Sheldon W. Brookbank (born October 3, 1980) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League (NHL). He was the assistant coach of the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL) under Jeremy Colliton.

Sheldon Brookbank
Born (1980-10-03) October 3, 1980 (age 44)
Lanigan, Saskatchewan, Canada
Height 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight 202 lb (92 kg; 14 st 6 lb)
Position Defence
Shot Right
Played for Nashville Predators
New Jersey Devils
Anaheim Ducks
Chicago Blackhawks
Ak Bars Kazan
Lukko
NHL draft Undrafted
Playing career 2001–2016

Playing career

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Brookbank played three seasons with the Humboldt Broncos of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, before turning pro. He played one season with the Mississippi Sea Wolves of the ECHL, and then played two seasons with the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL.

 
Brookbank (right) fights Donald Brashear

Brookbank was then signed by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, and played two seasons with their AHL affiliate, the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks. He was not re-signed, and in August 2005, he signed a contract with the Predators.

In the 2005–06 season with the Predators' affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals, Brookbank had 9 goals, 35 points, and 232 penalty minutes.

The 2006–07 season saw Brookbank named as captain of the Admirals as well as his first call-up to the NHL. He appeared in 3 games with the Predators, and had 1 assist and 12 penalty minutes. He won the Eddie Shore Award as the American Hockey League's Outstanding Defenceman and was an AHL First Team All-Star. While in the AHL that season, he led all defencemen in points at 53 points.

On July 2, 2007, Brookbank was signed by the Blue Jackets. He joined the Devils on October 2, 2007, after being waived by the Blue Jackets.[1] He played in 44 games with the Devils in the 2007–08 season, and had 8 assists.

On February 3, 2009, Brookbank was traded to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for the rights to David McIntyre.[2] He finished the season with one goal and three assists.

The 2009–10 season saw Brookbank play 66 NHL games which included the Ducks' final 56 consecutive games. At season's end, he led all Ducks defensemen in plus/minus (+10) to place 2nd overall on the team. On June 2, 2010, Brookbank re-signed to a two-year contract to remain with the Ducks.[3]

Brookbank played a career-high 80 games during the 2011–12 season, and scored a career-best 3 goals and 11 assists. On July 1, 2012, Brookbank signed a two-year, $2.5 million free agent deal with the Chicago Blackhawks and went on to win the Stanley Cup with the team during the 2013 season.[4][5][6]

Brookbank was not re-signed by the Blackhawks at the completion of his contract and became a free agent. Without a contract offer, Brookbank agreed to a training camp try-out with the Calgary Flames, but was released by the team on October 1, 2014.[7] Brookbank turned to Russia, and signed a one-year contract with Ak Bars Kazan of the Kontinental Hockey League on October 31, 2014.

The following season, Brookbank remained abroad, moving to the Finnish Liiga, belatedly signing for Lukko Rauma on November 6, 2015.[8] In 38 games with Lukko, Brookbank added 4 points.

A free agent the following summer, Brookbank returned to North America, signing a professional try-out with defending Calder Cup champions Cleveland Monsters on October 13, 2016.[9] In the 2016–17 season, adding depth cover to the Monsters' blueline, Brookbank registered one assist in six games before he was released at the conclusion of his trial period on December 12, 2016.

Coaching career

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On June 14, 2017, it was announced that Brookbank had been hired as the assistant coach of the Rockford Ice Hogs, the minor league affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks.[10][11] On January 4, 2019, he was added as an assistant coach to the Blackhawks' coaching staff.[12] Brookbank was fired by the Blackhawks on November 6, 2021, along with head coach Jeremy Colliton and fellow assistant coach Tomas Mitell.[13] He is currently an assistant coach for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Personal

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He is the younger brother of Wade Brookbank who last played for the Rockford IceHogs, and is also the cousin of former NHL player Geoff Sanderson.

Career statistics

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    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1997–98 Saskatoon Contacts AAA SMHL 42 4 19 23 45
1998–99 Humboldt Broncos SJHL 61 3 18 21 205 14 1 8 9 31
1999–2000 Humboldt Broncos SJHL 59 13 29 42 240 15 4 7 11 49
2000–01 Humboldt Broncos SJHL 59 14 35 49 281 5 2 6 8 10
2001–02 Mississippi Sea Wolves ECHL 62 8 21 29 137 10 1 4 5 27
2001–02 Grand Rapids Griffins AHL 6 0 1 1 24
2002–03 Grand Rapids Griffins AHL 69 2 11 13 136 15 1 3 4 28
2003–04 Cincinnati Mighty Ducks AHL 74 2 9 11 216 9 0 2 2 20
2004–05 Cincinnati Mighty Ducks AHL 60 1 11 12 181 11 0 0 0 40
2005–06 Milwaukee Admirals AHL 73 9 26 35 232 21 1 8 9 49
2006–07 Milwaukee Admirals AHL 78 15 38 53 176 4 0 0 0 6
2006–07 Nashville Predators NHL 3 0 1 1 12
2007–08 New Jersey Devils NHL 44 0 8 8 63
2007–08 Lowell Devils AHL 1 0 0 0 5
2008–09 New Jersey Devils NHL 15 0 0 0 25
2008–09 Anaheim Ducks NHL 29 1 3 4 51 13 0 0 0 18
2009–10 Anaheim Ducks NHL 66 0 9 9 114
2010–11 Anaheim Ducks NHL 40 0 0 0 63 4 0 0 0 14
2011–12 Anaheim Ducks NHL 80 3 11 14 72
2012–13 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 26 1 0 1 21 1 0 0 0 0
2013–14 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 48 2 5 7 52 7 0 2 2 0
2014–15 Ak Bars Kazan KHL 35 3 4 7 37 9 1 0 1 4
2015–16 Lukko Liiga 38 1 3 4 65 4 0 0 0 4
2016–17 Cleveland Monsters AHL 6 0 1 1 2
AHL totals 367 29 97 126 972 60 2 13 15 143
NHL totals 351 7 37 44 473 25 0 2 2 32

Awards and honours

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Award Year
SJHL
Best Defenseman 2001
AHL
All-Star Game 2007
First All-Star Team 2007
Eddie Shore Award 2007
NHL
Stanley Cup champion 2013 [11]

References

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  1. ^ "Devils claim Sheldon Brookbank off waivers". New Jersey Devils. 2007-10-02. Retrieved 2010-05-18.
  2. ^ Tom Gulitti (2009-02-03). "Devils trade Brookbank to Anaheim for McIntyre". The Bergen Record. Archived from the original on 2009-02-05. Retrieved 2009-02-03.
  3. ^ "Brookbank re-signs for two-years". insidesocal.com. 2010-06-02. Retrieved 2010-07-20.
  4. ^ "Blackhawks sign defenseman Brookbank". Chicago Tribune. July 1, 2012. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
  5. ^ Rogers, Jesse (July 2012). "Chicago Blackhawks sign defenseman Sheldon Brookbank". ESPN Chicago. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  6. ^ "Blackhawks Defeat Bruins for Stanley Cup". New York Times. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  7. ^ Gilbertson, Wes [@WesGilbertson] (August 29, 2014). "#Flames have confirmed that D Sheldon Brookbank will attend training camp on a tryout basis" (Tweet). Retrieved December 2, 2022 – via Twitter.
  8. ^ "Sheldon Brookbank to help defense" (in Finnish). Lukko Rauma. 2015-11-06. Retrieved 2015-11-06.
  9. ^ "Monsters announce roster transactions". Cleveland Monsters. 2016-10-13. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  10. ^ Cain, Brandon M. (2017-06-14). "Blackhawks hire Sheldon Brookbank as Rockford IceHogs assistant coach". Second City Hockey. Retrieved 2017-06-14.
  11. ^ a b "Sheldon Brookbank makes his return to Blackhawks organization". CSN Chicago. 2017-06-14. Retrieved 2017-06-14.
  12. ^ Chicago Blackhawks Media Relations (2019-01-04). "RELEASE: Blackhawks add Sheldon Brookbank to coaching staff". nhl.com. Retrieved 2019-01-04.
  13. ^ Chicago Blackhawks [@NHLBlackhawks] (November 6, 2021). "The Blackhawks have relieved Jeremy Colliton, Tomas Mitell and Sheldon Brookbank of their coaching duties and have named Derek King Interim Head Coach, effective immediately. https://t.co/2PggeNtIY4" (Tweet). Archived from the original on August 31, 2022. Retrieved December 2, 2022 – via Twitter.
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