When you think of brothers playing in the NHL, the first family that may come to mind is the trio of Quinn, Jack, and Luke Hughes, or perhaps the quartet of Eric, Marc, Jared, and Jordan Staal. But before this modern-day family affair, one group of brothers took the NHL by storm -- and the league will never see another family like it.
The Sutter brothers were staples of the NHL throughout the '70s, '80s and '90s. With six different brothers enjoying long and prosperous careers, at least one member of the Sutter family skated in 24 straight seasons.
Their humble beginnings can be traced back to a farm in Viking, Alberta. As boys, the brothers would lace up the skates and play pond hockey on a frozen slough on the property, which sat on 3,200 acres of land about 85 miles south of Edmonton.
The siblings all grew up tending to the land before each brother left one by one in their teens to pursue a professional hockey career. Although, legend has it that the oldest brother, Gary, was actually the best hockey player out of the group but he chose to remain on the family farm instead of going pro with his career.
"To think that we all could move on and move up and play at the highest level is probably a remarkable thing. "Darryl Sutter (nhl.com)
The Sutters cemented themselves in NHL record books for having the most members of a single family reach the highest level of hockey. That peaked when, during the 1983-84 season, the New York Islanders featuring Brent and Duane faced off against the Philadelphia Flyers, who had twins Rich and Ron on the roster. That is the first and only time in history that four brothers skated in a single NHL matchup.
Between the six of them, the Sutters played a combined 4,996 games and recorded 2,934 points. The fourth brother in line, Brent, was the most skilled on the ice by some metrics, having tallied the most points out of the siblings with 829 points in 1,111 games. Ron is the only other to skate in over 1,000 matchups, amassing 533 points and 1,352 PIM in that time.
Duane was the most decorated of the group, lifting the Stanley Cup in four straight years as a member of the Islanders' dynasty team. Brent was alongside him for two of those championships in 1982 and 1983.
As the youngest brother, Rich was surrounded by his family during his career, playing alongside Brent and his twin Ron at different points and even being coached by Brian and Darryl. Rich played in 874 games from 1982 to 1995, racking up 315 points and 1,411 penalty minutes.
The NHL legacy of the Sutter brothers
The family affair didn't stop when the skates were hung up. Several members of the Sutter family have gone on to front office jobs or even head coaching gigs.
The eldest NHLer, Brian, had his number retired by the St. Louis Blues and went on to coach the Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins, and Calgary Flames, being named coach of the year in 1991-92. Brothers Rich and Duane both served as pro scouts after retiring from playing.
Most notable of the group, Darryl coached the Los Angeles Kings to each of their Stanley Cup victories in 2012 and 2014, earning the Jack Adams Award in 2022 when he was behind the bench for the Calgary Flames. He is now the owner of the large property that they grew up on.
Brent went on to coach the New Jersey Devils and Calgary Flames, but had a tremendous amount of success behind the bench for the WHL's Red Deer Rebels. That team won the Memorial Cup in 2001 under his guidance. He also led Canada to back-to-back gold medals at the IIHF World Junior Championships in 2006 and 2007. To this day, he remains with the Rebels as general manager.
There was even a second generation of Sutters: Brandon (son of Brent), Brett (son of Darryl), and Brody (son of Duane) all spent time in the NHL as well. Brandon had the longest career, playing 770 NHL games and recording 289 points.
Whether it was nature or nurture, the Sutter family was something special and the NHL will never see another group of brothers perform at such a high level again.