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Originally Posted by Textcritic
If you are attempting to claim that any other NHL coach could not have effected a better response from Iginla, then I will have to disagree. There are better NHL coaches than B. Sutter—several, in fact. Iginla has now played for a few in a variety of different circumstances, be it in season, during the playoffs, and at the Olympics. He has arguably been a better, more team-committed player under practically every other coach than he was under B. Sutter. We can all speculate about the reasons for that, but I think it is more than fair to suggest that Sutter was not guiltless in this personality exchange.
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I agree with your point that Sutter can't be 100% guiltless because he could have went to war with Iginla but he didn't. With that said, there's a huge difference between Iginla joining a Cup contender with a respected captain and established leadership group than being the captain of a team that he's been looked upon to lead the room. On other teams, Iginla was forced to buy in where as in Calgary, he was the one who was suppose to force guys to buy in.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
But moreover, this is about more than just Sutter and Iginla. There were other players on the team upon whose ears B. Sutter's message fell with no effect. Is this all because of Iginla? I can't imagine that even a persona as big as his was so overwhelming in that dressing room so as to effectively muzzle Sutter.
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The effect on a team when the leader doesn't rally his team together and allows cliques cannot be underestimated.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
Finally, it needs also to be pointed out that B. Sutter has not again coached in the NHL, and likely never will. It does not seem like this is because he had technical issues, or problems reading the game at a higher level. I would suggest that his overall record points to precisely what I have attempted to draw attention to: that he does not seem to be very effective at communicating his vision, and his message at that level. He has a history now of struggling with getting NHL players to play his way. That's all on him.
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History? For all intents and purposes, the Devils played his way. And even here, I think for the most part the team played his way. The talent didn't really fit his system and he's just not a very good coach.