How’s the brother act playing in Newark?

Well, the expected has happened as Brent Sutter on Tuesday afternoon was officially introduced as head coach of the Flames. And, oh by the way, three semi-new assistants were also presented as ex-Flame Dave Lowry moves down the hall from the Hitmen offices, ex-Flame Jamie McLennan moves in from a scouting and advisory job with the Flames and Ryan McGill moves up from the farm club.

Showing a speed unseen since his playing days, and maybe not even then, general manager Darryl Sutter quickly swooped in when a reporter tried to play the brother card at the presser. Sutter gruffly pointed out that he had coached all four men at the table and that all of their first and last names were both interchangeable and meaningless in the grand scheme of things. So I guess we can say hello to Brent (Noodles) Lowry, Jamie (Pie) McGill, Dave Sutter and Ryan (Pup) McLennan.

The one newish wrinkle to today’s news comes from the Swamplands, where Brent Whateverhislastnameis was employed until a couple of weeks ago. The quotes from Devils GM Lou Lamoriello are tinged with bitterness about the process, although the writer implies far greater anger from Lamoriello than is evident from the words alone. There are also a couple of tepid quotes from players.

Judging from the tone of the story, two things are possible:

My vote is for Option 1.

The real interesting stuff comes from some of the comments posted by fans including this doozy: “congratulations Calgary…. you just bought yourself early playoff exits and the most painful way to blow playoffs series!”

Of course, the Flames at this juncture are no strangers to early playoff exits, so those ill wishes may be lost on them.