Fig
Absolute Horse Shirt
- Dec 15, 2014
- 12,994
- 8,457
Flames ownership will trying absolutely everything else before doing the right thing. At the time they were probably looking at the $8M they still owed Sutter and hoped this would all "blow over".
To be fair, things were already weird when Sutter first started with us. As much as we say he's a dinosaur and the game has passed him by, he wasn't an issue when he first showed up, but IMO I always felt he was different than his first stint and different to his LA stint. Biggest one, we didn't have any Sutterisms at all. The take a shit comments stuff were weird even for Sutter. He was a grumpy farmer and blue collar humble/rigid, but I never recalled him treating players in such a way in the media in the past, or at least at the frequency he was doing so last season. In the past I think we'd argue it was a weird straddle of old school/new school, tough love vs players coach style etc. thing... but I do think the mix did change as time went on.
I think it was Zadorov who said it best. I believe he said he liked Sutter, but understood why others did not. I believe Zadorov also said Sutter was the guy they needed at one point until he wasn't. This comment IMO is telling that Sutter was tolerable up to a certain point, until he did snap/change or wore thin with the players. This also matches up with how IMO the entire team looked rigid, snake bit and like a group who just straight up weren't having fun vs the few seasons prior. I seem to recall this past season was the first season we started seeing a major drop in stories about the guys going out to dinner together and get togethers etc.
I do think that there's something that caused Sutter to snap and go down a path of crazy that I don't think may have existed before the last two years. Unfortunately, it happened around the same time as his extension, exodus and new core. I don't know if the pressure got to him after signing the extension and/or if he was part of the ownership crew that seemed to take things personally after we lost a few guys or something else... but I do think he did have a sudden, rapid and unforeseen decline.
I'm with others. His strategies IMO are still great. But his player interaction and social skills are just next level suddenly straight up done beyond what is expected in a modern HC. I do think a public apology from Sutter plus individual apologies to the players would actually help to repair his image, but it certainly is currently quite tarnished. I do honestly believe Sutter is a bit of an ass, but unlike other coaches that rumored did mind games and threats (ie: Babcock, Hartley, Peters etc.) I don't believe I recall reading that Sutter did that. The biggest complaints were insults or cutting off communication with the player and further letting them languish. I think for Sutter, many players knew exactly where they stood or they didn't because he gave them silent treatment. Still not ideal, and stuff I'm happy we are purging, but IMO at least it's not as bad as Babcock or Peters in terms of the type of clean up and re-building of relationships as guys like that maybe?