Brent Sutter always remembered where he was pulled off by Al Arbor at the Vancouver Coliseum after the Islanders won the Stanley Cup in 1982, his rookie season.
Sutter recalled grabbing Arbor under the chin on a Friday afternoon Zoom call and asking him what he learned from his playoff run.
“What do you say? The team is partying and they just won the Stanley Cup,” Sutter said.
He spat out an answer.
“Well, I made you one of the toughest, mentally strongest players in the National Hockey League,” Sutter recalled Arbor saying. “And you're going to have a long career.”
Sutter played 18 seasons in the NHL, 12 of them with the Islanders, who in January had the honor of inducting him into the franchise's Hall of Fame for the first time since 2020 and the 16th player overall to be inducted. This was a good prediction since it is supposed to honor the.
Sutter will also appear in the team's newly announced Ring of Honor at UBS Arena, with a ceremony taking place before the team's home game against the Sharks on January 18th.
“It’s not something you ever think about or expect,” Sutter said. “when [GM Lou Lamoriello] They called me and let me know. I was pretty emotional throughout the whole thing. As I get older, I think when I look back on my career and what I really wanted to be, it wasn't really about personal goals for me. It's always been about wanting to do the best I can to help the team succeed, being a great teammate, and being a very coachable person. ”
Sutter, 62, developed into a reliable centerman and took home Stanley Cup rings in 1982 and 1983, on teams that also included his younger brother Duane.
After retiring as a player in 1998, his second act was built around ownership of the WHL's Red Deer Rebels, serving as general manager and coach until 2021, during which time he coached the New Jersey Devils and Calgary for five years. did. flame.
He admitted he considered coaching the Islanders “a lot” but the opportunity didn't materialize.
During a nearly 40-minute session with reporters, Sutter talked about many things, including being a young player joining the Dynasty Islanders and his admiration for his younger brother, Brian Trottier. NHL.
“I always loved the way Trotz played, that solid two-way guy,” Sutter said. “He was a 5-foot-10-inch, about 200-pound guy who would run right through you if he wasn’t going around. … About playing on both sides of the puck and support and how he was. Just the details, but he was someone I looked up to because I knew him when I was playing junior.”
He will now join Trottier's prestigious class of rare Islanders.
