Brent Gilchrist

Brent Gilchrist
Born April 3, 1967
Moose Jaw, SK, CAN
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 181 lb (82 kg; 12 st 13 lb)
Position Left Wing
Shot Left
Played for Montreal Canadiens
Edmonton Oilers
Minnesota North Stars
Dallas Stars
Detroit Red Wings
Nashville Predators
NHL Draft 79th overall, 1985
Montreal Canadiens
Playing career 1987–2003

Brent Lindsay Gilchrist (born April 3, 1967 in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan) is a former professional hockey player who played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League from 1988-2003. In his career, Gilchrist played 792 games, totaling 135 goals and 305 points. He was a member of the Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings in 1998.

Brent quickly took up hockey after the Gilchrist family moved west to Vernon, British Columbia. In Peewee, Brent and fellow future pro hockey player Jeff Finley won the BC provincial championships. After his 15-year-old season in Midget hockey, Brent was asked to play in the playoffs for the Vernon Rockets of the BCJHL. The Rockets fell to the Penticton Knights and their star, Brett Hull, in 7 games.

The next season Brent made his mark as a rookie in the WHL with the Kelowna Wings. In 1985, after a third losing season in a row, the team relocated the Spokane, Washington and changed its name to the Chiefs. Gilchrist quickly became a star in the Western Hockey League and tallied 141 goals and 290 points in just 218 games played. Brent was selected 79th overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the 1985 NHL entry draft.

In 1987 Brent turned pro with the Sherbrooke Canadiens. He led the team in scoring with 28 goals, 48 assists and 76 points. Brent was called up from the American Hockey League (AHL) to the NHL. In his rookie season with Montreal, Gilchrist, wearing jersey number 41, put up 24 points in 49 games and helped a powerful Canadiens team to the Stanley Cup Final against the Calgary Flames, only to lose in 6 games. After 4 years and 236 games with Montreal, Brent, Shayne Corson, and Vladimir Vujtek were traded to the Edmonton Oilers for Vincent Damphousse and a 4th round pick in 1993. Before completing a full season in Edmonton, Brent was traded to the Minnesota North Stars for forward Todd Elik on March 5th 1993. That summer, after missing the playoffs, the North Stars relocated to Dallas, Texas and became the Dallas Stars.

Led by young star Mike Modano, Dallas built a powerful team. The Stars made the playoffs 3 out of the 4 years Gilchrist played with the team. In the summer of 1997, after a 7 game loss to Edmonton in the first round of the playoffs, Gilchrist became an unrestricted free agent and signed a new contract with the defending Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings.

Coached by legend Scotty Bowman and captained by Hall of Famer Steve Yzerman, the Red Wings dominated the 1997-1998 season. The Wings placed 3rd in the Western Conference finishing only 6 points behind Brent’s former club, The Dallas Stars. After defeating the Phoenix Coyotes in a hard-fought six game series, the Wings looked next to the St. Louis Blues. After again taking 6 games to finish the series, the Wings were set to face the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference final. The grueling series was taken by the Wings in 6. The Wings took the series on goals by Larry Murphy and Sergei Federov and moved on the face the upstart Washington Capitals in the Stanley Cup Final. The experienced Red Wings proved to be too much to handle for the Capitals as Detroit swept the series in 4 games and won back-to-back Stanley Cup Championships. Gilchrist’s move to Detroit in 1997 paid dividends as Brent, after almost 10 years in the NHL, finally won the Stanley Cup.

The price of winning the cup was high for Gilchrist, however, as he underwent a serious hernia operation and played only 29 games in the two following years. After 5 seasons with the Red Wings, the now veteran forward decided to wrap up his career by signing a 1-year deal with the Nashville Predators. #41 played in 41 games in 2002-2003 with Nashville and hung up the skates for good after missing the playoffs. Brent retired from the NHL and relocated in Kelowna, British Columbia, with his wife Caroline and two sons Mathieu and Jack.

Gilchrist appeared in 10 post-seasons in his NHL career, playing 90 games and totaling 17 goals, 14 assists and 31 points.

In December of 2009, Gilchrist was invited to the Montreal Canadiens Centennial Game, which featured many famous and loved former players from the long history of the team. Gilchrist was also invited to play for the Canadiens in the 2011 Heritage Classic Alumni game against the Flames, which featured many players from the 1989 Stanley Cup Final.

His new career began in 2005 with RBC Dominion Securities. He successfully built an investment business as an advisor to high-net-worth individuals. Selling his investment practice in 2011, he joined longtime Friend, Jeff Stibbard, founder and CEO of JDS Energy & Mining, to head up a venture capital business in the mining industry.

Brent Gilchrist is now the President of Jeffco Ventures in alliance with JDS Energy & Mining. Jeff and Brent have since founded two private companies as CEO and President respectively, Craigmont Industries Limited and JDS Silver Inc. These two private companies were financed and purchased through Jeffco Ventures.

http://www.craigmontmag.com/ http://www.jdssilver.com/ http://www.jdsmining.ca/en/home/

External links

Biography at http://www.legendsofhockey.net/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=10533