The Calgary Wranglers will have a new face on their coaching staff when the 2024-25 season rolls around, but the “new face” will be a familiar one to fans. On Monday, Wranglers captain Brett Sutter announced his retirement from his playing career, and the club has hired him as an assistant coach.

The idea for Sutter to transition to coaching can be traced back to a comment by Calgary Flames head coach Ryan Huska at the end of Flames’ training camp last fall.

“I think it was this year at my departure meeting, when I was getting sent down to the Wranglers,” said Sutter. “He made a brief comment about how he thought I thought the game really well, and if it was something I’d be interested in that he thought I was going to be a really good coach one day. And at that point I hadn’t really put too much stock into it.”

After the departure of former assistant coach Don Nachbaur was announced, Flames general manager Craig Conroy and assistant general manager Brad Pascall approached Sutter during development camp with the idea that he join the Wranglers’ staff. After mulling over the idea for a few days, Sutter decided to take the plunge.

He’s excited for the new challenge, but admits that closing the book on his playing career is bittersweet.

“I think the opportunity, first and foremost,” said Sutter on what led to his decision to end his playing days. “But last year was a tough year for me. I had two bad knee injuries which cost me half a year, and another shoulder injury that I was playing through in playoffs. I think as you get older those things kind of add up. So, I had actually started to train again when Brad and Craig approached me about the opportunity. It took a few days for me to wrap my head around it. Just really excited for it.”

The eldest son of longtime NHL player and coach Darryl Sutter, Brett’s been playing high-end hockey continuously since joining the Western Hockey League’s Kootenay Ice in the fall of 2003. And while he may not have cemented himself as a top NHL player, he’s undoubtedly one of the top American League players in history. He served as captain for 10 seasons between Charlotte, Ontario and the Wranglers, and his 1,090 regular season games played is fourth in AHL history – behind only Willie Marshall, Fred Glover and Bryan Helmer.

Sutter moves onto the coaching side of things with a lot of useful experience under his belt, and a ton of familiarity with the Flames’ system and players. He indicated that his role on the Wranglers’ staff will be working with the club’s forwards and running the power play.

“It’s a new challenge, but for me, I think I know the game well enough and I know the players in the organization well enough, so for me it’s more just learning how to do it on the coaching side,” said Sutter.

The announcement of Sutter’s retirement and move into coaching was met with a ton of social media love from his teammates, past and present. The only captain the Wranglers have ever known since their move to Calgary, Sutter earned a ton of respect throughout his career for his work on and off the ice – he was awarded the AHL’s Fred T. Hunt Memorial Award in 2018-19 for exemplifying sportsmanship, determination, and dedication to hockey. While his playing days may be over, his work on his team’s behalf continues.

“If you’re not going to be a player, a coach is almost the next best thing,” said Sutter. “Get your hands, your fingerprints on the game every night. You’re in the locker room, you still have that camaraderie of everyone’s in it together, kind of the family feel that something I’ve always loved. And I’m looking forward to the new opportunity of doing this.”