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Hockey royalty Maurice and Henri Richard

CASTLE DANGER – The dog days of NHL summer are in full swing and all is quiet in the State of Hockey at the moment. 

Since the Wild are pretty slim on flexibility right now with only $1.5 mil left in cap space, I expect they will stay that way. The persistent rumor of GM Bill Guerin trying to make a deal for CBJ forward Patrik Laine still pops up from time to time, but with Laine currently in the league’s player assistance program, any team that has interest is in a holding pattern. 

Laine has been a pretty good player throughout his 8-season career, but I have always viewed him as a player who could get much more out of himself. In 480 games he has 388 points on 204 goals and 184 assists. 

In about 8 weeks, the team will gather for the start of training camp and this camp has some items of interest that will command team and fan attention. The club currently has 22 of 23 major league contracts available in place, and it will be interesting to see how that plays out. 

While engaging in some meaningless summertime conjecture, these are my thoughts on a possible opening night roster. 

For the forwards I believe these will be the 12 who suit up, it’s kind of tough right now to determine any line combinations, but here it is, Kaprizov, Khusnutdinov, Boldy, Eriksson Ek, Hartman, Trenin, Zuccarello, Ohgren, Foligno, Gaudreau, Rossi and Johansson. 

For the defense, Spurgeon, Faber, Middleton, Brodin, Bogosian and Chisholm. 
Between the pipes will be Gustafsson and Fleury. 

The 3 extras will be Boyd, Lauko and Merrill. Obviously, this is subject to change. 

Right now I think this team could surprise but deep down I am expecting a second consecutive season of missing the playoffs. As far as their “rebuild on the run” or whatever the team is calling this, it has been interesting, to say the least. 

But when I start contemplating the future and the club’s Stanley Cup chances, it’s hard to see where this is going. When I compare the Wild to teams that are in contention, both now and in the future, I can’t see it. They may make their way back into the top 10 teams in the show, but that’s all I can see. 

When I consider what a Cup team needs I have always believed it must include two top 10 in the world forwards, one top 10 or top five defensemen in the world, and a world-class netminder. This team isn’t there as of right now. 

It has been fun through the years to observe brother duos who are or have been teammates in the NHL. There have been a few and it seems that the bulk of them have been fairly good players. 

My all-time favorites are the Richard brothers from the Montreal Canadiens. Maurice “the Rocket” Richard (8 Cups) and his younger brother Henri “the Pocket Rocket” Richard (11 Cups) hold a record 19 Stanley Cup rings between them. I firmly believe the record will never be broken. All of them were won as players as neither ever went into team management positions. 

Neither do I think that Henri’s 11 rings as a player will ever be broken. These two are considered Hockey Royalty and I’d be the last person on earth to dispute that. Maurice played 18 seasons and Henri played 20. These brothers are Quebecois legends.  

The next pair would be the Mahovlich brothers, Frank and Pete. While they played for more than one club in their storied careers, they were teammates on the Canadiens’ 1971 and 1973 Cup-winning teams. They were also among the favorites of my youth. 

Another brother duo who I really liked was the Hull brothers, Bobby and Dennis. While Bobby was the internationally known superstar, Dennis was an underrated and underappreciated player in my opinion. He was a lot better player than many ever gave him credit for. They played 8 seasons together in the Windy City before Bobby bolted for the WHA. They went to 2 Cup Final series as teammates, losing both.

No list of this type would be complete without the Sutter brothers from Viking, Alberta. But there wasn’t just a pair of them, there were six! Brent, Brian, Daryl, Duane, Rich and Ron came right off the farm and into the National. Between the six they have won 8 Stanley Cups. Duane won 4 as part of the early ‘80s Islander dynasty, with Brent joining him for 2 of those. Daryl won two as the Head Coach of the Los Angeles Kings. 

They all played the fast, hard-nosed style of hockey and were efficient players. During his coaching career, Daryl became known for his colorful pressers, turning them into must-see TV!
Right up the road from Thunder Bay, Ontario, are the Staal brothers – Eric, Marc, Jordan,and Jared. Eric and Jordan have each won a Cup, but not as teammates. They would be teammates with one another later in their careers, but only briefly. 
Eric and Jordan would each have stints as Captain of the Carolina Hurricanes, and Jared only played in two NHL tilts.  
In the State of Hockey from Roseau, you have the Broten brothers, Neal, Aaron and Paul. Neal and Aaron would be teammates for a season with the Golden Gophers while Neal and Paul would be teammates on the Dallas Stars for two seasons. Neal was the only one of the trio to win a Cup, doing so with the 1995 New Jersey Devils. He is also one of two players in hockey history to ever win an Olympic Gold medal, a Stanley Cup and an NCAA National Championship. I believe he is one of the top 3 players in Minnesota hockey history.

There are others of course, the Howe brothers, the Sedin twins, the Stasnys, Phil and Tony Esposito, the Drydens and more. An enterprising author could probably compile a book on this topic if, in fact, someone hasn’t done so already. This is a topic of interest to many fans.
The most famous of all though, can only be the Carlson brothers out of Virginia, Minnesota. While they were teammates in the pros at various times in their careers, they were more journey-men type players than big stars. 

But when it came to Hollywood, two of the three were in the #1 rated sports movie of all time. Jeff and Steve, along with friend Dave Hanson would combine their talents to become the famed “Hanson Brothers” from the iconic movie Slap Shot. Jack Carlson was slated to be in the movie too, but was called up by the WHA Edmonton Oilers right before filming was due to begin. Any hockey fan of note has seen this epic film and has probably watched it more than once. 

This movie, starring Hollywood superstar Paul Newman, brilliantly captures the mood and nuance of minor league hockey, from the bus rides to the locker room, to the fans who follow minor league hockey and more. 

Newman would state later in his iconic career that making this film was the most fun he had ever had at work. It couldn’t be more fun than watching it was!
PEACE