Many within the hockey world were caught a bit off-balance when the Calgary Flames announced the hiring of Darryl Sutter (again) as head coach. Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman had to re-record part of their 31 Thoughts podcast, which allowed Friedman to share some nuggets about Sutter’s return to the fold.
Here’s Friedman on the change:
Well, first of all, we should let everyone know this is not an interim job. Darryl Sutter has been given a three year deal, including this season, which ties him to Brad Treliving, the general manager. They now both have the same term.
I think that this is something the Flames have kind of kicked around, the return to Sutter as a coach. And the reason I think that is that in the off-season there was a gap between when they were eliminated and when Geoff Ward was officially hired. And I think that the only person that was potentially going to leap-frog Ward for that job at the time was going to be Darryl Sutter.
And I think also last year, when they had to decide what to do after Bill Peters was out, I think the idea of potentially going to Sutter was there, too. So I think it’s something they’ve considered at times. They didn’t do it. And now I think Treliving has looked around and said “Alright, I can’t make a move with the team, but i have to change something because it’s not going very well.” So now he’s gone to a very demanding but very good head coach in Darryl Sutter.
The Flames were eliminated from the post-season by Dallas on Aug. 20. They officially hired Ward as full-time coach on Sept. 14.