Brian Engblom

Brian Paul Engblom (born January 27, 1955) is a Canadian ice hockey broadcaster for the Tampa Bay Lightning, and a former professional hockey defenceman. He was a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Montreal Canadiens.

Biography Engblom was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and played for the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He was drafted 22nd overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the 1975 NHL entry draft. He played his first two professional seasons with Montreal's AHL affiliate Nova Scotia Voyageurs before playing in his first NHL game in the 1977 Stanley Cup playoffs with Montreal. While the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup in 1977, his name was left off the Cup due to playing no regular season games. However, Engblom would become a regular with the Canadiens and wound up winning the Cup with the team in 1978 and 1979.

In September 1982, while he was establishing himself as a top NHL defenseman, Engblom was traded to the Washington Capitals as part of a six-player blockbuster trade that sent him, Doug Jarvis, Rod Langway and Craig Laughlin to Washington in exchange for Rick Green and Ryan Walter. A season later, he was dealt with Ken Houston to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for future hall of famer Larry Murphy. He finished his career with stints for the Buffalo Sabres and Calgary Flames. Engblom's final NHL season of 1986–87 ended prematurely due to bone spurs in his spinal column that required major surgery to repair. In 11 seasons, Engblom scored 29 goals and 177 assists.

Broadcasting career Engblom was an NHL color commentator for ESPN and NHL on ABC from 1993 to 2004. After NBC Sports acquired NHL TV rights in 2004, he served as their color commentator/studio analyst for both NBC/NBCSN and the network's coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Engblom was an analyst on NHL Live for Versus and also served as a color analyst for Winnipeg Jets games on TSN in Canada. During the 2005–06 season, he was color analyst for Columbus Blue Jackets games aired on Fox Sports Ohio. Engblom has also provided post-game analysis for the Colorado Avalanche on Altitude Sports and Entertainment, in rotation with Mark Rycroft.

Engblom joined Sun Sports for the 2015–16 season as a color analyst for the Tampa Bay Lightning replacing Bobby Taylor, who moved to studio host.

Awards and honours Award Year All-WCHA First Team 1974–75 AHCA West All-American 1974–75 MJHL Most Valuable Player 1973 AHL first All-Star team 1977 Eddie Shore Award (AHL Most Outstanding Defenseman) 1977 Stanley Cup championships 1978, 1979 NHL second team All-Star 1982 NHL plus-minus leader (+63) (1981) "Honoured Member" of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1972–73 Winnipeg Monarchs MJHL 48 17 46 63 — — — — — — 1973–74 Wisconsin Badgers WCHA 36 10 21 31 54 — — — — — 1974–75 Wisconsin Badgers WCHA 38 13 23 36 58 — — — — — 1975–76 Nova Scotia Voyageurs AHL 73 4 34 38 79 9 1 7 8 26 1976–77 Nova Scotia Voyageurs AHL 80 8 42 50 89 11 3 10 13 10 1976–77 Montreal Canadiens NHL — — — — — 2 0 0 0 2 1977–78 Montreal Canadiens NHL 28 1 2 3 23 5 0 0 0 2 1978–79 Montreal Canadiens NHL 62 3 11 14 60 16 0 1 1 11 1979–80 Montreal Canadiens NHL 70 3 20 23 43 10 2 4 6 6 1980–81 Montreal Canadiens NHL 80 3 25 28 96 3 1 0 1 4 1981–82 Montreal Canadiens NHL 76 4 29 33 76 5 0 2 2 14 1982–83 Washington Capitals NHL 73 5 22 27 59 4 0 2 2 2 1983–84 Washington Capitals NHL 6 0 1 1 8 — — — — — 1983–84 Los Angeles Kings NHL 74 2 27 29 59 — — — — — 1984–85 Los Angeles Kings NHL 79 4 19 23 70 3 0 0 0 2 1985–86 Los Angeles Kings NHL 49 3 13 16 61 — — — — — 1985–86 Buffalo Sabres NHL 30 1 4 5 16 — — — — — 1986–87 Calgary Flames NHL 32 0 4 4 28 — — — — — NHL totals 659 29 177 206 599 48 3 9 12 43

International Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1981 Canada CC 5 1 0 1 4 1983 Canada WC 10 1 2 3 0 Senior totals 15 2 2 4 4