in six games as Canada won their first Olympic gold medal in men’s ice hockey since 1952 in Oslo.

The Story

Brewer was involved in two major trades during Kevin Lowe’s tenure as the general manager of the Oilers. The first came in 2000 when he was the centrepiece return for a top-pairing defender who became too expensive for Edmonton. The second came in 2005, when the implementation of the salary cap changed the game for small-market teams.

After the entire 2004-05 lockout, the NHL returned in 2005-06 with a salary cap of $39 million. Big-budget teams had to pick between star players with large salaries, resulting in teams like Edmonton suddenly being in the market for players they otherwise wouldn’t have been.

Among the teams that began the salary cap era in cap hell was the St. Louis Blues. With veterans like Doug Weight and Keith Tkachuk under contract, the team couldn’t afford to sign restricted free agent Chris Pronger. The Blues flipped the former Norris Trophy winner to Edmonton for Brewer and two prospects.

Brewer was a staple on the blueline in St. Louis for parts of six seasons, getting named the 19th captain in Blues history in February of 2008. A few years later, the defender was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for a prospect and a draft pick, which St. Louis used on goaltender Jordan Binnington.

After parts of five seasons with Tampa, Brewer had stints with the Ducks and Maple Leafs before hanging up his skates following the 2014-15 season. Brewer played 1,009 games over 16 years in the NHL, putting up 271 points and logging 21:53 per night on average.

What Brownlee said

The Oilers had a balanced group on the blueline when Brewer arrived, a bit of everything in veterans like Frank Musil, Igor Ulanov and Jason Smith to go with talented Janne Niinimaa, Tom Poti and hard-nosed Sean Brown. He didn’t have to play big minutes and was allowed to ease in – his average ice time of 18:31 a game was fifth among Oiler defencemen.

After two years in Long Island, Brewer, essentially, blossomed here. After his first season in Edmonton, he averaged more than 24 minutes per game with the Oilers. He had 21 points in his first season with the Oilers, then had subsequent years of 25, 29 (a career-high) and 25 points. He was a member of Canada’s Olympic gold medal team in 2002.

By the end of the 2003-04 season, Brewer’s stock had risen enough that the deal with the Blues for Pronger was possible after the lost 2004-05 lockout season. Brewer would play another decade after leaving Edmonton, but it’s not a stretch to suggest some of his best years were spent in Oiler silks.

The Last 10

• No. 86 — Devan Dubnyk
• No. 85 — Jaroslav Pouzar
• No. 84 — Jarret Stoll
• No. 83 — Bernie Nicholls
• No. 82 — Georges Laraque
• No. 81 — Rem Murray
• No. 80 — Steve Staios
• No. 79 — Mike Smith
• No. 78 — Jimmy Carson
• No. 77 — Zack Kassian