Carl Brewer

Carl Thomas Brewer (October 21, 1938 in Toronto, Ontario – August 25, 2001 in Toronto, Ontario) was a Canadian defenceman.

Brewer played junior hockey for the Toronto Marlboros and was part of the team that won the Memorial Cup in 1956.

Brewer started his career with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1958. He was one of the mainstays of an excellent defence which helped the team win three Stanley Cups in a row in 1962, 1963 and 1964. Brewer was a first team NHL All-Star in 1962-53 and a second team in 1961-62 and 1964-65.

But Brewer had a very stormy relationship with Leafs general manager Punch Imlach. Brewer attended college while playing for the Maple Leafs (very unusual at the time) and was not totally comfortable playing NHL hockey. He also had a quick temper and led the league in penalty miutes in 1959-60 and 1964-65. A dispute with Imlach at training camp in 1965 led to Brewer's retirement from the NHL.

He came back to play for the 1966-67 Canadian National Team and was an all star at the 1967 World Championship.

The next year he was a player-coach with the Muskegon Mohawks of the International Hockey League (1945-2001). He was a first team all star and won the outstanding defenceman award.

In 1968-69 he played a year with Helsinki IFK in Finland.

The Toronto Maple Leafs had traded Brewer to the Detroit Red Wings in the Frank Mahovlich - Norm Ullman deal in 1968. The Red Wings tried hard to convince Brewer to come back to the NHL. Finally he agreed in 1969. In 1969-70 he had a great year and was named to the second All-Star team. But Brewer quit again at the end of the season.

The Wings traded him to the St. Louis Blues and Brewer relented and reported to the Blues, enjoying two good seasons before retiring again.

Brewer had two more comebacks. The first was with the Toronto Toros of the World Hockey Association in 1973-74. The second was prompted by a desire to finish his career with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Despite the fact that his old nemesis Punch Imlach was back in charge, Brewer did come back and played 20 games for the Leafs before finally retiring for good.

In the 1990s, Brewer played a major role seeing former NHL Player's Association boss Alan Eagleson convicted and sent to prison for racketeering, fraud, and embezzling.

Brewer died on August 25, 2001 following a battle with respiratory problems.