Education
He attended John Dickinson High School in the Wilmington suburbs but played his youth hockey across the state line in Pennsylvania.
He attended John Dickinson High School in the Wilmington suburbs but played his youth hockey across the state line in Pennsylvania.
He is the only National Hockey League player to ever come from Delaware. Eaton started his post-secondary competition with the Waterloo Black Hawks of the United States Hockey League (USHL). He was named second team all-USHL, was the league"s third-leading scoring defenseman and was honored with the Curt Hammer Award as the USHL"s most gentlemanly player.
Eaton then moved on to the University of Notre Dame of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA).
Eaton signed an undrafted free agent contract with the Philadelphia Flyers on August 4, 1998. Eaton made his National Hockey League debut on October 2, 1999, against the Ottawa Senators, becoming the first Philadelphia-area native to play for the Flyers.
He played his first playoff game in the National Hockey League for the Flyers on April 13 against the Buffalo Sabres. Eaton was traded from the Flyers to the Nashville Predators on September 29, 2000, for a third round pick.
While playing for the Predators in 2003-2004, he set the franchise record for plus/minus at +16.
He scored a career-high three assists in a 5–3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on October 25, 2003. The Pittsburgh Penguins signed Eaton on July 3, 2006, as a free agent. He saw limited time in his first two seasons, suffering with injuries, playing only 71 games between in 2006-2007 and 2007-2008.
He scored his first goal with the Penguins on December 3, 2008.
He signed with the New York Islanders as a free agent to a two-year contract on July 2, 2010. On January 22, 2013, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL announced Eaton had signed with the team on a Professional Try Out.
He was released in February, and started skating with his former National Hockey League team, the Pittsburgh Penguins. On February 25, the Penguins signed Eaton to a 1-year deal worth $725,000.
In 2014, he is now a developing coach with the Hershey Bears.