Winnipeg Native Adam Brooks Battles Waivers, Injuries and Anxiety on Road to the Jets

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PEAK IN VALLEY

When Brooks has been elevated in the Phantoms’ lineup this year, he’s shown he can still produce in bunches.

(JUSTSPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY)

AFTER A WILDLY successful career with the WHL’s Regina Pats – one that made him a fourth-round pick of the Maple Leafs in 2016 – Winnipeg native Adam Brooks helped the AHL’s Toronto Marlies win the 2018 Calder Cup in his first season as a pro. Three years later, he finished the post-COVID NHL season sandwiched on a line between Joe Thornton and Jason Spezza. Life in Toronto was all he had ever known as a pro hockey player.

As training camp commenced ahead of the 2021-22 campaign, the Leafs found themselves playing salary-cap gymnastics, and certain players were put on notice. “They warned me I could be on the move, because there was some interest in me from other teams,” Brooks said. “I was prepared to leave Toronto, although I didn’t really want to.”

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(JEAN-YVES AHERN-USA TODAY SPORTS)

On Oct. 10, 2021, the Leafs put him on waivers. Brooks, then 25, was picked up by the Montreal Canadiens. That started him off on an unprecedented tour around the league that would eventually become an NHL-record – one that may never be broken. “It was cool to move to another big, historic franchise like Montreal,” Brooks said. “Although I was heading into a weird situation getting picked up right out of camp and starting on a line with (Brendan) Gallagher and (Mike) Hoffman after never skating with them before.”

His time as a Hab was as injury-riddled as it was brief. In his second game, Brooks developed a nagging hip injury due to a compressed disc in his back. After only four games as a Hab, he started hearing whispers he’d be put back on the wire.

On Nov. 16, Montreal did just that. One day later, he was headed to Sin City. “Going to Vegas was so different than what I had experienced in hockey,” Brooks said. “It was my first time living in the States.”

As is the case for most players, familial support was crucial for Brooks. “My message to Adam was simple,” said his dad, Scott Brooks. “‘Every time you go on waivers, there’s teams out there that see value in you.’ Not everybody gets the opportunity to be picked up by another NHL club once they go on waivers. I told him to stay positive and do the best you can.”

A month after joining the Knights, Brooks saw his already tumultuous season take a frightening turn at the team’s practice facility in Summerlin, Nev. “I was tying my skates before practice and felt like my heart was flying,” Brooks said. “As a guy who wasn’t playing a ton, I didn’t want to be an inconvenience, but after a while, I went to see the trainer. A few years ago, through an electrocardiogram, Toronto’s medical staff found that I suffered from WPW syndrome – and because the Golden Knights knew that, their cardiologist said I’d better head to the hospital.”

Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome is a congenital cardiac disorder and can result in life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias. When Brooks arrived at the hospital, he went straight to the operating room, where he underwent a successful “heart ablation,” which is considered a minor form of heart surgery.

WHEN I WOKE UP THE NEXT MORNING, I HAD A TEXT ON MY PHONE FROM MY AGENT. IT READ, ‘I THINK YOU’RE ON THE MOVE AGAIN.’ I SAID, ‘SHUT THE F— UP’– Adam Brooks

“The next day, they released me and said ‘Get some rest.’ So, I decided I’d go to the game and hang out in the dressing room,” Brooks said. “By the end of the game, I had a crushing headache, which turned out to be COVID that I’d picked up in the hospital.”

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Brooks was forced to do a 14-day quarantine in his Vegas hotel room. “The hardest thing was that I was also having major stomach issues from the meds I was required to take, due to both the heart surgery and the nagging hip and back issues,” he said. “With that came the first feelings of anxiety.”

GREAT START

Brooks topped off his rookie-pro season by celebrating a 2018 Calder Cup victory with his dad, Scott.

(PHOTO BY BRETT BROOKS)

After a month off, Brooks was told he’d be heading back to the AHL to join the Silver Knights on their road trip to Colorado. But in order to do so, he’d have to once again pass through–you guessed it – the wire.

Shortly after arriving in Denver, Brooks received a call from Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas. He was apparently headed back to Toronto but needed to clear waivers again so he could be sent to the Marlies and ultimately be available to the Maple Leafs for the playoffs. “Less than 12 hours later, I’m back sitting in the Vegas airport en route to Pearson Airport, and my phone and social media are blowing up because the Leafs announced they’ve waived me again.”

Regardless, Brooks returned to his Toronto condominium after his four-month odyssey. It was like walking into a post-apocalyptic movie set. He took notice of the stale air and thin layer of dust throughout the unit. He also went to go check on his brand-new car, which hadn’t moved from the parking garage since Leafs training camp. But he was still happy to be “home.”

“You’re looking for something to grasp onto that’s comfortable,” Brooks said. “And for me, that was Toronto because I had been there for four years. At that point, I was finally like, ‘I’m back where I should be.’ I was so excited to go to sleep in that condo and wake up at home, in Toronto.”

ADAM BROOKS & CHRIS TIERNEY

(MARC DESROSIERS-USA TODAY SPORTS)

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This is where the plot twist is revealed. Perhaps one only M. Night Shyamalan could concoct. “When I woke up the next morning, I had a text on my phone from my agent. It read, ‘I think you’re on the move again.’ I said, ‘Shut the f— up.’” Brooks had come to the climax of his unforgettable season: he was heading to Manitoba, to join his hometown Winnipeg Jets.

Overcome with emotion, Brooks broke down into a full-blown panic attack – something that became a recurring issue over the next year of his life. “I had barely skated, coming off COVID and heart surgery, and now I have to go play in an NHL game?” he said. “Not that I didn’t want to go to Winnipeg and wear that jersey. I had dreamt of playing for the Jets since they’d come back, but just not like this.”

That night, he was back on a plane to Winnipeg, where he arrived at his parents’ house to sleep in his childhood bedroom. The next morning, Brooks headed to the Jets’ practice facility, where he found himself slotted on the top line with Kyle Connor and Pierre-Luc Dubois. Winnipeg was about to embark on a week-long road trip with stops in Calgary, Dallas, Colorado and Arizona. “I was like, ‘I’m going up against Calgary’s top line after not playing for a month? In the second-highest altitude in the league?’” Brooks said. “It didn’t go well. The third game, the trainer had to pull me because I was having difficulty breathing.”

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Brooks’ time as a Jet was a struggle. He failed to produce a point in 14 games, while averaging 7:28 of ice time.

When the season concluded, he had played a total of 34 games between four NHL teams and one AHL team, including the pre-season. “I would go to these teams,” he said, “and they’d be like, ‘Let’s see what we’ve got here,’ and they’d put me on the first or second line and expect me to click right away with my new teammates. Two or three games later, they’re like ‘He’s not producing.’ So, then to the fourth line. Then, I start getting scratched four, five, six games in a row. Then to waivers.”

(JUSTSPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY)

This year, which is Brooks’ second as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers’ organization, he’s found himself playing in a sheltered role on their AHL team’s third and fourth lines. But Brooks was promoted to Lehigh Valley’s top line in mid-March, where he produced nine points in four games for the Phantoms.

I HAD DREAMT OF PLAYING FOR THE JETS SINCE THEY’D COME BACK, BUT JUST NOT LIKE THIS. I LEARNED A LOT ABOUT MYSELF THAT SEASON– Adam Brooks

While he continues to chase his NHL dream, Brooks has a new perspective thanks in part to his time on the wire: “I learned a lot about myself that season,” he said. “Whether it be health, hockey or life in general, there are always positives you can take from the experiences you face. You realize no matter what level you are at in the sport, at the end of the day, it is still the same game you played growing up with some of your best friends.”

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