Bryan Berard
After winning the CHL Rookie of the Year Award as a member of the Detroit Whalers in 1995, Bryan Berard was drafted 1st overall by the Ottawa Senators. He would later be dealt to the New York Islanders where he would begin his NHL career in 1996-97. While he had a standout rookie season in New York, where he won the NHL’s Rookie of the Year Award after a 48 point campaign, Berard would be dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 1998-99 season. He helped lead the Leafs to a conference semi-final later that spring but that would be his only playoff appearance with the Leafs after sustaining a career threatening eye injury late in the 1999-2000 season. After sitting out a year to rehab, Berard would sign with the New York Rangers prior to the 2001-2002 season. He spent a year with the Rangers, a year with the Boston Bruins (2002-03) and a year with the Chicago Blackhawks (2003-04) where he would win the Bill Masterton Trophy for his perseverance and dedication to the game of hockey. He would sit out the following season before spending two season with the Columbus Blue Jackets (2005-07), a year back with the New York Islanders (2007-08) before spending his final professional hockey season with Vityaz Chekhov of the KHL. Berard represented the United States of America at the World Junior Championships in 1995 & 1996, the World Championships in 1997 and the Nagano Olympics in 1998. Throughout his NHL career, Berard played in 619 regular season games, scoring 76 goals and adding 247 assists for 323 points along with 10 points in 20 playoff games.