Brent Sutter Interview on FAN960

[mikeecho]

Originally Posted by Aarongavey

Jarome Iginla under Hartley

0.29 GPG
0.42 APG
0.71 PPG

82 game pace for Iginla under Hartley

24 goals 34 assists 58 points

3 year average under Sutter

36 goals 38 assists 74 points

Not sure how Hartley got "more" out of Iginla.

It is impressive how Hartley comes in in 2012/2013 and the only major changes to the team from the year before are:

In
- Full season of Cammalleri instead of Bourque
- Jiri Hudler
- Dennis Wideman
- Roman Cervenka
- Steve Begin

Out
- Olli Jokinen
- Rene Bourque
- Tom Kostopoulous
- Scott Hannan
- David Moss

And Hartley when Iginla was in the lineup puts up a .451 winning percentage and the year before Sutter had a winning percentage almost 100 points higher, Hartley over a 82 game season Hartley was on pace for 74 points, the year before Sutter got 90 points and the Flames were never worse than 90 points in any season under Sutter and Hartley is supposedly the better coach.

Sutter who averaged 91.3 points a season is a terrible coach and the reason the Flames never achieved their greatness. All the other coaches combined in the Flames playoff glory years (when they were consistently thumped in the first round except for one Cinderella run) averaged 97 points a year or less than 3 wins more a year were great and Sutter killed the team.

The fact of the matter is that that Flames era was made up of a bunch of talented prima donna's who played when they wanted to play and did not play when they did not want to play. Think Ottawa Senators over the same time period, but with less heart and less playoff rounds won, and you get the Calgary Flames. The Flames in that period of time should have gone after Dany Heatley because he would have cared at least as much about winning as pretty much every other player on the core of that team.

Just so I'm clear, you're comparing Brent's 3 seasons with the "core" veteran lineup to Hartley's first season which was lockout shortened and essentially without a training camp with an entire new coaching staff and team philosophy?

By the time Hartley gets to his first full season, that Flames roster looks like that of an average AHL team at best.

Had Hartley been lucky enough to get Kipper (circa 2005-20011) level goaltending this year with all those 1 goal games, I have no doubt the Flames would have finished similar to the Flames under Sutter with a much worse lineup.

Kipper was the difference maker that made Brent's teams look better than they were, but thats just my opinion.

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by mikeecho

Just so I'm clear, you're comparing Brent's 3 seasons with the "core" veteran lineup to Hartley's first season which was lockout shortened and essentially without a training camp with an entire new coaching staff and team philosophy?

By the time Hartley gets to his first full season, that Flames roster looks like that of an average AHL team at best.

Had Hartley been lucky enough to get Kipper (circa 2005-20011) level goaltending this year with all those 1 goal games, I have no doubt the Flames would have finished similar to the Flames under Sutter with a much worse lineup.

Kipper was the difference maker that made Brent's teams look better than they were, but thats just my opinion.

I think you missed my overall point which was those Flames teams were absolute crap and nobody was going to get them to an elite level in the NHL. That core was heartless, they were a group that played when they wanted to play and phoned it in when it was convenient for them to phone it in. They had top offensive players whose commitment to defence made Taylor Hall look like Doug Jarvis, always floating around the red line looking for a breakaway pass. The only thing that team had going for it was an elite goalie who kept them from being a bottom 5-10 team all those years.

But I would agree that the Flames sucking was not Bob's fault, they just had an awful core group of guys with no leadership all those years and it finally shone through in 12/13.

[Sylvanfan]

I would like to know if Regehr moved on because he got sick of the team trying to become more offensive at the expense of it's defence in an effort to appease Iginla.

[Itse]

I don't remember when exactly was it, but I remember the first season or two when people started bringing up the fact that Iginlas play left a lot to be hoped for and maybe he was actually a part of the problem. The first people to bring it up got piled on really hard here on CP.

It's easy for a player to feel he's in the right, when he has the fanbase behind him, pretty much saying he's above criticism.

Iginla probably knew his word was more powerful in the owners ears than Brent Sutters word. There might not have been much Brent could have done about Iginlas play or attitude. If it came down to a power struggle, Brent would have been gone before Iggy.

I'm going to get a lot of flack for this comparison, but kind of the same situation as with the golden boys of Edmonton actually.

All that said, I still Brent Sutter sucked as a coach. His lines never worked, he had a terrible negative attitude and tactics that were both ineffective (possibly because they didn't fit the team) and really boring to watch. And yeah, getting the players to sign on is a part of the coaches job.

[BlackWallStreet]

Butter = butthurt

[Yeah_Baby]

I still maintain I wanted Dave Tippett that summer.

[AcGold]

I went to some games when Sutter was coach and it was the most boring hockey I've ever seen. My girlfriend had tickets to a Wild game and we had to leave in the first period when her work called her in an emergency, I was happy we left too.

Most boring 12 minutes of hockey I ever watched. Sutter and his scoul had little to entertainment, I'll take Hartley's hard working zero tolerance for laziness a million times over whatever Sutter did. All he had to do was bench Iginla for a period or two, Hartley sure as hell would have the first time he floated around in the neutral zone. Hartley would have been Tanguays worst nightmare.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

I still maintain I wanted Dave Tippett that summer.

Yep. Not everybody around here thought the team needed more Sutters.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

I still maintain I wanted Dave Tippett that summer.

My pick was Paul MacLean at the time, he was still an assistant with Detroit.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by AcGold

I went to some games when Sutter was coach and it was the most boring hockey I've ever seen. My girlfriend had tickets to a Wild game and we had to leave in the first period when her work called her in an emergency, I was happy we left too.

Most boring 12 minutes of hockey I ever watched. Sutter and his scoul had little to entertainment, I'll take Hartley's hard working zero tolerance for laziness a million times over whatever Sutter did. All he had to do was bench Iginla for a period or two, Hartley sure as hell would have the first time he floated around in the neutral zone. Hartley would have been Tanguays worst nightmare.

Hartley did move Iginla down to the second line but as said it was up to Brent to use the players he had in the best way to maximize their talents.

and yeah, even though I wanted Tippet at the time, it would have been boring hockey. The Coyotes can have him.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

I still maintain I wanted Dave Tippett that summer.

I wanted Sutter and I'm still ok with the choice of him over Tippett. That's a painful painful brand of hockey that Tippett coaches.