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Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan
I just want to point out that the team didn't do very well under Sutter at first either, but last year you had 2 superstars who were entering contract years, and played out of their minds to elevate them from a solid playoff team to a great one...and then they fizzled in the playoffs.
I just think that you cannot be too wistful about the past. It's all about what have you done for me lately, unfortunately. I'm not keen to show Sutter the door because I know he can be a good coach, but let's face facts here, he's done a very, very poor job handling this team this year. You only have to look at the inconsistency from night to night to understand what's wrong. Either he doesn't know what buttons to push, or simply refuses to push those buttons out of stubbornness, or even worse, the team simply doesn't respond to any of his methods any longer and have tuned him out. No matter the reason, the things you see from this team indicate a broken relationship with the coach. Maybe it can be fixed, but knowing Sutter's history in other locations, I doubt it can.
It's all about assessing the problems with the team's performance and making the appropriate changes, even if that means firing a 2 time stanley cup winning coach who is coming off a Jack Adams award. If you see his methods as being a distinct issue that cannot be corrected, the only prudent thing is to fire him and find another strategy. It's just the way it goes sometimes.
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Personally, I would be tempted to approach it by keeping the band together for next season. Give them a chance to show if they can come together better after a long summer off. If they're not back at the top of the standings by the trade deadline and looking like a contender again, accept that this group is never going to go anywhere. Replace Sutter with a guy who's likely to pump some offensive stats, hope that Huberdeau, Kadri etc. start putting up good numbers again, then trade them at the following deadline. Burn it down and move on in a new direction entirely.
Also, never bring back the curse of the pedestal jerseys