Hockey Beat » darryl sutter

Brent Sutter to Coach Calgary Flames

Jeanne Dupuis — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:18:07 +0000

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

Post from: Hockey Beat

Sutter Leaves NJ Devils, Moving to Calgary?

Jeanne Dupuis — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:13:55 +0000

TSN is reporting that Brent Sutter is no longer the coach of the New Jersey Devils and has cited personal and family reasons as the motivation for stepping down. I don’t know if anyone is shocked but I’m a little surprised since he did still have a year left in his contract.

Of course, everyone is wondering if he’s going to be making a move to the recently vacant head coach position with the Calgary Flames since the general manager is his brother, Darryl Sutter. Since he’s breaking his contract, the Flames would have to talk to New Jersey Devils’ GM, Lou Lamoriello, in order to get permission to speak with Brent Sutter.

I don’t know if that is the plan but it could work. I would prefer to see Darryl lead the team but Brent does have playoff experience and since he coached the Devils for just two years and lead them to the post-season both times. They have a decent 97-56-11 record as well. Still, it’s not like he brought his team to the Stanley Cup Finals (like Darryl did) so it might not even be much of an improvement.

I’d still like to see Darryl reclaim his spot behind the bench. I feel that we would see a marked improvement in the performance of goaltender, Miikka Kiprusoff, who seemed to just fall apart with the last two coaches. I will be very interested to see what develops in the next few days.

image: TSN

Post from: Hockey Beat

Calgary Flames Lose Entire Coaching Staff

Jeanne Dupuis — Wed, 27 May 2009 02:44:18 +0000

I cannot believe it but general manager, Darryl Sutter, has decided that the entire coaching staff for the Calgary Flames has to be replaced. At least Mike Keenan (who was fired as head coach just days ago) can find some comfort in the fact that Sutter thinks the organization needs a complete overhaul. I can’t believe it, though. For a team that has consistently been making it to the playoffs in recent history, it’s a pretty big risk to get rid of everyone but I guess he feels that it must be done.

At today’s press conference, I was expecting him to announce the new head coach but he not only didn’t find one but he also revealed that he believes he’s the best man for the job. He stressed that he’s still looking at other candidates but mentioned that "all the best coaches in the league are under contract. There’s three guys who are excellent. I won’t tell you who they are, but then I’m fourth. If I find out at the end of the search that I think I’m the best candidate, then I am the coach."

I know that some people would disagree with it but I think it’s a good move, especially if all of the staff is leaving. The players need some sort of familiarity. Either way, this situation definitely took a turn that I wasn’t expecting.

image: TSN

Post from: Hockey Beat