Fine, they moved on from Sutter. Is it the right decision, I'm pretty uncertain of this.
Does it mean the Flames will look to rebuild and felt he was not best suited for this? Possibly/hopefully.
- Sutter was not the only problem, that's for certain. we scapegoat a lack of accountability on the team and players as a whole by this move once again.
- Now that they have made this decision, set the foot-down and move the players as well.
- I voted for Conroy as GM, but no longer expect it. Change the culture, Change the entire make up and voice. Flames are in shambles, now is the time to make deep cutting cultural changes in the organization.
- While I still am confident in Conroy in the role of GM, it maybe is best for him in a new opportunity elsewhere.
I watched the Wes Gilbertson interview with Rob Kerr from the other day. It's a great hour of Flames talk on a variety of topics and worth a listen.
One thing they talked about with Sutter is that it wasn't just a rift between Sutter and certain players, but possibly also a rift between players who wanted to do things Sutter's way, and those that didn't. It was suggested that he has players in the room who were on his side.
If that suggestion is true, they may need to send out some of the "Sutter" players in case there are hard feelings now that the other side got their way. Hopefully not as these guys should all be professional enough to move on, but that isn't always the case. It was suggested that Toffoli is a Sutter guy.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
- The Oilers figured out how to play against a Flames team that was missing Tanev and whose goaltender was playing atrociously, while getting every favourable call imaginable.
- Again this year, the Flames were without Kylington. A huge part of last year's success was the Kylington - Tanev pair's dynamic. Kylington's transition game, speed on the backcheck, and offense worked perfectly with Tanev's steady all-around defensive game. We haven't had that pair since last year's Dallas series.
- Despite that, it was more than just underlying stats that looked good. The 2022-23 Flames were 9th in 5v5 goals and 18th in 5v5 goals against. This is actual goals, and these numbers really are indicative of a team that should be in ~100 point range. Those numbers certainly could have been better (player usage, better goaltending, better individual play, and playing with leads more often all would have contributed positively) but it's disingenous to say the systems were figured out. The Jets, Kings, and Wild all made the playoffs in our conference with worse 5v5 play, purely in terms of goals for and against.
- The greatest failing came down to the powerplay, which is absolutely on Sutter, but not on Sutter's system
Huby and Kadri have played for Bednar, Babcock, Quennville, Gallant. I doubt that's an accurate depiction of what happened.
More likely, it was frustration over ice time and line construction. That doesn't absolve the players, but I think it's fair to say you're totally removing the nuance from the situation with that assessment.
Sutter's system was fine for the most part (could have traded some quantity for quality).
It was more Sutter's line construction, player deployment, usage of young players, and personality that were the issue.
And really that was a constant issue in his time here, even in the 21-22 season the only real strong consistent line all season was Tkachuk-Lindholm-Gaudreau. (He figured out Coleman-Backlund-Mangiapane at some point too but bounced that line way more than he should have).
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I watched the Wes Gilbertson interview with Rob Kerr from the other day. It's a great hour of Flames talk on a variety of topics and worth a listen.
One thing they talked about with Sutter is that it wasn't just a rift between Sutter and certain players, but possibly also a rift between players who wanted to do things Sutter's way, and those that didn't. It was suggested that he has players in the room who were on his side.
If that suggestion is true, they may need to send out some of the "Sutter" players in case there are hard feelings now that the other side got their way. Hopefully not as these guys should all be professional enough to move on, but that isn't always the case. It was suggested that Toffoli is a Sutter guy.
Trade the players who wanted to listen to the coach?
Clear success at the AHL level.
Already has a relationship and rapport with the organization
Already has a relationship and rapport with the AHL prospects
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Can we stop with this #### and just hire a real coach? Boudreau is available
Boudreau wears out his welcome pretty fast. Bring him in for one year to make the playoffs sure but then the team will slide in year 2.
Many Oiler fans are grateful they went to the farm to get Woodcroft instead of a retread.
If the Wranglers win the Calder Cup and the org wants to incorporate a bunch of younger players next year Love makes the most sense to me. AHL coach of the year for the team that had the best regular season in the league. Young prospects have flourished under him
Some guys who were long in the tooth were probably Sutter guys
It would logically be in their own self interest
It's easy to say the olds would love Sutter for self preservation. You could also say the olds are the ones who have won before, and figured out how to have long careers in the NHL, so they know what it takes to stay and win.
So you could also say, they know what it takes to get it done, and that made them Sutter guys.......
Seemed like this had to happen. I still think Sutter is a brilliant coach, but he went a little too far with his antagonizing tactics this season. You can't really do that in this day and age. Would have been nice to see him finish his time with the franchise on a brighter note.
I wonder if that's it for him as a coach in the NHL or if he gets another shot somewhere.
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A few weeks after crashing head-first into the boards (denting his helmet and being unable to move for a little while) following a hit from behind by Bob Errey, the Calgary Flames player explains:
"I was like Christ, lying on my back, with my arms outstretched, crucified"
-- Frank Musil - Early January 1994
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Huby and Kadri are so soft, they couldn't even handle one season with Sutter. Most unlikeable franchise players in my lifetime.
This franchise is a complete joke.
Calling Kadri soft is definitely a take considering his history of playing over the line and getting playoff suspensions as a result. Kadri definitely did play pretty badly towards the end of this season though
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Last edited by Hockey_Ninja; 05-01-2023 at 06:22 PM.
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A friend of mine has a client who is friends with a person in the Flames org, who claims that Backlund in particular, despises Sutter, and most of the staff (trainers, therapists, equipment, etc) do as well.
Which is to say... everyone who has likely been in the organization while Sutter was both coach and previously GM.
It's easy to say the olds would love Sutter for self preservation. You could also say the olds are the ones who have won before, and figured out how to have long careers in the NHL, so they know what it takes to stay and win.
So you could also say, they know what it takes to get it done, and that made them Sutter guys.......
And you could also look at them being rewarded for their loyalty, rolled out a lot when the game was on the line, losing more 1 goal games than any team ever
Can we stop with this #### and just hire a real coach? Boudreau is available
When are we going to stop hiring dinosaurs and start hiring proven, fresh perspectives? Boudreau is a great coach but I do think it's time we got some young blood into the coach's seat. If it means a season of struggles while the team adjusts, so be it.
This team needs to be more forward-thinking.
Edit: By 'proven' I mean proven at all levels but NHL. His palmares are excellent requisites for an NHL coach.
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