Brent Sutter was the highest scoring of the six Sutter brothers to play in the NHL and the only one to score at least 100 points in one season. He also won the Stanley Cup in each of his first two full NHL seasons.

The New York Islanders selected Sutter in the first round (No. 17) of the 1980 NHL Draft, which came a few weeks after they won the Cup for what turned out to be the first of four consecutive seasons. They returned him to Lethbridge of the Western Hockey League for the 1980-81 season, though he got a taste of the NHL during a three-game call-up after older brother Duane Sutter was injured. Brent had an assist against the Calgary Flames in his NHL debut Feb. 25, 1981 and scored goals in each of his next two games.

Sutter began 1981-82 at Lethbridge but was called up for good at midseason and was a useful role player on New York's third consecutive championship team, scoring 21 goals and 43 points in 43 games and eight points (two goals, six assists) in 19 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He scored 21 goals again in 1982-83, when the Islanders won their fourth consecutive championship, 34 goals in 1983-84 and had his best NHL season in 1984-85, when he played center on New York's No. 1 line and scored 102 points (42 goals, 60 assists) in 72 games.

Though Sutter never got close to those numbers again, he scored at least 24 goals and 53 points in each of the next six seasons. But with the Islanders' dynasty years having passed, they were looking to make changes early in the 1991-92 season, and one of those involved trading Sutter to the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 25, 1991.

Sutter helped the Blackhawks reach the Stanley Cup Final in 1992, though they were swept by the Pittsburgh Penguins. He had his last 20-goal, 50-point season in 1992-93, but remained with the Blackhawks through 1997-98 before retiring after 18 seasons with 829 points (363 goals, 466 assists) in 1,111 NHL games, and 74 points (30 goals, 44 assists) in 144 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He also thrived in international play, helping Canada win the Canada Cup in 1984, 1987 and 1991.

After retiring, Sutter bought Red Deer of the WHL and was coach and general manager for eight seasons, winning the Memorial Cup in 2001. He also coached Canada to victory at the IIHF World Championship in 2005 and 2006. The New Jersey Devils hired him as coach in 2007-08, and he guided them to a division title in 2008-09 before stepping down June 9, 2009, citing family reasons.

Two weeks later, he was named coach of the Calgary Flames, where older brother Darryl Sutter was general manager. However, the Flames missed the playoffs in each of their three seasons under Sutter and he wasn't offered a contract.