Right-winger Rob Brown possessed a natural scoring touch that victimized many NHL goalies over eleven seasons. His anticipation and quick release allowed him to score almost at will in junior and in the minors and resulted in three 20-goal seasons at the big league level.
Born in Kingston, Ontario, Brown headed to Western Canada as a teenager and averaged four points a game for the St. Albert Royals of the AAHA. He then tore up the WHL with the Kamloops Oilers/Blazers. After leading the league with 173 points in the regular season and 46 points in 16 playoff games in 1985-86, Brown was chosen 67th overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Entry Draft. He was returned to junior and proceeded to win his second straight scoring title with an astonishing 212 points. Brown was named the Canadian Major Junior player of the year and placed on the WHL West first all-star team for the second straight season.
The tricky forward scored 24 goals as a rookie in 1987-88 and then exploded for 115 points the next year as the full time sidekick of Mario Lemieux. He also scored eight points in the post-season as the Pens came within a game of reaching the semifinals after missing the playoffs six straight years.
Brown scored 33 times in 1989-90, but Pittsburgh missed the playoffs. When he started slowly the next season, Brown was traded to the Hartford Whalers for Scott Young. He averaged nearly a point per game for his new club but was not as effective in the absence of the "Magnificent One." Halfway through the 1991-92 season, Brown was traded to the Chicago Black Hawks, a solid defensive team in need of a pure goal scorer. The veteran sniper came up with a few goals and helped the Hawks reach the Stanley Cup final against his ex-mates in Pittsburgh.
During the early and mid-'90s, Brown spent five years toiling in the minors. He played a handful of games for the Dallas Stars and Los Angeles Kings but was best known for terrorizing opposing netminders in the IHL. Brown led the league in scoring three times and was the winner of the James Gatschene Memorial Trophy as the MVP of the "I" after scoring 155 points in 1993-94.
Brown returned to the Penguins as a useful role player for three years beginning in 1997-98. He scored 17 power-play goals over that span and helped the club reach the second round of the playoffs in 1999 and 2000. He spent the 2000-01 season back in the IHL where he averaged nearly a point per game for the Chicago Wolves.
