Brendan Shanahan

Brendan Shanahan is also an Australian author, see Brendan Shanahan, author

Brendan Frederick Shanahan (b. January 23, 1969, in Mimico, Ontario) is a left wing for the Detroit Red Wings of the NHL. He has scored over 500 goals in his career and is widely expected to enter the Hockey Hall of Fame after he retires. His physical play and goal scoring ability helped the Red Wings win three Stanley Cups during his career there.

Shanahan was drafted by the New Jersey Devils in the first round of the 1987 NHL Entry Draft. He was the second player selected, after Pierre Turgeon. Expectations for Shanahan were high after a stellar career with the London Knights of the OHL. In the 1987-88 NHL season, he scored 26 points in 65 games as an 18 year-old. In the 1988-89 NHL season, he improved to 22 goals and 50 points. He scored 30 goals the next year and 29 in the 1990-91 NHL season. At the tender age of 22, Shanahan was already an established scorer in the NHL. He had also played well in the Devils' brief playoff runs.

On July 25, 1991, the St. Louis Blues signed Shanahan to a contract. According to the CBA, he was a restricted free-agent, and therefore, the Devils were due compensation. Ordinarily, this compensation would be in the form of draft picks, but the Blues already owed four first-round draft picks to the Washington Capitals for signing Scott Stevens the previous year. The Blues made an offer for compensation that was made up of Curtis Joseph, Rod Brind'Amour and two draft picks even further down the road. The Devils wanted Scott Stevens. An arbitrator eventually decided that Stevens was to be the compensation, and so Brendan Shanahan joined the Blues in exchange for Scott Stevens.

While Shanahan's first season for the Blues yielded similar statistics to his seasons with the Devils, he would explode in the 1992-93 NHL season. In 71 games, he scored 51 goals and added 43 assists for a total of 94 points. Next season, he scored 102 points, played in the NHL All-Star Game, and was named to the NHL First All-Star Team at the end of the year. During the strike, Shanahan played three games for Dusseldorf EG of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, managing to score five goals and tally 3 assists in his short stay overseas. When the NHL started back up, he came back and continued to play well for the Blues, especially in the playoff that year, where he scored 9 points in only 5 games.

On July 27, 1995, Shanahan was traded to the Hartford Whalers for Chris Pronger. In his only full season for Hartford, Brendan scored 44 goals. For his efforts, he got to play in another All-Star Game that year. Soon, though, he was traded again. On October 9, 1996, just two games into the season, Shanahan and Bryan Glynn were traded to the Detroit Red Wings for Keith Primeau, Paul Coffey, and a first-round draft pick.

Shanahan finished off the season with his usual productivity, scoring a total of 48 goal for the season, and was again asked to play in the All-Star Game. In the playoffs, Shanahan helped the Red Wings with 9 goals and 8 assists as they won the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1955. They won it again the next year, even though Shanahan struggled, scoring only 57 points. He only scored 58 in the 1998-99 NHL season, although he played in another All-Star Game. He also suffered defeat in the playoffs, as the Red Wings lost to their bitter rivals, the Colorado Avalanche. Shanahan scored 41 goals in the next season, indicating a return to his old form in the new, lower-scoring NHL. After the season, he was named to the First All-Star Team again. He put up 76 points in the 2000-01 NHL season although Detroit both lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Los Angeles Kings and watched their rivals win a second Stanley Cup.

The 2001-2002 NHL season was a banner one for both Shanahan and the Red Wings. Having picked up Brett Hull and Dominik Hasek in the off-season, the team was primed to win its third Cup since 1997. They cruised to victory and Shanahan continued to play a big role in their success, scoring 37 goals during the regular season and 19 points in their victorious Stanley Cup run. Shanahan also picked up and Olympic Gold Medal in Salt Lake City with Team Canada and got named to the Second NHL All-Star Team. By this time, though, the Red Wings were starting to show their age. They acquired the nickname the "Dead Things", and in the season following their third Stanley Cup, Shanahan only scored 30 goals and 68 points, low totals compared to his previous few seasons. However, he won the King Clancy Trophy at the end of the year for his humanitarian efforts. In the following season, he scored 25 goals and 53 points, his lowest totals in fifteen years.

Shanahan has scored 558 goals and 1151 points in his 17 year NHL career so far. These totals, alongside his 7 All-Star Game and 3 All-Star Team nominations, as well as his 3 Stanley Cups, should mean that Shanahan will be elected to the Hall of Fame after he retires. In addition to his goal-scoring, Shanahan has an impressive physical prescence, and he stood as one of the premier power-forwards in the league for most of his career. He has also always played a solid defensive game and worked hard for his teams. Despite the decline of his later years, he is still a standout player in the NHL and is still an integral part of one of the most successful teams in the league.

Shanahan married Catherine Janney on July 4, 1998; they have 3 children, twins Maggie and Jack, and Catherine orn October 16, 2004. He became a United States citizen on May 17, 2002.

External links

• Shanahan's stats at tsn.ca (http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/teams/player_bio.asp?player_id=539&hubName=DET)
• Shanahan's stats at hockeydb.com (http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php3?pid%5B%5D=4888)

Preceded by: Ron Francis

Winner of the King Clancy Memorial Trophy 2003

Succeeded by: Jerome Iginla Template:End box