Eric John Weinrich (born December 19, 1966) is an American former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

defenseman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference ...

who played 17 seasons in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

(NHL) with the

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The club was founded as the Kan ...

Hartford Whalers The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its existence in Hartford, Connecticut. The club played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 until 1979, and in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1979 to ...

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Divisio ...

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making ...

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team play ...

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the ...

, and

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference, and play their home games at Rogers Arena. Bruce ...

. He played 1,157 career NHL games, scoring 70 goals and 318 assists for 388 points.

Amateur career

Eric Weinrich grew up in the small town of Gardiner, Maine, went to high school at

North Yarmouth Academy North Yarmouth Academy (also known as "NYA") is an independent, co-ed, college preparatory day school serving students from early childhood education to postgraduate. NYA was founded in 1814, in what was then North Yarmouth, Maine, prior to the 184 ...

Yarmouth, Maine Yarmouth is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States, twelve miles north of the state's largest city, Portland. When originally settled in 1636, as North Yarmouth, it was part of Massachusetts, and remained as such for 213 years. In 18 ...

, and played his college hockey at the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a public land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the flagship university of the University of Maine System. It is classifie ...

, where he studied

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsc ...

and

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

. He played 83 games over three seasons at the

, and was named an

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

East Second Team All-American for the 1986–87 season. Weinrich would leave the team the next season to play for the United States national team.

Professional career

Weinrich was originally selected by the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, alon ...

in the

1984 NHL Entry Draft The 1984 NHL Entry Draft was the 22nd NHL Entry Draft. It took place on June 9, 1984, at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec. The 1984 Entry Draft is noted for the unusually high number of future Hall of Famers picked, particularly in lowe ...

although the pick was deemed invalid as he had yet to clear the minimum age restriction for eligible draftees. Weinrich entered the draft the next year and was drafted 32nd overall by the

in the

1985 NHL Entry Draft The 1985 NHL Entry Draft was the 23rd NHL Entry Draft. It was the first draft outside Montreal. The event was held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario, and attended by 7,000 fans. The National Hockey League (NHL) teams sele ...

. Weinrich joined the

Utica Devils The Utica Devils were a professional ice hockey team of the American Hockey League (AHL). The team was based in Utica, New York, and played its home games at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. History The Utica Devils were AHL affiliate of the Nationa ...

, the AHL developmental affiliate team of his draft team, the

for the 1988–89 and

1989–90 AHL season The 1989–90 AHL season was the 54th season of the American Hockey League. Fourteen teams played 80 games each in the schedule. The Sherbrooke Canadiens repeated finishing first overall in the regular season. The Springfield Indians won their ...

s, winning the

Eddie Shore Award The Eddie Shore Award is presented annually to the AHL's best defenceman. The award winner is chosen by AHL media and players. The award is named after Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Eddie Shore. Winners NHL-level Eddie Shore Award One of the Bos ...

in 1990. He would also play 21 games for the NHL Devils during those years, scoring nine points. He joined New Jersey full-time for the

1990–91 NHL season The 1990–91 NHL season was the 74th season of the National Hockey League. The Stanley Cup winners were the Pittsburgh Penguins, who won the best of seven series 4–2 against the Minnesota North Stars. This was the last NHL season to end in ...

, having his best offensive year with 38 points and earning a spot on the

NHL All-Rookie Team The NHL All-Rookie Team is chosen by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association from the best rookies in the National Hockey League at each position for the season just concluded based on their performance in that year. The team was first named a ...

, but would be traded with

Sean Burke Sean Burke (born January 29, 1967) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender and the current director of goaltending for the Vegas Golden Knights. He played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New Jersey Devils, H ...

to the

for

Bobby Holik Bobby or Bobbie may refer to: People * Bobby (given name), a list of names * Bobby (actress), from Bangladesh * Bobby (rapper) (born 1995), from South Korea * Bobby (screenwriter) (born 1983), Indian screenwriter * Bobby, old slang for a constab ...

and draft choices on 28 August 1992. After spending just over a season with the Whalers, Weinrich was traded with Patrick Poulin to the

for

Steve Larmer Steven Donald Larmer (born June 16, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward. He is the brother of Jeff Larmer. Career As a youth, Larmer played in the 1974 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hocke ...

and Bryan Marchment. He would play for the Blackhawks for several seasons before being traded once again shortly into the

1998–99 NHL season The 1998–99 NHL season was the 82nd regular season of the National Hockey League. The league expanded to 27 teams with the addition of the Nashville Predators. The Dallas Stars finished first in regular season play, and won the Stanley Cup cham ...

, this time to the

. Weinrich again would not last long with his new team, being traded yet again to the

for

Patrick Traverse Patrick Rheaume Joseph Traverse (born March 14, 1974) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He played 279 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) with five teams. Playing career As a youth, Traverse played in the 1988 Que ...

midway through the

2000–01 NHL season The 2000–01 NHL season was the 84th regular season of the National Hockey League. With the addition of the expansion Columbus Blue Jackets and the Minnesota Wild, 30 teams each played 82 games. The Stanley Cup winners were the Colorado Aval ...

in what is believed to have been the first trade between the two teams since 1964. Weinrich signed with the

as a free agent on July 5, 2001 and played his 1000th game with them during the

2002–03 NHL season The 2002–03 NHL season was the 86th regular season of the National Hockey League. The Stanley Cup winners were the New Jersey Devils, who won the best of seven series 4–3 against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Regular season The regular s ...

. However, this was not enough to prevent him from being traded once again, this time to the

, shortly after the

2004 NHL All-Star game The 2004 National Hockey League All-Star Game was held on February 8, 2004, at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Saint Paul, home of the Minnesota Wild. The Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference defeated the Western Conferenc ...

. During the

2004–05 NHL lockout The 2004–05 NHL lockout was a labor lockout that resulted in the cancellation of the National Hockey League (NHL) season, which would have been its 88th season of play. The main dispute was the league's desire to implement a salary cap to ...

, he played with

VSV EC EC Grand Immo VSV are an ice hockey team in the ICE Hockey League. They play their home games at Stadthalle (capacity approximately 4500 spectators) in Villach, Austria. The team colors are blue and white. Their mascot is an eagle - Villach's c ...

of the

Austrian Hockey League The ICE Hockey League (International Central European Hockey League), known as the win2day ICE Hockey League for sponsorship reasons, is a Central European hockey league that also serves as the top-tier ice hockey league in Austria, it currently f ...

, but returned to the Blues for the

2005–06 NHL season The 2005–06 NHL season was the 89th season of operation (88th season of play) of the National Hockey League (NHL). This season succeeded the 2004–05 season which had all of its scheduled games canceled due to a labor dispute with the Natio ...

, during which he was traded for the final time, his last NHL team being the

Weinrich announced his retirement on August 4, 2006 after 17 seasons in the NHL. Upon his retirement, he became an assistant coach for the

Portland Pirates The Portland Pirates were a minor league professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). Their home arena was the Cross Insurance Arena in downtown Portland, Maine. The franchise was previously known as the Baltimore Skipjacks fr ...

in the AHL, then on January 25, 2007 he signed a professional tryout contract with the team and began playing immediately. Weinrich skated with the Pirates for two seasons before hanging up the skates for good after the 2007-08 season. Weinrich worked as a professional scout for the Buffalo Sabres for three years. He is currently a development coach for the New Jersey Devils.

Awards and honors

* AHL First All-Star Team (1990) *

(1990) *

(1991)

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Weinrich, Eric 1966 births American men's ice hockey defensemen Boston Bruins players Buffalo Sabres scouts Chicago Blackhawks players EC VSV players Hartford Whalers players Ice hockey people from Maine Ice hockey people from Virginia Ice hockey players at the 1988 Winter Olympics Living people Maine Black Bears men's ice hockey players Montreal Canadiens players New Jersey Devils draft picks New Jersey Devils players Olympic ice hockey players of the United States People from Gardiner, Maine Sportspeople from Roanoke, Virginia Philadelphia Flyers players Portland Pirates players St. Louis Blues players Utica Devils players Vancouver Canucks players North Yarmouth Academy alumni AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans