Gear: The NHL’s richest siblings are…

Apparently, this past Sunday was National Siblings Day. I must have missed the memo when this celebratory day was created, but I was glad I heard about it just in time to call my sister and wish her a happy one.

Do you know who had an even happier National Siblings Day? The Staal brothers. The Staals have been the most successful brother act ever in the NHL from a purely financial perspective. Good family values, so to speak.

Now, I know money doesn’t buy happiness, but it doesn’t hurt. According to salary information which is now widely available online with resources such as Puckpedia, the contracts signed by the four Staal brothers total approximately $230 million USD, with Eric leading the way at $90.4 million in aggregate committed salary, Jordan pulling in $78.6 million, Marc raking $58.5 million and Jared chipping in $2.8 million.

Here’s a list of the top-earning brother combinations in league history as it currently stands:

Brothers	Approximate Total Contracted Aggregate Salary
Eric, Jordan, Marc and Jared Staal	$230.2M
Henrik and Daniel Sedin	$148.3M
Quinn and Jack Hughes	$116.7M
Mark and Michael Stone	$116.1M
Jamie and Jordie Benn	$115.5M
Seth and Caleb Jones	$115.1M
Brayden and Luke Schenn	$96.3M
Nick and Marcus Foligno	$95.3M
Matthew and Brady Tkachuk	$84.1M
James and Trevor van Riemsdyk	$73.9M
Andrei and Evgeny Svechnikov	$72.9M

With two of the Staal brothers (Eric and Jared) no longer active in the NHL and the other two brothers winding down their long and successful careers, the distinction of being the highest-earning brothers in the NHL will eventually fall. It’s a good bet that the Hughes brothers and the Tkachuk brothers will surpass the Staal totals. It’s just a matter of which family gets there first.

The Bank of Hughes just keeps opening new accounts. This past offseason, Quinn signed a six-year, $47.1-million contract with the Vancouver Canucks and his brother Jack followed suit a month later with an eight-year, $64-million deal with the New Jersey Devils. Quinn is 22 and Jack is 20, and the brothers have already vaulted to No. 3 on the list of most highly compensated brothers in NHL history. And these won’t be the last contracts they sign. Plus, just in case things get tight for the Hughes family budget, brother Luke is one of the top players in the NCAA and will sign a few NHL contracts of his own before the books are closed. The Staals will eventually look like paupers in comparison.

As for the Tkachuks, brothers Matthew and Brady are no strangers to large sums of money. After all, their father Keith was one of the most highly compensated players of his generation, compiling more than $80 million in salary over a 20-year NHL career. It won’t be long before each of his sons surpasses that. Brady signed a seven-year contract with the Ottawa Senators at the start of this season valued at just over $60.3 million, while Matthew’s $21-million bridge deal with the Calgary Flames expires this year, and his 92 points in 73 games this season mean Flames GM, Brad Treliving will need to order a Brinks truck to hold all of Matthew’s loot.

The current runner-ups in total brother compensation earned in league history are Henrik and Daniel Sedin, the long-time Vancouver Canucks stars and current team advisors. Each of them took home something on the order of $74 million over the course of their illustrious careers. Several years ago, I was sitting at Rogers Arena with then-Canucks vice-president T.C. Carling when a massive 50-50 jackpot was announced. I turned to Carling and remarked, “Imagine coming to a hockey game and going home with $100,000?”

“Hank and Danny do that every game night,” Carling quipped without missing a beat.

Two other brother duos that have together come close to the $100-million mark are the Schenns and the Folignos. The St. Louis Blues’ Brayden Schenn has signed contracts that will total more than $69 million by the time they expire, while brother Luke has been no slouch with contracts totalling more than $27 million. Similarly, current Boston Bruin Nick Foligno has signed contracts that will pay him more than $66 million by the end of his current deal, while the Minnesota Wild’s Marcus has signed contracts totalling more than $29 million. Hopefully, they are sharing their wealth with their father, Mike, who played more than 1,000 NHL games but never saw a pay day like that.

While the Hughes, Tkachuks, Sedins, Schenns and Folignos are interesting because all members of the family have been highly paid, the more common occurrence is that one brother is a significant bread-winner in comparison to the other sibling(s). To date, the most financially successful individual that is part of a brother act is Seth Jones of the Chicago Blackhawks. His contracts will have paid him a total of $111.2 million by the time the latest one expires. Brother Caleb, his Blackhawks teammate, has chipped in $3.86 million. The discrepancy is similar to that of the Benn brothers. Jamie Benn of the Dallas Stars has amassed more than $104 million over a 13-year career, while brother Jordie (currently a member of the Minnesota Wild) has collected $11.4 million. I hope Seth and Jamie are picking up the tabs at family gatherings.

Other families in which there has been an uneven distribution of wealth include the Stones (Mark of the Vegas Golden Knights has accumulated contracts worth $95.6 million on his own while his brother, the Flames’ Michael, has signed contracts totalling $20.5 million), the van Riemsdyks (the Philadelphia Flyers’ James has signed contracts totalling more than $63 million while Trevor of the Washington Capitals has pulled in $10.8 million) and the Svechnikovs (the Carolina Hurricanes’ Andrei signing contracts totalling $68 million so far and brother Evgeny having a more modest career at just more than $4 million in committed salary to date).

We will soon be able to add Jason Robertson’s name to that list. The young star of the Dallas Stars is on the cusp of a massive deal that will dwarf the compensation of his brother Nick, who is on an entry-level deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Let’s not forget the Gretzkys, still the second-leading all-time points producing brothers of all time, thanks to 2,857 points from Wayne and four from Brent. Wayne reportedly earned approximately $46 million over his career, while Brent earned $375,000 for his contribution to the family legacy.

The trio of Peter, Marian and Anton Stastny deserve mention as well. The Slovak brothers all played together with the Quebec Nordiques. They sit third on the all-time brother list for points but are unfortunately well down the list in terms of compensation, with even perennial Art Ross Trophy candidate Peter reported to have only earned a few million in his career. Luckily, his son Paul has made up for that with career earnings that will total more than $85 million.

No brother discussion is complete without referencing the most prolific siblings in NHL history, the Sutters, who hold the all-time league lead for total points and total siblings. The Sutters (Brent, Darryl, Duane, Ron, Rich and Brian) will have to be content with holding those distinctions, as compensation in their era was not in the same stratosphere as it is now. Something tells me the Sutters would have played for free anyway.

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Chris Gear joined Daily Faceoff in January after a 12-year run with the Vancouver Canucks, most recently as the club’s Assistant General Manager and Chief Legal Officer. Before migrating over to the hockey operations department, where his responsibilities included contract negotiations, CBA compliance, assisting with roster and salary cap management and governance for the AHL franchise, Gear was the Canucks’ vice president and general counsel.

Click here to read Gear’s other Daily Faceoff stories.

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Gear: The NHL’s richest siblings are…

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