I don't blame Sutter at all. What owner is so dumb they let the guy who's on the bench coaching, preparing players, going over footage and scheduling down time is also the same guy who's managing the scouts, making the call on picks, and determining how to improve the roster.
Obviously a guy with no time on his hands isn't going to watch young players and will simply trade away the picks. But ownership didn't think it was a bad idea to ask one guy to do it all?! It wasn't until after the 2004 run did Sutter hire a coach, hire an AGM, and start building the top part of the organization. And the same ownership allowed him to do so in a way that had all his brothers running departments like it was the mob.
The owners and Ken King were far more responsible. You have to respect Sutter for putting in a honest days work.
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