Have we seen the last of the Sutter family play in the NHL?
One of the longest family lineages in the NHL may be finally coming to an end.
After sending eight players to the NHL across two generations, the Sutter family looks like they have no more NHL hopefuls in the pipeline after Brett Sutter, who was in the Calgary Flames AHL system, announced his retirement last week.
Sutter was immediately named an assistant coach with the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers following his retirement.
A Wranglers legend š«”
Captain Brett Sutter has announced his retirement from playing and is joining the Wranglers as an assistant coach: https://t.co/ZDXfMGwQ5N pic.twitter.com/bI0hAlxDJJ
— Calgary Wranglers (@AHLWranglers) July 15, 2024
The saga of the Sutters and their ability to get into the NHL began in the 1970s and 80s as a large family from the small town of Viking, Alberta. Six brothers in that family, Brian, Darryl, Duane, Brent, Ron, and Rich, all followed the same path that eventually led to the NHL. This included playing for the Red Deer Rustlers of the AJHL and then the Lethbridge Broncos of the WHL before eventually being drafted into the NHL.
Brian, Duane, Brent, and Darryl became NHL coaches, GMs, or scouts after their playing careers ended.
Brett was part of the second-generation Sutters to make the NHL. Alongside him was Brandon Sutter, who retired last year, and Brody, who hasn’t played in the NHL since 2016 and hasn’t played any professional hockey since 2022.
Lukas Sutter was drafted by the Winnipeg Jets in 2012 but went unsigned and re-entered the draft in 2014 and was selected by the New York Islanders. Despite getting drafted twice, Lukas never appeared in an NHL game and seemingly retired following the 2017-18 season.
This leaves Riley Sutter as the only active member of the family currently playing pro hockey. The 24-year-old Sutter was drafted by the Washington Capitals back in 2018 and has yet to play a single game in the NHL. Instead, he has spent five seasons playing with the Capitals’ AHL affiliate Hershey Bears, where he won two consecutive league championships.
Riley recently signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Capitals shortly after free agency opened.
Outside of Riley, there doesn’t appear to be any up-and-coming members of the family waiting for the torch to be passed to a third-generation of NHL players.
If this is the end of the Sutter’s reign over the NHL it will go down in history as one of the greatest family lineages in all of professional sports.
Follow Channels and Categories