Is Brandon Sutter Really THAT Bad?

[GeeoffBrown]

I think he is a decent player that is overpaid. It doesn't help​ that Nick Bonino contributed to two Penguins Stanley Cup final runs.

 

[Penske]

He can probably pass as a 3rd line RW who can play C on PK. Decent shot, good skater, not too much else.

Absolutely horrendous at distributing the puck, which is a huge red flag for a center. I think most Canucks fans hate the usage and contract far more than they hate the player.

Nailed it

 

[hagelin1381]

He's a center that plays like a winger.. Can't believe that Vancouver addressed him as a foundation piece before opening contract talks

 

[ToastedFlower*]

The guy posts respectable-looking numbers year after year. I haven't watched the Canucks much since he was traded to the team, but I do recall watching him in the 2015 playoffs and thinking he was one of the Penguins better forwards in their first-round loss that year.

Maybe I'm watching the "wrong" games, but he's never looked like a particularly bad player to me.

Is overrated defensively? Does he make a lot of inept plays even though he scores at a respectable level for a checker?


Just trying to figure out why people talk about him as if he's one of the worst third line centres in the League when his numbers don't suggest he is.

Sutter is the perfect 3c. He isn't asked to put the puck in the net night in night out. He's amazing defensively, and pretty good at face offs when he wants to. He's got an ego and an attitude, thats why the pens traded him.

Sutter is also an amazing PKer for the simple fact is he's got wheels with speed, he just doesn't know how to use that speed beyond harassing opposing players on the forecheck and streaking up ice to try and score. He's got a low offensive IQ but still a great serviceable player, just not worth the contract he was given. 1.5 million to much on the AAV.

 

[WinterEmpire]

If he had a last name other than Sutter he would a 1.5mil 4th line center

He can't produce offensively, hasn't even got 35 points once in the last 7 seasons with prime minutes and PP time

He is very poor defensively, he's only put in that role because he can't do anything else, he bleeds chances left and right

He's soft as hell, I can't remember the last time I saw him clear the front of the net or lay a solid check on someone

 

[me2]

I'm not exactly a Sutter fan, but he's not that bad, never saw the point of trading for a guy his age/level/cost on a team that needs a rebuild. Still he's been average on faceoffs, average on defense (off year though), solid on breakaways, abysmal on puck distribution. He tunnel visions badly, his idea of a primary assist is a defenseman slapper off a puck he was forced to dump to point or lucking into someone tapping in a rebound of his shot.

The biggest issue is Benning trying to turn him into a 50-60 1W/2C. Benning's tried him as the Sedins RW, fed him prime 1st unit PP time etc. Back on the 3rd line he's fine.

 

[sr edler]

Benning identified him as a foundational player, and at no point was Sutter anything of the sort.

Didn't Linden–Benning also identify Derek Dorsett as foundational? I think they did.

Sutter is not a very great player, but it probably isn't his fault he got labeled foundational by two management morons.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Sutter is not a very great player, but it probably isn't his fault he got labeled foundational by two management morons.

tbf it's probably also not his fault that everyone expects him to play like a sutter, and therefore is always bitterly bitterly disappointed by him, because of his last name.