1981-82 New York Islanders Brent Sutter Jersey

Brent Sutter, was drafted by the New York Islanders in 1980 and, while he spent the vast majority of his season with the Lethbridge of the WHL, became the fourth Sutter brother to play in the NHL when he made his debut on February 25, 1981 when he joined brother Duane in the Islanders lineup, the first time two of the Sutters were teammates in the NHL.

Duane and Brent played together for the Islanders from 1980-81 to 1986-87 - note the one color name on Duane's jersey while Brent's was two colors!

He split the following regular season between the Broncos and the Islanders, but by the time the playoffs rolled around, junior hockey was in his rearview mirror and Brent was part of the Islanders third consecutive Stanley Cup championship, a feat he and the Islanders repeated in 1983, which saw Brent score 21 points in 20 games.

Brent with one of two Stanley Cups he would win with the Islanders

Brent, born on this date in 1962, would go on to play 12 seasons with New York before a trade early in the 1991-92 season sent him to the Chicago Blackhawks where he would play seven additional seasons.

His finest season was by far in 1984-85 when he scored 42 goals and 102 points, a shocker since his next highest season totaled just 68 points!

His career would finish with 1,111 games played, 363 goals and 829 points to lead all the Sutter brothers in games, goals, assists and points.

Joining Brian, Duane and Darryl, Brent would be the fourth of the Sutter brothers to become a head coach. He began his coaching career after he purchased the Red Deer Rebels, the junior club each of the Sutters had played for on their way to the NHL. He was not only the Rebels head coach, but their General Manager as well.

During his second season behind the bench in 2000-01, Brent guided the Rebels to the Memorial Cup championship. After seven seasons, which also included coaching Canada to gold medals at the World Junior Championship in both 2005 and 2006, Brent joined his siblings as a head coach in the NHL when he took over behind the bench of the New Jersey Devils for two seasons before leaving to become head coach of the Calgary Flames, where he worked under his General Manger brother Darryl for half of his three seasons with the Flames. In 2012, he returned to Red Deer as head coach and general manager.

Brent Sutter

Today's featured jersey is a 1981-82 New York Islanders Brent Sutter jersey as worn during his rookie season in which he won the first of two Stanley Cups in his career. Notice the inconsistency in the fonts between his #21 jersey with serifs on both digits when compared to Duane's #12 jersey from the same season as shown here.

While in this case both jerseys have two color names, Brent's name lacks the period after his first initial, while Duane's has a period. This is the kind of detail differences which both confuse and perplex collectors of game worn jerseys, while also being quite helpful in dating and photo matching jerseys at the same time.

photo courtesy of Classic Auctions

Bonus Jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 1991 Team Canada Brent Sutter jersey. as used in the 1991 Canada Cup tournament. While the name and number of this jersey are sewn on twill, the main crest and sleeve logos are screen on, which has resulted in the cracking and wear displayed here. The 1991 Canada Cup jerseys featured the Labatt Canada Cup patch, which is sewn on the upper right chest.

photo courtesy of Classic Auctions

Here is footage of the Islanders celebrating their Stanley Cup victory in 1982, the first of Brent's career.

Here is a four part story on the Sutter brothers.

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

We conclude with Brent, then coach of the Devils, in a light-hearted moment talking about his mother dancing with broadcaster Chico Resch.