Before his second season with the Wranglers, Tutt, a defenseman, was chosen by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1980 Entry Draft. He followed that with a fine 1980-81 season for Calgary with 10 goals and 51 points from the blueline as well as 111 penalty minutes in 72 games. The Wranglers made along playoff run and Tutt added another 3 goals and 14 points in 22 games.
He was limited to 40 games of the 1981-82 WHL season, his final one in junior hockey. For the 1982-83 season, Tutt began his professional career with the Maine Mariners of the AHL for 31 games until joining the Toldedo Goaldiggers of the IHL. After going scoreless in Maine, Tutt responded in Toledo with 5 goals and 15 points in 23 games. The Goaldiggers would then go on to win the Turner Cup as IHL playoff champions.
He was back with Toledo for the 1983-84 season, scoring 7 goals and 51 points in 82 games. For the purposes of completeness and accuracy, Tutt also played a single game that season with the Springfield Indians of the AHL.
Tutt, born on this date in 1962, would have a similar 1984-85 season, playing 80 games for the Kalamazoo Wings of the IHL, setting a career high with 53 points from 8 goals and 45 assists while also playing in three games with the Hershey Bears of the AHL. He was back with Kalamazoo for the entire 1985-86 season, finding the net 11 times as he put up his third consecutive 50 point season.
1986-87 saw him split time between Kalamazoo of the IHL (19 games), a return to the Maine Mariners of the AHL (41 games) as well as playing in 15 games for the Canadian National Team.
After playing in 32 games for the New Haven Nighthawks of the AHL, Tutt made his first journey to Europe when his signed with EHC Lustenau in Austria, scoring 17 points in 24 games in 1987-88.
He returned to North America for the 1988-89 season, the majority of which was spent with the Canadian National Team, playing in 63 games. That season he also played for yet another new team in the AHL, the Baltimore Skipjacks, for a total of six games.
While playing only six games for the Baltimore, Tutt was
immortalized on cardboard for the Skipjacks
After signing as a free agent, Tutt was finally able to make his NHL debut on October 7, 1989 for the Washington Capitals. He played in 7 games for Washington that month, which included scoring a goal on October 16th on the road against the Montreal Canadiens all-star goaltender Patrick Roy. For the rest of the 1989-90 season, Tutt was back with Baltimore, seeing action in 67 games for the Skipjacks.
Tutt was able to add some more stamps to his passport, as he divided his 1990-91 season between 10 games for the Canadian National Team and 35 games for Furuset IF in Oslo, Norway, where he averaged over a point per game with 13 goals and 37 points.
He was back with Furuset for 28 games in 1991-92 before rejoining the Canadian National Team for six games in preparation for the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France. Tutt played in all eight of Team Canada's games, which ended with him earning a silver medal after Canada made it all the way to the Gold Medal Game. Later that spring he would also play in his first World Championships for Canada. Of note, his daughter Brianne Tutt was born on his birthday in 1992 and she would go on to become an Olympic athlete herself, participating in speedskating for Canada at the 2014 Olympics.
A career highlight for Tutt was winning a silver medal at the 1992 Olympics
His globetrotting days would begin in earnest with the 1992-93 season when he joined Ilves Tampere in Finland, which was most notable not for his 23 points in 48 games, but his career high and league leading 148 penalty minutes. He added yet another country to his passport for the subsequent 1993-94 season when he joined Farjestads BK in Karlstad, Sweden. There, Tutt managed just 4 points in 21 games but also a more reasonable 32 penalty minutes in 21 games. He also appeared in 12 games for Canada in 1993-94.
Tutt's rugged play earned him a career high in penalty minutes for Ilves Tampere
It was back to Ilves Tampere for 1994-95, only with a reduction in penalty minutes to 42 in 25 games. Later in the spring, Tutt the veteran was named as captain of Team Canada at the 1995 World Championships where they came away with a bronze medal.
He was back to his bruising ways in 1995-96 with 131 penalty minutes in 22 games for SaPKo Savonlinna in Finland's second division. During the holiday break, Tutt was a member of Team Canada at the 1995 Spengler Cup, where they won the tournament.
Stephan Lebeau, Andy Murray and Brian Tutt with
one of the six Spengler Cups won my head coach Murray in 1995
Tutt played three seasons for Hannover
While he never became an established NHL regular, he forged an 18 year career, won medals at both the Olympics and World Championships, won the Spengler Cup with the Canadian National Team, won the IHL Turner Cup in 1983, the DEL championship in 1999, played in seven different countries and scored an NHL goal in Montreal against Hall of Famer Roy, proving there is life in hockey beyond the NHL.
Today's featured jersey is a 1982-83 Maine Mariners Brian Tutt jersey as worn during Tutt's first professional season of his career. The Mariners were the top farm team of the Flyers at the time, which is clearly reflected not only in the Mariners use of the Flyers jersey colors and template, but also it's Flyers influenced crest, done in a similar style to the parent club.
Today's video is the final game of the 1992 Olympic hockey tournament, with Tutt and Canada in white against the Confederation of Independent States, as the team was called in the days following the breakup of the Soviet Union.
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