Quote:
Originally Posted by Major Major
I think that a lot of what Sutter does has to do with tension and release. Build tension, make people uncomfortable, have them climb the mountain, then make things easier on the other side. Can you lift the 100 lb weight? Great, now lift the 50 lb weight... Feels like you can throw it.
He actively tries to break players to a team first mentality and to completely get rid of the what about me attitude. We saw it with Johnny and him awkwardly trying to dump the puck in at the blue line with no pressure, etc.
I think what has people really frustrated is he concentrates most of this to his star players and young players. It makes total sense in my mind since you need the star players to lead and be dominant, you need the young players to max out their potential. Your role players though? You just need them to fill a specific role. They have no potential and they're not going to be dominant, and yet you still need them. So they seem to be operating with different expectations because they are.
This breaks down in a big way though when the star player doesn't climb the mountain. Call that a failure on the coach if you want... I don't. But Huberdeau's what about me attitude is still there. Sutter's given him the lighter weight regardless and we'll see where it goes.
This may seem like an anti-Huberdeau post, but it's not. I like the guy and think he's dealing with a ton of pressure and noise right now and needs to remember he's Johnny freaking Huberdeau. He needs to get over whatever's bothering him, be it the coach, being a flame, his agent. He's the only one that can get himself out of this.
At the end of the day, if the team finds no success, then Sutter has to account for that and I hope that there is a process where that actually happens, but I don't think that leads to him being fired nor do I think they should.
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Your description is accurate in what type of culture he breads on his team. He wants to treat this like an army, and that type of style wont work not with todays players.
115 points 2nd in the league in points wasn't dominant enough he needed to break him down and let him know hes not a star go to your off wing and become a 50 point player like the rest of the team.
Creating confrontation and tension with everyone. Might work with some but not everyone.
Forcing this way and style on these players just confirms that its his way no matter if we win or lose and this style just doesn't work on todays people and players. Mike Babcock was punted for embarrassing Mitch Marner.
There was a podcast in the offseason with John Stevens he talked about how last years Flames looked like a team that started to play for individual stats and it was pissing Sutter off. I wonder if that was meant as a shot for Tkachuk.