The fun began during his four-year stint in the Ontario Hockey League with the St. Michael’s Majors, as Brent was picked in the second round of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft by Anaheim.

Not being able to agree on an entry-level contract with the team, Brent went back into the draft in 2004 and was picked by Anaheim again, this time in the third round. Getting over the initial shock of being picked by the same team after not being able to previously being able to come to terms with them, he fired his agent and was able to ink a deal with the then-Mighty Ducks organization.

Despite starting to become a player that could net about 20 goals and play well defensively, Brent ran into a string of bad luck with organizations. In his last year with the Ducks, he played one NHL game for a team that won the Stanley Cup.

In 2007-08, he was traded to Pittsburgh and spent the season in the minors in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, aside from one game with the parent club. The Penguins were Stanley Cup finalists that season.

Having a tough time cracking Stanley Cup contending teams, who were both deep at centre, Brent was traded the next season to Chicago. With the team facing salary cap issues and making it as far as the Western Conference final, he was called up from Rockford for two games.

Brent’s fortunes seemingly changed in 2009-10 when he signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs. After spending a year with the Marlies – except for the last game of the regular season – he played 79 games for the Maple Leafs the next season, picking up eight goals and 12 assists. Aside from that, he became a player who could check the opposition’s top two lines and kill penalties.

When the Leafs didn’t offer him another contract, Brent got a call at practically 12:01 a.m. on July 1 from Carolina, where he signed a two-year deal.

He had a decent first year with the Hurricanes, collecting 24 points, before injuries limited him to 30 games and three points the second season.

With offers not pouring in after an off year, Brent turned his sights to the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia, signing with Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod. After butting heads with head coach Peter Skudra, he was traded in October to Metallurg Magnitogorsk, where he won the Gagarin Cup as KHL champions.

Brent stayed one more season, but with getting married, he wanted to play in North America, so he signed a two-way deal with his last stop, Philadelphia.

Despite not getting called up to the Flyers and missing time during the season for hand surgery, Brent was pleased with his professional swan song with the Phantoms.

He finished with 10 goals and 18 assists in 52 games.

“I certainly enjoyed my time in Lehigh Valley last year and it was really nice to be back in North America and live the lifestyle I was used to. I really believe that if I wanted to continue playing I’d have job offers,” he said.

“It was a great experience for both me and Eva (his wife). I really enjoyed the mentor side of playing last year. There were some great young players in Philly’s organization that I not only got to play with, but I hopefully helped out and they were able to learn maybe a few things from me over the year.

“A lot of great things I took from playing last year. It certainly brought back that love for playing again and enjoying being at4 the rink every day.”

And for once in a long time, Brent wasn’t on the phone with his agent on July 1 – when free agent signings can begin – wondering where he’d play the next season.

“It was funny. I got kind of caught up in studying and around 2 o’clock I just checked the Twitter feed and I kind of forgot about free agency and what a huge day that is,” he said.

“I had to quickly read up on where guys were headed and what guys were coming to Carolina, and who Toronto picked up – all that fun stuff. It was definitely kind of a strange day for me as far as that goes. For the last 12 years or so it’s been a little bit of a different story.”

That story has changed into shadowing Stroud at work and getting ready to take his real estate exam. His professional hockey career will soon be a memory, but it will be empty of regrets.

“I was never going to be a superstar NHL player and I understood that,” said Brent, who will play his first hockey game post-retirement this weekend during the 2016 Hespeler Reunion.

“It’s a great game and it’s given me a ton, and I’m a little bit bias, but I believe it’s the best game in the world. I enjoyed every bit of it. There’s obviously ups and downs in a career, but that’s in everything. You’re not going to find better people in anything, in my opinion. Those are the things you end up taking away from it, more so than some of those ups and downs.