The Columbus Blue Jackets, parent club of the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, have agreed to terms on a one-year contract with defenseman Sheldon Brookbank, club general manager Scott Howson announced Sunday.
As is club policy, terms were not disclosed.
Brookbank, 26, won the Eddie Shore Award as the American Hockey League’s outstanding defenseman and was an AHL First Team All-Star in 2006-07 as he tallied a career-high 15 goals and 38 assists for 53 points with 176 penalty minutes and a plus-4 rating in 78 games with the Milwaukee Admirals.
His club’s captain, he led all AHL defensemen in points and was among league leaders with six game-winning goals and 208 shots on goal this past season. Brookbank also represented Milwaukee at the 2007 Rbk Hockey AHL All-Star Classic.
A native of Lanigan, Sask., Brookbank made his NHL debut with the Nashville Predators in 2006-07, notching one assist and six penalty minutes in three games. He registered his first career NHL point with an assist vs. Pittsburgh on Feb. 6, 2007.
The 6-foot-2, 215-pound blueliner has racked up 125 points (29g, 96a) with 965 PIM and a cumulative plus/minus rating of plus-16 in 260 career AHL games with Grand Rapids, Cincinnati and Milwaukee during his six professional seasons. He spent the last two seasons in Milwaukee playing for new Blue Jackets assistant coach Claude Noel.
