Draft to the Hartford Whalers for Jim Dowd, Frantisek Kucera and the Whalers second round pick in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft. Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes Brown finished the 1995–96 season with the Hartford Whalers, appearing in 48 games, scoring seven goals and 38 points to lead the team defense in scoring, but the Whalers failed to reach the post-season. During the season opener of the 1996–97 season against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Brown suffered from a back injury, which required season-ending disc fusion surgery, causing him to miss the entire season. In his only game, he was held off the scoresheet. During the summer of 1997, the Whalers franchise relocated and became the Carolina Hurricanes for the 1997–98 season. In 32 games with the Hurricanes, Brown struggled offensively, scoring three goals and 13 points. On December 20, 1997, Brown suffered a deep gash in his shin from a Washington Capitals players skate, resulting the injury be stitched up, as Brown was able to return to action. On January 2, 1998, the Hurricanes traded Brown to the Toronto Maple Leafs for the Maple Leafs fourth round draft pick in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft. This trade was made the day before Kirk McLean was acquired from the Vancouver Canucks. (Brown's son Logan, later to become a first-round pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, was born in Raleigh two months later as Brown's family stayed behind following the mid-season trade.) Toronto Maple Leafs After playing three games with the Toronto Maple Leafs following his trade from the Carolina Hurricanes, the shin injury that Brown suffered while playing with the Hurricanes was not healing very well, and Brown began experiencing severe chills and became very ill. He asked Toronto trainers if he could go home, but trainers Chris Broadhurst and Brent Smith spotted something wrong with the scar on his leg. Its inflammation appeared to be spreading to other parts of the body. Broadhurst and Smith insisted that Brown see a doctor, but by the time he got there, he was already in shock. Unsure what was wrong, the trainers then rushed him to the hospital, where doctors performed emergency surgery. They found a potentially deadly virus related to the flesh-eating bacteria, had entered the infected area of Brown's leg. The surgery saved Brown's life, and he returned to action for Toronto's February 4, 1998, game against the St. Louis Blues. Brown would