New Canucks defenceman is the less-famous brother of Canadian Olympic hero

Not many NHL players qualify as the second-most famous person in their family, but that is the case for new Vancouver Canucks defenceman Jamie Oleksiak.

You may be familiar with his little sister, Penny.

With seven Olympic medals in her career, Penny Oleksiak is tied for Canada’s all-time record. Penny burst onto the scene at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics, winning four medals in swimming at age 16. She added three more medals at Tokyo 2020.

Jamie, who is eight years older than Penny, signed a two-year contract with the Canucks on Wednesday. The 33-year-old is an imposing figure on the blue line, listed at 6-foot-7 and 251 pounds.

Height runs in the family, apparently, as Penny is listed at 6-foot-1.

“She’s still my little sister, right? Even now, whenever I see her, I don’t really see her as the big Olympian swimmer. I think we do a good job of putting our jobs aside and just being siblings,” Jamie said of his sister before the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. “Me, Penny, and my other sister, we’re pretty close. Whenever we get together, we don’t really talk too much about it. But watching her [compete], it’s surreal.”

Jamie will probably be like a big brother to a few of his new Canucks teammates. The veteran blueliner should be a mentor and protector for the young Canucks players, and in particular, young defencemen like Zeev Buium, Tom Willander, and Elias Pettersson.

As the lone veteran defenceman that plays the left side, it’s probably a safe bet to expect Oleksiak to line up next to right-shot defenceman Tom Willander next season.

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