The NHL has seen its share of brothers. The Richards, the Hulls, the Drydens, the Sedins. They’re all part of proud hockey families. Perhaps the most famous NHL family is that of the Sutter family of Viking, Alberta, who saw six brothers reach the NHL in the 70s and 80s. All six of them wore an NHL jersey from 79-87, but the generation as a whole played in over 5,000 regular season and playoff games between 1976-2001 and won six Stanley Cups.

Brian, Darryl, Duane, Brent, Rich and Ron all reached the NHL the same way. They played with the Red Deer Rustlers of the AJHL in junior, and then went to the WHL’s Lethbridge Broncos before being drafted by their respective NHL clubs. Brian was taken 20th in the 1976 Entry Draft by St. Louis. Darryl was selected 179th overall, the lowest pick in his family, by Chicago in 1979. The Islanders picked up a pair of Sutter’s, selecting Duane 17th overall in 1979 and Brent 17th as well in 1980. The final two twin brothers were taken in 1982; Ron by Philadelphia 4th overall, the highest in the family, and Rich 10th overall by Pittsburgh.

Duane and Brent are the only two brothers to have their names on the Stanley Cup. Duane won four with the Islanders between 1980 and 1983, while Brent joined him for the final two. Individually, Brent was the most successful, playing in 1,255 total games, scoring 393 goals and 903 points overall. Darryl spent the least amount of time in the NHL with just 457 total games, gathering 185 goals and 322 points. The six averaged for 8,394 career penalty minutes, and Darryl, with his shorter career, had just 314 of those while Brian topped the list with 2,035.

With the success of the Sutter brothers, it was only a matter of time that people started looking to the next generation of kids to start breaking into the NHL. Brandon Sutter is a member of the Carolina Hurricanes, while Brent Sutter plays for the Calgary Flames’ NHL-affiliate, the Abbotsford Heat. The most interesting part of this story might be that there is a seventh Sutter, Gary, whom the rest say was the best hockey player of them all. However, he stayed home to work on his family farm. Who knows what kind of things he could have accomplished had he strapped on the NHL skates as well.