B. J. Crombeen

Did You Know?

• Crombeen was raised in Bright's Grove, Ontario, despite being born in Denver, Colorado.
• He was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age nine, one of the few professional athletes with the condition.
• His father, Mike Crombeen, played five seasons for the Barons, Blues, and Whalers from 1977 to 1985.

Playing career

Crombeen’s junior hockey career started in the 2000–01 season with the Newmarket Hurricane 87’s of the OPJHL. He then played four seasons for the Barrie Colts in the Ontario Hockey League, where he put up 170 points over 248 regular-season games and added 21 points in 44 playoff contests. He racked up more than 100 penalty minutes in each of those seasons. The Dallas Stars selected him in the second round, 54th overall, of the 2003 NHL entry draft, and he signed a three-year entry-level contract with them in July 2005. During the 2005–06 season, he split time between the AHL’s Iowa Stars and the ECHL’s Idaho Steelheads, collecting 20 points in 60 regular-season games. In August 2006, he signed with Ässät of Finland’s SM-liiga, where he scored 22 points and logged 152 penalty minutes in 55 games. He also played 13 regular-season games and 22 playoff games for Idaho in 2006–07, helping the Steelheads win the ECHL championship.

Crombeen spent most of the 2007–08 season with Iowa before being called up to Dallas in January, making his NHL debut. He appeared in eight regular-season games and five Stanley Cup playoff games for the Stars. After re-signing as a restricted free agent in July 2008, he played 15 games for Dallas early the next season, but in November he was claimed off waivers by the St. Louis Blues. He finished the 2008–09 campaign with the Blues, skating in 66 games and notching 17 points. He re-signed with St. Louis as a restricted free agent in July 2008. In 2009–10, he played 79 games, recording 15 points and a career-high 168 penalty minutes. The following season, he appeared in 80 games, totaling 14 points and 154 penalty minutes, leading the team in that category.

In June 2011, Crombeen signed a two-year contract extension with the Blues. He broke his left shoulder blade in the team’s final preseason game in October, limiting him to 40 games that season, in which he had three points and 71 penalty minutes. After the first year of his extension, St. Louis traded him and a fifth-round pick in the 2014 draft to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for fourth-round picks in 2013 and 2014.