One of the coolest headlines of the past week has been the signing of Alex Nylander to a one-year contract and the subsequent call-up to the NHL to play alongside his brother, William. While the elder Nylander has carved out a career as one of the best Maple Leafs in the team’s history, with 552 points in 625 games and a fresh new eight-year contract that will take him to his age 36 season, the road to the NHL has been a little tougher for Alex.
He was drafted eighth overall by the Buffalo Sabres in 2016 but hasn’t been able to find a permanent home in the NHL. After stints with the Sabres, Chicago Blackhawks, and Pittsburgh Penguins, his most successful stint came with the Columbus Blue Jackets last season. The sample size was small, but he scored 11 goals and added 15 points in 23 games and earned a look from the Maple Leafs that summer, signing a one-year AHL contract before turning it into an NHL deal in the wake of several injuries to Maple Leafs forwards. Alex made his debut with the Maple Leafs on Sunday, something that his older brother will never forget.
“The entire day was special,” William told reporters after the game. “The first period was kind of just like crazy. It felt pretty crazy and then settled in and it felt more normal. So that was very special. And of course, we got the win, which was nice.”
It got me thinking how many pairs of brothers have played for the Maple Leafs at the same time in their careers. So, I went down the rabbit hole. Here are the results.
Art and Busher Jackson
The first of the brother duos to ever suit up for the Maple Leafs, both players hailed from Toronto and both earned a Cup ring in a Leafs jersey, but they won in different years when the other brother was elsewhere. Harvey “Busher” Jackson had far and away the more illustrious career with the Leafs, suiting up for them from 1929 until 1939 and forming one-third of the team’s treasured ‘kid line’ with Joe Primeau and Charlie Conacher, finishing his career with 351 points in 433 games as a Leaf. Busher was known for his Hollywood-like lifestyle, whose excessive drinking and party lifestyle contributed to his trade to the New York Rangers in 1939. It got so bad at one point that then-Leafs owner Conn Smythe begged Busher to save his money, offering to match his savings dollar for dollar. Art had a decorative career himself, but only played with his brother from 1934 until 1937 before spending the prime of his career with the Boston Bruins. Busher won the Cup with the Maple Leafs in 1931-32 while Art got his ring in 1944-45,
Nick and Don Metz
These two brothers hailed from Wilcox, Saskatchewan, and combined for 688 games and nine Stanley Cups with the Maple Leafs. Nick, born in 1914, was the older and more productive of the two brothers, with 518 of those 688 games belonging to him, and a career year coming in 1940-41 with 35 points in 47 games and seven points in seven playoff games. Don, born two years later in 1916, had a career moment with a hat trick in the 1941-42 playoffs in Game 5 of their series against the Detroit Red Wings, one that the Wings were leading 3-1 at that point. The Maple Leafs went on to win the Cup that season, with the brothers sharing Cup wins in 1942, 1945, 1947, and 1948, and Don winning one additional Cup in 1949 after Nick retired.
Brian and Barry Cullen
Hailing from Ottawa, Ontario, the Cullen brothers came a couple of years after the Metz brothers. Brian joined the team in 1954-55 and Barry followed the following season, with the brothers skating in Leafs jerseys from 1955 until 1959. Unlike the Metz brothers, the Cullen brothers weren’t fortunate enough to win any Stanley Cups together, with their tenures coming during the infamous 11-year drought that took place while Bill Barilko went missing after a plane crash on a fishing trip with his dentist. Both brothers made it to the Cup final against the Montreal Canadiens in 1958-59 and moved onto different teams the following year, with Barry joining the Detroit Red Wings and Brian the New York Rangers. They had a third brother, Ray, who played for four different NHL teams between 1965 and 1971. All three brothers went on to own car dealerships after their retirements and lived comfortably until Ray passed away in 2021 and Barry in 2022, while Brian is still living at the age of 91.
Peter and Miroslav Ihnacak
Finally, a name that might ring a bell with fans who were around to witness pre-21st century Maple Leafs hockey. Peter Ihnacak was one of the team’s top secondary scorers during the dark days of 1980s Maple Leafs hockey, spending all eight of his NHL seasons with the Maple Leafs between 1982 and 1990. His brother Miroslav was drafted in the ninth round of the 1982 NHL Draft, seven rounds after Peter, but spent the majority of his career playing in Europe with a seven-year tenure in his home country of Slovakia to end his career. Still, the Ihnacak brothers did get to play with each other between 1985 and 1987, and although there wasn’t much team success in that time, the two brothers hold the honour of having suited up for the same historic franchise at the same time, something only ten people can say they did.
Sponsored by bet365
