Al Arbour used to inform a younger Brent Sutter to not play with a chip on his shoulder.
The Islanders, who already had one Sutter among the many group leaders in penalty minutes, didn’t want one other doing the identical.
Arbour advised Sutter he may very well be like Stan Mikita, the Blackhawks Corridor of Fame centerman who’d frequently been among the many league leaders in penalty minutes early in his profession earlier than chopping again and harnessing his full potential.
“After that message was said and Brent accepted it, he became a complete player,” Duane Sutter advised The Submit by cellphone final week earlier than flying to Lengthy Island to observe his brother, Brent, be inducted into the Islanders Corridor of Fame. “Brent kind of pulled the reins in a little bit on that style of game and focused more on being a solid two-way player.”
Brent Sutter, who was honored earlier than Saturday’s 4-1 win in opposition to the Sharks and added into the Islanders’ newly minted Ring of Honor at UBS Area, did greater than turn out to be a strong two-way participant.
He was an integral a part of two of the 4 Islanders’ Stanley Cup-winning groups, group captain from 1987-91 and a 100-point scorer in 1984-85.
Brent and Duane Sutter are additionally certainly one of simply 10 units of brothers to win the Stanley Cup collectively — a connection cherished by each.
“When you’re a player, you take that for granted, right?” Brent Sutter mentioned on a Zoom name after his induction was introduced in November. “And you don’t realize until you’re done with the game how neat it was to play with a brother and to win a Stanley Cup [together]. And not just one year, but two years.”
Sutter is the sixteenth participant elected to the group’s Corridor of Fame, and the primary for the reason that group moved from Nassau Coliseum.
At age 62, he’s nonetheless working in hockey because the proprietor and normal supervisor of the WHL’s Purple Deer Rebels, and the Sutter household — 5 brothers made it to the NHL, with Darryl changing into a Stanley Cup-winning coach after his taking part in profession — is hockey royalty.
Upon the unique announcement, he mentioned getting the decision from Lou Lamoriello — for whom he had coached beneath with the Devils in 2007-09 — made him emotional.
“Obviously it means a lot,” Sutter mentioned. “It’s hard to explain. Anytime you get inducted into something like this, it’s a significant accomplishment and I understand that and know that.”
Simon Holmstrom (higher physique) and Alexander Romanov (higher physique) each returned to the lineup for Saturday’s recreation and performed a standard load of minutes, with Romanov slotting again into the highest pair and Holmstrom onto the third line.
With Maxim Tsyplakov suspended, Marc Gatcomb was referred to as again up from Bridgeport to fill the roster spot.
