The NHL’s family scoring race, an unofficial compiling of the collective point totals of families who have had two or more members in the league, changed last season with three families moving up in the Top 20 while the Sutter family moved closer to the number one spot.
Most family scoring teams are simply brothers, but fathers, sons, cousins and uncles are also prominent in some of the highest scoring families.
NHL Brothers
There have been families with more than one member playing in the NHL since the beginning. In the league’s first season of 1917-18, Corbett Denneny played for the Ottawa Senators while his brother Cy played for the Toronto Arenas (the first NHL team to win the Stanley Cup) and each went on to distinguished careers.
The following year Sprague and Odie Cleghorn began their NHL careers and have the distinction of becoming the first of 10 pairs of brothers who have won the Stanley Cup together, doing so with the 1923-24 Montreal Canadiens.
If asked to name the family who collectively have scored more points than any other family in the history of the NHL most fans in fact say the Sutters — but no. Within two or three seasons it may be but the leader now is the Hull family. Bobby, brother Dennis and Bobby’s son Brett, have collectively scored 3,215 regular season NHL points and have for many years sat atop the NHL Family Scoring List.
Sutters in NHL
Last season’s movement on the list includes the Sutters gaining points with Brandon, son of Brent, now with the Vancouver Canucks but with the Pittsburgh Penguins last season, and cousin Brett, son of Darryl, providing the offence (Brett had three points with the Minnesota Wild). But the Sutter family was already in second place and remain there.
Indeed the Sutters have owned second place for many years and the eight of them sit now at 3,129 points, 86 points behind the Hulls. Now Brandon, 26, is not a big point producer and Brett, 28, fighting for a regular NHL job, has but 10 career points, so it will take time before they vault their family into first place overall.
There is a ninth Sutter who has played, briefly, in the NHL, Brody, 23, son of Duane, but in the four games he played last season for the Carolina Hurricanes he did not record his first point. Any more on the way? That is a possibility.
While Shaun, son of Brian, played professionally in the ECHL and in the U.K., he retired without making the NHL. But Lukas, son of Rich, plays in the WHL, while cousin Riley, son of Ron, was just picked out of the Bantam draft by Everett and signed with the Silvertips on September 1.
NHL family scoring
A family that has moved up over the past two season is the Thorntons; San Jose Shark Joe and his first cousin, Scott Thornton, who retired in 2008. Joe’s 65 points last season vaulted the Thornton boys into 18th place on the family scoring list, a point up on brothers Geoff and Russ Courtnall and 5 ahead of Aaron, Neal and Paul Broten.
In 2013-14 Joe and Scott — who obviously isn’t contributing any new points — ousted Jeff Beukeboom, Joe Nieuwendyk and the late Ed Kea from the top 20. Nieuwendyk and Beukeboom are cousins and Kea was their uncle.
Not surprisingly Daniel and Henrik Sedin are in the top 20; a combined 149 points last season has them in 12th place with a total of 1,796, a single point up on Alain Lemieux and brother Mario Lemieux. In 2014-15 they also passed Dale, Dave and Mark Hunter and Brian and Joe Mullen.
The season before the identical twins, the highest ranking Swedes on the list, passed the Esposito brothers, Phil and goalie Tony, who had 25 assists in his career. And with a strong 2015-16 the Sedins could vault all the way in the seventh place on the all-time list. To get there they’ll need to combine for 119 points.
Should they collectively score another 216 points the Sedins will pass Henry and Rocket Richard for sixth. But to get to fifth they need another 835 points to eclipse Gordie, Vic, Mark and Marty Howe, with 2,630 points. Had they not encountered two lockouts they might have a shot at it.
Stastnys and Staals
And thanks to Paul Stastny, now of the St. Louis Blues, he and brother Yan, father Peter and uncles Anton and Marian jumped over Gordie and the rest of the Howes during the 2013-14 season into 4th place and now have 2,689 points. They may not catch the Gretzky family for 3rd before Paul retires, however. Wayne and brother Brent Gretzky are 172 points in front of the Stastnys.
Given Wayne had 2,857 points and Brent four, we’ll give the Great One most of the credit for his family’s place on the list. Wayne is of course the top point scorer in NHL history and has 970 more points than second place Mark Messier. Messier also makes the family scoring race, combining with cousins Mitch and Joby for 8th place with 1,953 points (Mark’s brother Paul played a few games in the NHL but did not record a point).
Up and coming families? Well, when it comes to the Top 20 the only family knocking on the door is the Staal family, Marc, Eric, Jordan and Jared. Jared has only played two games in the NHL and hasn’t recorded a point but his older siblings have combined for 1,216 points and are just 323 points removed from the Top 20.
This all may sound trivial but if you study the list below you might find yourself gaining a considerable amount of cache the next time you’re part of a conversation about scoring in the NHL. Wanna know more about families in the world’s best hockey league? There is a Wikipedia site that lists NHL families that even includes those related by marriage.
At any rate, without further hockey ado, I give you the Top 20 of the (admittedly unofficial) National Hockey League Family Scoring Race:
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1) 3,215 Bobby, Dennis and Brett Hull
2) 3,129 Brandon, Brent, Brett, Brian, Darryl, Duane, Rich and Ron Sutter
3) 2,861 Brent and Wayne Gretzky
4) 2,689 Anton, Marian, Paul, Peter and Yan Stastny
5) 2,630 Gordie, Mark, Marty and Vic Howe
6) 2,011 Henry and Maurice Richard
7) 1,911 Gilbert and Marcel Dionne
8) 1,893 Joby, Mark and Mitch Messier
9) 1,876 Frank and Peter Mahovlich
10) 1,822 Pierre and Sylvain Turgeon
11) 1,811 Ron Francis and Mike Liut
12) 1796 Daniel and Henrik Sedin
13) 1,795 Alain and Mario Lemieux
14) 1,727 Dale, Dave and Mark Hunter
15) 1,685 Brian and Joe Mullen
16) 1,615 Phil and Tony Esposito
17) 1,587 Chris and Ray Bourque
18) 1544 Joe and Scott Thornton
19) 1,543 Russ and Geoff Courtnall
20) 1,539 Aaron, Neal and Paul Broten
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