British Columbia's Jason Garrison played college hockey at Minnesota-Duluth and performed well enough to gain a contract offer from the Florida Panthers in 2008.
Garrison would have a 33-Point year for the Panthers in 2011/12, his fourth and final campaign in South Beach, and he would equal that total two years later while playing for the Canucks. The Defenceman later played for Tampa and had another 30-point year in his second Florida-based team. He finished his career in Vegas, Edmonton, and in Europe before retiring in 2022.
Denmark is not a hotbed of hockey, but that does not mean that the Scandinavian nation has not produced some quality players. Arguably, the best of the group is Frans Nielsen.
Nielsen was drafted by the Islanders in 2002 with their Third Round Pick, and he signed a few years later, becoming a fixture on Long Island in the 2008/09 Season. A depth player, Nielsen excelled in short-handed roles, even leading the NHL in Short-Handed Goals in 2010-11. With the highest individual award finish coming for Nielsen in 2013-14 in Lady Byng voting, he had six consecutive seasons where he had votes for at least the Byng and the Frank J. Selke (2010-11 to 2015-16).
After that streak ended, Nielsen signed with the Detroit Red Wings, where he played six seasons before retiring. Nielsen never won a Stanley Cup not any medal while representing Denmark, but he was a Silver Medalist for Team Europe in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
He had 473 NHL Points.
Dustin Brown played his entire professional career with the Los Angeles Kings, debuting for the squad in 2003 and playing in SoCal until 2022.
A natural leader, the native of Ithaca, New York, was L.A.'s 12th Overall Pick in 2003, quickly making the team and consistently being one of the team's leaders in Hits. However, he was not a stalwart in the Penalty Box. Brown led by example, selflessly acting in the best interest of his team, and though he was not the most gifted scorer, he tallied 712 Points over his career.
Ascending to the captaincy of Los Angeles, Brown led his team to Stanley Cup Titles in 2012 and 2014 while individually winning the 2014 Mark Messier Leadership Award.
While representing the United States, Brown participated in two Olympics (2012 & 2014), capturing Silver in the former Olympiad.
Well, the tentpole quadrennial tournament for international soccer is finally upon us. After all the hype and eager anticipation, waiting for national team head coaches to name their squad, we now know the players who will participate at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Many of them are familiar faces, iconic superstars who need little introduction, although the majority are names we have never heard mentioned before.