Hughes brothers join exclusive NHL club tonight in Canucks-Devils game

The Hughes brothers — Quinn, Jack, and Luke — are joining an exclusive club. All three siblings will be in the lineup when the Vancouver Canucks take on the New Jersey Devils at Rogers Arena tonight.

The Hughes will become just the ninth family in NHL history to have three or more brothers play in the same game. The last family to have three brothers play in the same game was the Staal family, featuring Eric, Jordan, and Marc.

The Sutter family holds the record for most brothers to play in a single game, with four, when Rich, Ron, Duane, and Brent all played in the same game in 1983.

Quinn, Jack, and Luke Hughes are the second American trio of brothers to play in the same game, joining Neal, Paul, and Aaron Broten, who achieved the feat during the 1989-90 season.

“I think it’s great for hockey,” Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet told reporters after practice. “Look at the talent of those three guys. It’s incredible.”

The brothers’ parents, Jim and Ellen, will be in attendance for the historic night.

“How close they are as brothers, and how much they love each other, and how much they want each other to do so well is really the story for me,” Tocchet added. “It’s a very close-knit family.”

NHL families with three brothers in same game

• Boucher (first: 1921-22; last: 1923-24)
• Cook (first: 1931-32; last: 1934-35)
• Bentley (1942-43)
• Plager (first: 1967-68; last: 1975-76)
• Stastny (first: 1981-82; last: 1985-86)
• Sutter (first: 1981-82; last: 1993-94)
• Broten (1989-90)
• Staal (first: 2012-13; last: 2022-23)
• Hughes (2023-24)

Quinn is not the first Canucks player to come from a famous hockey-playing family. The Sedins, Henrik and Daniel, are the highest-scoring twins in NHL history. Geoff and Russ Courtnall each had successful NHL careers, including a short stint together on the Canucks in 1994-95.

Pavel Bure’s brother, Valeri, scored 400 points during his 621-game NHL career.

Rich Sutter, a Canuck for four seasons from 1986 to 1990, is one of six Sutter brothers to play in the NHL, along with Brent, Brian, Darryl, Duane, and his twin brother Ron. More recently, Brandon Sutter, the son of Brent and nephew of Brian, Darryl, Duane, Rich, and Ron, played for the Canucks. Brandon’s cousin Brett Sutter also played briefly in the league.

Then there are the “other brothers” to play for the Canucks, notably Sean Pronger, Steve Kariya, and Fedor Fedorov.

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