Will the Panthers’ Tkachuks crack this list of the NHL’s best brother teammates?
The rest of the NHL groans at the Panthers acquiring yet another pounding forward with scorer’s touch in Brady Tkachuk. Wasn’t it bad enough that nobody’s been able to keep a healthy Panthers team out of the Stanley Cup Final since they traded for Matthew Tkachuk?
Both Tkachuks forecheck-bodycheck-check-the-back-of-the-net style leaves no doubt they’re father Keith’s sons (Dad Tkachuk got the Hall of Fame call on Tuesday, so pretty good week for the family). Both are in their prime.
Can they crack the following list as one of the greatest sets of brother teammates in NHL history?
1. Maurice and Henri Richard, Montreal, 1955-60.
There really isn’t a competition for No. 1.
Right wing Maurice “Rocket” Richard, the NHL’s first 50-goal single-season scorer and first 500-career goal scorer, occasionally got called “hockey’s Babe Ruth” for his dynamic production. OK, but nobody ever threw a riot over Babe Ruth that’s still considered a ethno-political touchstone (Google “Richard Riot”). Maurice remained an icon to players born years after his 1960 retirement, especially French-Canadians. He had been retired 39 years when the NHL created the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy for each season’s top goal scorer. That’s long respect.
In 1955-56, the season after the Richard Riot and Maurice’s last season leading the league in goals, Henri Richard joined the Canadiens. Possessing Maurice’s speed, but not his size (or violent temper), the “Pocket Rocket” led the league in assists his third season, also the third season of Montreal’s record five consecutive Stanley Cups. Maurice, the captain of that entire run, retired. Henri played another 15 seasons, retiring with a record 11 Stanley Cups.
Both Maurice and Henri Richard were tap-in Hall of Fame selections.
READ MORE: Brady Tkachuk is a Florida Panther. His ‘sole focus is the Stanley Cup’
2. Henrik and Daniel Sedin, Vancouver Canucks, 2000-2018
Two questions going into the 1999 NHL Draft: could anybody figure out a way to draft twin top forward prospects out of Sweden’s Modo, Henrik and Daniel Sedin? And, if no team could, how would the twins respond to being separated for the first time since their zygote days?
We will never know the answer to the latter because Vancouver Canucks general manager Brian Burke engineered a series of trades that slotted the Canucks at Nos. 2 and 3 in the draft. After the Atlanta Thrashers (now Winnipeg Jets, Second Version) took Patrik Stefan at No. 1, left wing Daniel and center Henrik went to Vancouver.
And, that’s where they stayed until they retired together in 2018. The only question about them would be their right wing. When Alex Burrows had the job from 2008 to 2013, Henrik led the league in assists three seasons in a row, 2009-12, won the 2009-10 scoring title and Daniel won the scoring title in 2010-11, when the Canucks lost to Boston in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Henrik ended his career with 1,041 points, Daniel had 1,041. And, they went into the Hall of Fame together (of course) in 2022.
3. Peter, Anton and Marian Stastny, Quebec Nordiques, 1980-89 (1981-85 for Marian)
Even someone who barely knows a puck from a duck could guess Wayne Gretzky led the NHL in scoring for the 1980s. True puckheads know No. 2 was Peter Stastny and why he’s one of the most important players in NHL history.
The Quebec Nordiques had drafted the youngest Stastny, Anton, in 1979, but weren’t sure if they could get him out of Cold War Czechoslovakia. All three played well for a disappointing Czechoslovakia team at the 1980 Olympics — the gold medal U.S. team announced itself by pasting Czechoslovakia 7-3 — and Peter was 1980’s Czechoslovakian Player of the Year.
But, Peter could be as vocal about dissatisfaction with the government as he could be physical around the net. Knowing Peter was a target and longing for life beyond the Iron Curtain, Peter brought his pregnant wife with him to an August 1980 tournament in Austria. He got on a pay phone and let Nordiques executives know he and Anton were ready to defect.
The execs helped the Stastny’s execute a plan that included an automotive escape from authorities that mashed up James Bond and “Smokey and the Bandit.”
They defected in time for the 1980-81 season, the first star Eastern European players to defect in or before their prime. Older brother Marian, his wife and three kids suffered proxy punishment from the Czechoslovakian government for a year until they were able to turn a home improvement trip into an escape from the Iron Curtain.
Quebec City loved the Stastnys. They learned French and became true members of the community.
In his four seasons in Quebec, Marian scored 98 goals and put up 241 points in 252 games. Anton spent all nine NHL seasons with Quebec, getting 630 points in 652 games.
After breaking the stereotype of European-trained players as talented marshmallows, Peter went into the Hall of Fame in 1998, mostly on his 1,048 points in 10 seasons with Quebec.
4. Bobby and Dennis Hull, Chicago Blackhawks, 1964-72
Broad-shouldered, big for the era at 5-10, 195 and both the NHL’s fastest skater and hardest shooter from the late 1950s into the 1970s, Bobby Hull terrified defensemen and goalies and electrified fans. One NHL goalie recalled trying to make a glove save on a Hull slapshot only to feel the puck on the back of his glove... on its way out of the net. Easily the greatest left wing until the 1970s, perhaps still ever, The Golden Jet led the NHL in goals eight times in his first 12 seasons, raising the single season goals record to 58.
Though possessing similar height and weight, Dennis Hull lacked the speed and power of his older brother (by five years. Still, Dennis’ shot made goalies find or rediscover religion, especially during the early days of unregulated stick curves. He joined the Blackhawks in 1964 and from 1966- to 1972, he averaged 26 goals per season.
What broke up the Hulls? Another league. The Winnipeg Jets of the brand new World Hockey Association, looking for a big name to establish credibility, made a play for Bobby. He threw out $1 million as an amount, never figuring the new franchise would accept it. Knowing the worth of getting Bobby Hull, other WHA owners helped Winnipeg pay Hull’s $1 million signing bonus and $1.75 million, 10-year contract.
Bobby retired in 1980 and went into the Hall of Fame at the speed of one of his slapshots.
5. (tie) Denis and Jean Potvin, New York Islanders, 1973-78, 1979-81 and Brent and Duane Sutter, New York Islanders, 1981-87
Yeah, we kind of punked out in choosing between these two pairs. At least we didn’t make a three-way tie with Frank and Peter Mahovlich, winners of two Cups in three-plus seasons together in Montreal.
As the first-year Islanders closed one of the worst seasons in NHL history, defenseman Jean Potvin came via trade from Philadlephia. Then, Islanders general manager and future Panthers president Bill Torrey ignored all trade offers for 1973’s No. 1 overall draft pick, instead using it on the reason for those trade offers: defenseman Denis Potvin, devastatingly physical while being deft with the puck.
The Islanders quickly matured into the NHL’s Dynasty on Deck, the expected Cup winners once Montreal’s late-1970s dynasty faded. Jean and Denis became Islanders fixtures, Denis as captain and one of the NHL’s best defensemen. Late in Denis’ second Norris Trophy (Best Defenseman) season, the Isles included Jean in a trade with the dying Cleveland Barons. He returned to the Islanders during the 1979 offseason.
Jean Potvin spent his last two seasons as an Islanders spare part while his brother and captain accepted the Stanley Cup the first two of four consecutive times. Denis Potvin retired in 1988, and went into the Hall of Fame in 1991.
One of the NHL’s original six Sutters, right wing grinder Duane, joined the Islanders in 1979-80, their first of the Cup seasons, and would be a valued third-liner until he was traded to Chicago in 1987. Center Brent Sutter came in 1981 with the same Sutter work ethic and a tad more scoring touch, averaging 28.1 goals per season during the years he and Duane were teammates.
Montreal’s five-Cup streak, achieved during an era when only two playoff series wins were needed, remains the standard for teams....unless you’d take the Islanders’ 19 consecutive playoff series wins that brought them four straight Stanley Cups and had them playing for a fifth in 1984.
