By bringing in Brady Tkachuk to join forces with his older brother Matthew, the Florida Panthers are the latest NHL team with a high-profile set of siblings.
There is no definitive count of how many sets of brothers played in the NHL over the years, yet it sounds like there have been at least 80.
Today, we have three Hughes brothers.
Historically, 47 sets were teammates for part of their careers.
Right now, there are 20 sets of brothers in the NHL and a handful are teammates.
Some of the great brother teammates of the past include Hall of Famers Maurice and Henri Richard who played together with Montreal for five years in the late 1950s and won the Stanley Cup each year.
Bobby and Dennis Hull played together for eight seasons in Chicago.
You also have Daniel and Henrik Sedin in Vancouver, Scott and Rob Niedermayer in Anaheim, and the Stastny brothers — Marian, Peter, and Anton — with the Quebec Nordiques.
Currently, in addition to the Tkachuks, there are Marcus and Nick Foligno (Minnesota) and Jack and Luke Hughes (New Jersey) as teammates.
The Panthers are no strangers to brother acts.
Adam and Jesper Boqvist signed contracts days apart when free agency started in 2024.
Both were overjoyed at the prospect of being teammates. Unfortunately, Florida was top heavy with solid defensemen and Adam only got to suit up with Jesper 18 times.
After being a frequent healthy scratch, Florida tried to send him to the AHL for more playing time, but he was claimed off waivers by the New York Islanders.
With Jesper now in New Jersey and Adam not yet re-signed by the Islanders, there is that possibility that they may not be teammates but will play in the same Metropolitan area.
Eric and Marc Staal played for the Panthers during the 2022-23 season.
Eric was signed after agreeing to a PTO with the Panthers after not playing in the NHL the prior season as he was nearing the end of a storied career. Staal saw an opportunity in Florida to achieve another Stanley Cup. He won one with Carolina in 2006.
Staal signed after the season began and Bill Zito cleared cap space.
He started slowly but then chipped in with 14 goals and with his veteran presence, helped the Panthers reach the Stanley Cup final that season.
Marc Staal was signed to a one-year deal in the offseason. He played in all 82 regular season games and all 21 playoff games, providing solid defense.
The most notable brother act to play for the Panthers was Pavel and Val Bure.
Pavel played parts of four seasons here, recording more than 50 goals twice. Val played parts of three seasons, notching 20 goals in 2003-04 before being traded to Dallas at the deadline.
They were both Panthers in 2001-02 until Pavel’s late season trade to the Rangers.
For the record, there were a few more brother tandems.
In 2001-02, defenseman Jeff Norton spent part of the year in Florida before being traded to Boston at the trade deadline. His younger brother, Brad, played 22 games for Florida that season.
Matt Cullen, who played 1,516 regular season NHL games for eight teams, was with the Panthers from 2002-04. His time was relatively undistinguished, recording 12 goals in 86 games.
His brother, Mark, played six games for the Panthers in 2011-12 after a callup from the AHL San Antonio Rampage.
On the management side, Bryan Murray was Florida’s GM during the 1990s and, at one point, took over behind the bench after he fired Doug MacLean.
Murray then hired his brother Terry to take over the team.
Hall of Fame goalie Roberto Luongo heads up the Goaltending Excellence Department and, until he left for a new job with the New Jersey Devils last week, his younger brother Leo was director of goaltending for the AHL Checkers.
When the current season ended with Carolina capturing the Stanley Cup, Las Vegas had Florida at +1100 to win next year’s Cup.
After the acquisition of Brady Tkachuk, the odds dropped to +800.
When the Plager brothers — Bob, Barclay, and Bill — were teammates with St. Louis, they were affectionately known as the “infamous Plager Brothers.”
The same description may soon be applied to the Tkachuks.
Fasten your seat belts.
These two have been wanting to play together for a long time.
Now, they get that chance.
ON DECK: FLORIDA PANTHERS OFFSEASON