A skilled two-way forward, Eaves twice helped make U.S. hockey history before embarking on his NHL career.

The first time was in 2002, when he played for the United States team that snapped a 69-year drought in IIHF World Championship play by winning the gold medal at the Under-18 World Championship.

The second was two years later, when Eaves played for the 2004 U.S. team that became the country's first to win a gold medal at the IIHF World Junior Championship.

In both cases, Eaves shared the accomplishment with his father Mike, a former Minnesota North Stars forward who went on to become the coach of each of those two title teams.

The World Junior title came while the younger Eaves took a break from his career at Boston College, where he was named the 2005 Hockey East Player of the Year as well as a finalist for the 2005 Hobey Baker Award.

Both honors came two years after Eaves was drafted by the Ottawa Senators with the No. 29 pick in the 2003 NHL Draft, and six months before he made his NHL debut with Ottawa on Oct. 11, 2005.

Eaves scored 20 goals during his rookie season, and the next season scored 14 goals and 32 points before being traded to the Carolina Hurricanes on Feb. 11, 2008.

Eaves played the full 2008-09 season with Carolina, then spent four-plus years with the Detroit Red Wings, who traded him to the Nashville Predators on March 5, 2014. Eaves signed with the Dallas Stars on July 1, 2014.

Eaves was named the Stars nominee for the Bill Masterton Trophy during his first year when he finished with a team-best plus-12 rating and 27 points, his most since scoring 32 points for Ottawa in 2006-07.

A power-play contributor as well as a penalty killer, Eaves scored 11 power-play goals during his first two years in Dallas.