Brent Sutter to Coach Calgary Flames
June 22, 2009 by Jeanne Dupuis
Filed under Calgary Flames, NHL coaches, News
TSN is reporting that a deal to bring Brent Sutter on as the head coach of the Calgary Flames is well underway and that the announcement should be made sometime tomorrow. Of course, the news shouldn’t 
come as a shock to most people since the rumors about him sitting behind Calgary’s bench started immediately after (and even a little before) he resigned from his duties with the New Jersey Devils.
Since there was still a year left in Sutter’s contract with New Jersey, Lou Lamoriello (GM of the Devils) will have to give the Flames organization permission to talk to him.
After the leadership in these fast few seasons, first with Jim Playfair and then with Mike Keenan, the Flames might be receptive to Sutter’s coaching style. Of course, since the team’s GM is Brent’s brother, Darryl Sutter, this could either be disastrous (certainly not the time for old sibling rivalries to flare up) or a great thing for the club who has failed to make it past the first round of the playoffs since they went to Game 7 against the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004.
With many of the core players still in place (Iginla, Conroy, Regehr and Kiprusoff), there’s no reason why they couldn’t make the push again. The goaltending situation needs to be addressed, though. The Flames don’t have a proven netminder to back up Miikka Kiprusoff who has never been as sharp as he was the he first joined the team. No matter how they choose to approach it, the Flames will need someone more dependable between the pipes and only time will tell whether that will come in the form of Kipper getting back on top of his game or if they will have to bring in someone new.
Either way, I am looking forward to the changes that this team will introduce in the new season since, after the entire coaching staff was fired, they will basically have a fresh start.
image: TSN
