On To The Next One

With a record of 118-90-38 and 0 playoff appearances in his 3 year tenure as head coach, the Calgary Flames and Brent Sutter have decided to go in opposite directions. Although I think we all saw this coming, was it really the best for both parties?


Brent Sutter is a good coach, and I think his resume speaks to that. People can criticise him all they want, and call him a terrible coach all they want. But in the end it doesn't matter what they think, because Sutter is still a very highly sought after coach. With a record of 215-146-49 in his NHL coaching career and 19-0-1 in international events, you can't argue the guy doesn't know his X's and O's.  Just over 24 hours after parting ways with the Calgary Flames April 12th, the 50 year old native of Viking, Alberta was handed the reigns of Team Canada for the IIHF World Championships, which was a no brainer for GM Kevin Lowe. "I really like the fact that Sutter has history with some of the players we've chosen." "In fact, some of the players have already phoned him and were excited about the fact that he was coming."

When Sutter was asked in  a media scrum on "Garbage Bag Day" if he would be willing to coach a rebuild, he answered, "Absolutely." With his new project now at the Worlds with Team Canada, and the young players on the roster, you have to wonder if this is a "try-out" that Kevin Lowe, President of Hockey Operations for the Edmonton Oilers is using, to see how he works with this young team. With 3 Edmonton Oilers on staff and Sutter's resume with young players, you can't help but to think he could be a target by the Oilers this off season.


When it comes to Calgary, fans have to be wondering what is going to happen over this off season. Letting go of a coach that said he would love to coach in a rebuild, and hearing General Manager Jay Feaster say he "Doesn't want to be in this position next year," can be fairly scary. Reading between the lines we are led to believe that we are headed into another off season of acquiring average or below average hockey players and finish out of the playoffs for the 4th season in a row (Hoping Kipper can continue at the level he did this year). And if that is the case, when will management and owners finally come to their senses? Maybe, they won't. But if they believe they are going to be able to make a big splash in the free agent market this off season, or try to attract guys like Parise or Suter, they're dreaming.

Just hope i'm wrong.