Flames fire Geoff Ward, name Darryl Sutter head coach

[FerklundCGY]

Darryl Sutter his last 3 years as an NHL coach (coming after his 2 Cups) and how he ranked among coaches who coached a full season minimum:

CF%: 55.57% (1st)
FF%: 55.25% (1st)
SF%: 54.61% (1st)
SCF%: 53.79% (2nd)
HDCF%: 54.96% (4th)
xGF%: 54.45% (2nd)

CF/60: 60.44 (1st)
FF/60: 44.92 (1st)
SF/60: 30.94 (3rd)
SCF/60: 26.35 (7th)
HDCF/60: 10.47 (10th)
xGF/60: 2.31 (6th)

His last season was 2016-17. This guy still knows how to coach.

My God am I a happy man right now

 

[CraigsList]

Great hire.

Ward could win 20-0 and I’d still be stoked of this hire.

 

[kaiser matias]

Lol, he wins and gets fired. Like what's the point of that? Treliving obviously had the desire to fire him at least a week before this so why not do it then and why do it after their team wins a statement game - albeit against a rubbish club?

Ward never really seemed like the solution after Peters abruptly resigned due to those reasons. It just seemed like a quick fix for a terrible reason their original coach got the can.

Sutter is a brilliant coach, but I am not sure his system is useful in today's modern NHL. Don't get me wrong the trap is still effective in every sport including hockey, but now you need good skating forwards to play the trap, counterattack, and I am not sure Sutter knows how to do that. The Flames are still beyond mediocre and I don't think Darryl is good enough to change that because Kings are showing they can still play hockey and that's still with majority of the group he had in LA in charge.

If Sutter signed a long-term deal, they may have been working on negotiating that, and had to wait for that to clear up before firing Ward. No reason to keep him on if everything is ready, even if he won tonight.

 

[thaman8765678]

Wow, team must have known something was up with how hard they played tonight.

No more excuses for the top players as you have a cup winning coach.

 

[tmurfin]

But that's what I don't get, if he was getting fired regardless of what the result was today...then why not fire him last game or last week instead? Just super awkward to know that your GM wanted you gone like two weeks prior and have it happen after a win.

I mean, other than the win thing, isn’t that how a lot of coaching changes happen mid season? GM’s don’t just make these decisions at the drop of a hat, it takes weeks if not months to run through candidates to replace your coach if you pull that trigger.

Super weird timing how it’s so late at night though, I mean I guess it’s plausible Darryl called them after the game and said “Alright, I’m in”. But I don’t get why they couldn’t wait til the morning lol. It was odd reading Twitter, seeing post game quotes from Ward, than 30mins later he’s yesterday’s news.

 

[Unlimited Chequing]

This has the potential to have very bad optics.

Dan Carcillo called out Darryl Sutter a couple years ago as one of 'those' coaches that the NHL is quietly trying to remove from the game.

He cited an incident when Sutter kicked his back on the bench in LA. Can't remember if it was once or multiple times. Flames fans better hope that Sutter's closet doesn't have any skeletons.

I get what you're saying and I don't disagree....

... but let's be honest. Who here doesn't want to kick Carcillo in the back?

 

[generalshepherd141]

This has the potential to have very bad optics.

Dan Carcillo called out Darryl Sutter a couple years ago as one of 'those' coaches that the NHL is quietly trying to remove from the game.

He cited an incident when Sutter kicked his back on the bench in LA. Can't remember if it was once or multiple times. Flames fans better hope that Sutter's closet doesn't have any skeletons.

Who cares

 

[Woodrow]

Who cares

I'm guessing the Flames should care since they fired an abusive coach not too long ago.

 

[Volica]

I get what you're saying and I don't disagree....

... but let's be honest. Who here doesn't want to kick Carcillo in the back?

He’s dealt with his fair share of unruly cow punch, just bringing this guy up to speed.

 

[Megaterio Llamas]

Who cares

Didn't the Flames just lose a head coach in the last round of purges? Bill Peters I believe was his name. Racism/bullying accusations?

 

[Larry Hanson]

Excellent news!!

 

[smokes lets go]

Pfft. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

 

[Bourdon]

Kopitar went from a 52pt player in Sutter's last year to a 92pt on the next. Brown from a has-been, overpaid bottom 6 player to a 61pt one. Doughty 44pt to 60.

Yeah, the Flames are going to be a very good defensive team but man, it's going to be some dull, boring hockey. But truthfully, who cares? Gaudreau is probably going to be traded anyways this off-season.

 

[DaBadGuy7]

 

[snipes]

Geoff Ward pulled off a George Costanza and is going out on a high note.

Ward had his dead cat bounce. Goes out with a win at least though.

This was coming down the pipe for awhile win or lose this game the axe was dropping.

 

[FerklundCGY]

Kopitar went from a 52pt player in Sutter's last year to a 92pt on the next. Brown from a has-been, overpaid bottom 6 player to a 61pt one. Doughty 44pt to 60.

Yeah, the Flames are going to be a very good defensive team but man, it's going to be some dull, boring hockey. But truthfully, who cares? Gaudreau is probably going to be traded anyways this off-season.

The Kings went from scoring 2.12 goals per 60 and having an xGF/60 of 2.31 at 5v5 in Sutter's last 3 seasons to 2.15 goals per 60 and an xGF/60 of 2.20 at 5v5 in the 3 years since then.

Of course, Sutter's system also produced significantly better defense

 

[Volica]

Kopitar went from a 52pt player in Sutter's last year to a 92pt on the next. Brown from a has-been, overpaid bottom 6 player to a 61pt one. Doughty 44pt to 60.

Yeah, the Flames are going to be a very good defensive team but man, it's going to be some dull, boring hockey. But truthfully, who cares? Gaudreau is probably going to be traded anyways this off-season.

I mean, you care enough to post about it.

 

[Mobiandi]

Kopitar went from a 52pt player in Sutter's last year to a 92pt on the next. Brown from a has-been, overpaid bottom 6 player to a 61pt one. Doughty 44pt to 60.

Yeah, the Flames are going to be a very good defensive team but man, it's going to be some dull, boring hockey. But truthfully, who cares? Gaudreau is probably going to be traded anyways this off-season.

Iggy also had his worst numbers under Sutter with the Flames but those teams still played great

 

[Da McBomb]

Don't people at Sutter's age usually rather retire and live a nice stress free life? He's gonna age even more coaching that team

 

[Fire Treliving]

Matthew Tkachuk likes this.

 

[Reinhart]

I am ecstatic about this move!

Also, remember when LA hired him, everyone ridiculed it... and he goes on to win the cup that year.. and then another for good measure. Now, before you start accusing me of planning the parade, I most assuredly am not.

The Flames have had crappy coach after crappy coach. Sutter is a good coach. Always has been in every single one of his stops. Finally as a fan, I can get the answer to: "Is it the coach, or is it the core?" settled in my head. I am expecting an improvement. Anything above that is gravy for me.

I am just super excited that the Flames finally have a great coach again. The rest will work itself out between now and the end of the off-season (if the season continues to go poorly and big trades are required).

 

[snipes]

Don't people at Sutter's age usually rather retire and live a nice stress free life? He's gonna age even more coaching that team

The Sutters are hard as **** Alberta bred farm boys.

If anything, this will keep him young. Guy is probably out there doing back breaking work on the ranch that a lot guys in their 20s and 30s couldn’t handle.

 

[thrillhous]

I actually thought I was dreaming when I saw the headline

 

[blankall]

Kopitar went from a 52pt player in Sutter's last year to a 92pt on the next. Brown from a has-been, overpaid bottom 6 player to a 61pt one. Doughty 44pt to 60.

Yeah, the Flames are going to be a very good defensive team but man, it's going to be some dull, boring hockey. But truthfully, who cares? Gaudreau is probably going to be traded anyways this off-season.

Many players also had some of their best years under Sutter.... And won two cups. I'll take that trade off.

 

[MakeCgyGreatAgain]

Man this has brought me hope. I’ve been watching this team since 1994 and under Sutter we had our greatest years. I love how he is able to get teams to work their butts off. I’m sure the Kings fans know what I’m talking about