Tkachuk reunion with Panthers adds to history of brothers as teammates

Legendary hockey reporter Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. Fischler, also known as "The Hockey Maven," brings his insight and humor to readers each Wednesday. The trade of Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers that reunited him with his older brother, Matthew, reflects a brotherly tradition that began in the earliest days of the NHL and vigorously continues to the present.

When the Florida Panthers acquired Brady Tkachuk in a trade with the Ottawa Senators on June 21, it added to a decades-long array of brothers as teammates.

"It's still hard to believe that it happened," Brady said via the Panthers website after he was reunited with Matthew Tkachuk, a two-time Stanley Cup champion with Florida (2024, '25). "To be with him, and part of a Stanley Cup-winning team, wow!"

History reveals that a brother act can put a team on the trail of the Stanley Cup.

Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman Denis Potvin, the captain of the New York Islanders teams that won the Cup from 1980-83, has said he could not have contributed to the dynasty without his other brother, Jean Potvin. Teammates Duane Sutter and Brent Sutter played a similar swashbuckling game like the Tkachuks. Duane was nicknamed "Dog" because of his bulldog intensity and skated for all four seasons of the dynasty; Brent in 1982 and 1983.

"The two Sutters had a nice blend," Islanders general manager Bill Torrey once told me. "Duane had a bigger bite, but Brent had the greater skill. As a pair, they were indispensable."

The New Jersey Devils will be leaning heavily on United States Olympic hero Jack Hughes and his younger brother, Luke Hughes, to get them back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Nick Foligno was traded to the Minnesota Wild by the Chicago Blackhawks on March 6, reuniting him with Marcus Foligno.

"You don't ever take it for granted," Nick told NHL.com ahead of his Wild debut, a 5-0 win against the Utah Mammoth at Grand Casino Arena on March 10. "Listen, we played a long time, and we’re privileged to play in the NHL but to get a chance to (when) your brothers in the NHL, to play with him, it's an amazing feeling."

When Calgary Flames president of hockey operations Don Maloney was inducted into the New York State Hockey Hall of Fame on July 12, he asserted that his older brother, Dave Maloney, was his mentor on the New York Rangers for six years.

"Being with Dave in New York reminded me what it was like when we were kids," Don said at the event. "I was 7 and Dave was 9 when we played on the same neighborhood team. He helped me then as he did when we were Rangers."

The 1927-28 Rangers won the Cup in only their second season thanks to Bill and Bun Cook. Along with center Frank Boucher, the Cooks played together for the first 10 years of the Rangers' existence and helped them win another championship in 1933.

"That line turned the Rangers into one of the NHL's greatest franchises," NHL president Clarence Campbell said during a reunion of the line at Madison Square Garden in November 1947. "But without the Cooks' contribution it never would have happened."

Maurice Richard and Henri Richard of the Montreal Canadiens together won 19 Stanley Cup rings, a record-breaking 11 for Henri and eight for Maurice. They were an oddity in that Maurice was 34 years old in 1955, when 19-year-old Henri broke into the lineup.

The 15-year disparity was never a problem. The Canadiens won the Stanley Cup five times in the five seasons they skated together. Both were named among the "100 Greatest NHL Players" in 2017.

"I was getting old when Henri came along, but he made me feel young and helped extend my hockey life by a few good years " Maurice recalled in his autobiography, "The Flying Frenchman: Hockey's Greatest Dynasty."

Bobby Hull and kid brother Dennis Hull were teammates on the Chicago Black Hawks for eight seasons. Doug and Max Bentley joined Bill Mosienko to form the "Pony Line" that in the 1940s was the talk of the Windy City until Max was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Nov. 2, 1947.

The most heartfelt brotherly reunion took place during the 1953-54 season, when an aging Max Bentley was a Rangers center and his older brother, Doug Bentley, was a player-coach for Saskatoon in the Pacific Coast Hockey League.

"I got Doug to make a comeback, and he flew in for a big game against the Bruins (on Jan. 20, 1954) at the (Boston) Garden. The Bentleys never looked better " Rangers general manager Frank Boucher wrote in his autobiography "When the Rangers Were Young."

Brady Tkachuk will understand.

"I wish the season started tomorrow," he said.