Америкалық хоккейші Марк Эйтонның карьерасы

American ice hockey player

Mark Andrew Eaton (born May 6, 1977) is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman who played 13 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Philadelphia Flyers, Nashville Predators, Pittsburgh Penguins, and New York Islanders. He is the only NHL player to ever come from Delaware. He attended John Dickinson High School in the Wilmington suburbs but played his youth hockey across the state line in Pennsylvania. He is currently the director of player development for the Chicago Blackhawks.

Eaton started his post secondary competition with the Waterloo Black Hawks of the United States Hockey League (USHL). He was named second team all USHL, was the league's third leading scoring defenseman and was honored with the Curt Hammer Award as the USHL's most gentlemanly player. Eaton then moved on to the University of Notre Dame of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA). In his only season at UND, Eaton was named the CCHA Rookie of the Year after scoring 12 goals with 17 assists for 29 points. On August 4, 1998, Eaton signed a contract with the Philadelphia Flyers as an undrafted free agent. He made his NHL debut on October 2, 1999, against the Ottawa Senators, becoming the first player from the greater Delaware Valley region to play for the Flyers. Eaton scored his first NHL goal, which was the game winning goal, on April 8, 2000, against Rob Tallas of the Boston Bruins. He played his first NHL playoff game on April 13 against the Buffalo Sabres. The Pittsburgh Penguins signed Eaton on July 3, 2006, as a free agent. He saw limited time in his first two seasons, suffering with injuries, playing only 71 games between in 2006–07 and 2007–08. He signed with the New York Islanders as a free agent to a two year contract on July 2, 2010. On January 22, 2013, the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL announced Eaton had signed with the team on a Professional Try Out. He was released in February, and started skating with his former NHL team, the Pittsburgh Penguins. On February 25, the Penguins signed Eaton to a 1 year deal worth $725,000.

Eaton played for the United States at the 2001 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships and recorded one goal (the game winner vs. Finland) and one assist in nine games. He also played for the United States at the 2002 World Championships in Sweden and registered three assists in a 5–2 win vs. Italy.