Bracken Kearns

Bracken Kearns (born May 12, 1981) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is currently playing with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in the American Hockey League (AHL) while under contract to the New York Islanders in the National Hockey League (NHL). Kearns, who started his professional career in 2005 with the Toledo Storm in the ECHL, played 428 games in the minors before playing his first game in the NHL with the Florida Panthers.

Playing career

Amateur

Kearns, who graduated from the University of Calgary in 2005 with a degree in economics, was captain of the Calgary Dinos men's ice hockey team.

Professional

Kearns made his professional debut with the Toledo Storm during the 2005–06 ECHL season. He spent the entire 2006–07 season in the American Hockey League (AHL) with Milwaukee Admirals. During the 2007–08 season, he played 53 games in the AHL with the Norfolk Admirals and also played 17 games in the ECHL with the Reading Royals. He played AHL hockey for the next two years with Norfolk and the Rockford IceHogs.

On July 27, 2010, Kearns was signed as a free agent by the Phoenix Coyotes who assigned him to their AHL affiliate in San Antonio for the start of the 2010–11 AHL season.

On July 14, 2011, Kearns signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Florida Panthers. During the 2011–12 season on October 20, 2011, at the age of 30, Kearns made his NHL debut with the Panthers playing seven shifts for 6:30 of ice time in a 3–0 loss to the Buffalo Sabres. Kearns was the second oldest player to make his NHL debut with the Panthers, behind only Magnus Svensson who made his NHL debut with Florida in 1995 at the age of 32. Kearns went scoreless in 5 games with the Panthers, before returning to the Rampage to be among the offensive leaders with 52 points in 69 games.

On July 2, 2012, Kearns was again on the move, signing a one-year free agent contract with the San Jose Sharks. With the 2012 NHL lockout in effect, Kearns reported directly to AHL affiliate, the Worcester Sharks, to begin the 2012–13 season.

Kearns was recalled from Worcester on December 28, 2013. The next day, Kearns scored his first NHL goal in the San Jose Sharks 3-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks against goaltender Frederik Andersen. He became the oldest player in Sharks history to score his first NHL goal (32 years, 231 days), besting the previous record holder Jay Leach (30 years, 190 days). On February 24, 2014, Kearns was sent to waivers by the Sharks.

As a free agent from the Sharks, Kearns accepted a try-out contract to the Boston Bruins training camp for the 2014–15 season. Following camp, Kearns was released by the Bruins and after spending his entire professional career in North America, he opted to pursue a European career in agreeing to a one-year contract in the Finnish Liiga with the Espoo Blues on October 23, 2014.

After a successful season with the Blues, Kearns returned to North America on July 2, 2015, signing a one-year, two-way contract with the New York Islanders. On June 1, 2016, Kearns signed a new one-year, two-way contract with the Islanders.

Family

Kearns' father is Dennis Kearns, a retired All-Star defenceman for the Vancouver Canucks.

Career statistics