JT Brown retires from professional hockey and joins Seattle Kraken as a television analyst

JT Brown will retire from the professional hockey and join the expanded Seattle Kraken as a television analyst, the team confirmed on Monday.

Brown, 30, played for a total of 365 games in the NHL for 2011–2019 with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Anaheim Ducks and Minnesota Wild. He played for IF Bjorkloven last season in the Swedish Hockey League.

“It was a big decision to hang the skates, but the decision was made easier by the opportunity to work alongside [announcer] John Forslund of Seattle’s Kraken, ”Brown said.

Brown gained a reputation during his playing as one of the early adopters of NHL video game streaming on Twitch, which has nearly 10,000 followers. He also made headlines in October 2017 when he raised his right fist while playing the national anthem in the first road game of the Lightning season – the first known demonstration of any kind during the anthem in the NHL regular season game. Brown, who cleared a demonstration against racial inequality with his team, said he received a death threat afterwards.

“The urgency of social change does not end when the roar of protests disappears and disappears from our schedule. Whether you are on hand for donations, volunteering, keep signs when marching in a demonstration, loudly online or fist in solidarity, we all have a responsibility to fight for equality. , ”Brown said in an NHL.com essay in 2020.

Brown joins a broadcast group that includes Forslund, formerly Carolina Hurricanes ’play-specific voice, and NBC Sports’ national broadcast; and Everett Fitzhugh, who became the NHL’s first black team broadcaster when he was hired as a radio-play-by-play announcer in Kraken in 2020.

“I am excited about the opportunity to pursue my career in the world of hockey and join an organization committed to making progress in the sport. I look forward to the ability to make a lasting impact on the game I love for over 25 years,” Brown said.

Kraken, the 32nd franchise in the NHL, will start playing in the 2021-22 season.

“We are pleased to welcome JT Brown to Seattle Kraken,” Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke said in a statement. “His experience as a player winning a national championship at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and playing in the Stanley Cup final at Tampa Bay Lightning gives him a unique insight into what it takes to compete night and night in top hockey. that he is a great addition. “