Throughout the summer and into the fall, we’ll be counting down the days until the Edmonton Oilers begin their 2023-24 season with a daily trip down memory lane. Today at No. 2 we have Bob Beers, who is remembered mostly for his name.

Beers was drafted by the Boston Bruins in the 10th round of the 1985 draft and he went on to play three seasons with the University of Maine. He spent a few seasons between the Bruins and their AHL affiliate and started getting regular playing time after being traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning in October of 1992.

The Lightning were playing in their inaugural season as an NHL team and Beers jumped in and filled a big role on their blueline, scoring 36 points in 64 games the rest of the way in 1992-93. A few weeks into the following season, Beers was traded to the Oilers for defenceman Chris Joseph.

Joseph was one of the players the Oilers got in return when they traded Paul Coffey to the Pittsburgh Penguins in November of 1987. The Penguins had selected Joseph with the fifth overall pick in the previous summer’s draft and played 24 games in the NHL as an 18-year-old between the two teams. Over parts of seven seasons in Edmonton, Joseph mostly bounced up and down from the minors, scoring 51 points over 154 games between 1987-88 and 1993-94.

Beers played well for the Oilers the rest of the way in 1993-94, as he scored 37 points over 66 games after the trade. The Oilers finished with an ugly 25-45-14 record and missed the playoffs by a wide margin.

In the off-season, Beers signed with the New York Islanders. He split the next two seasons between the Islanders and their AHL affiliate and then returned to the Bruins in 1996-97. Beers helped Boston’s AHL affiliate win the Calder Cup during the 1998-99 season.