logo
FlamesNation has no direct affiliation to the Calgary Flames, Calgary Sports and Entertainment, NHL, or NHLPA
New Wranglers head coach Brett Sutter may be the perfect choice to lead the Flames’ prospects
alt
Photo credit: Mike Zitek/AHL
Ryan Pike
Jul 30, 2025, 12:00 EDTUpdated: Jul 30, 2025, 01:19 EDT
Comments
Following the conclusion of the 2024-25 season, the Calgary Flames announced that Trent Cull had joined their coaching staff. The announcement made perfect sense, as Cull had spent much of the season with the Flames on an interim basis and helped improve the penalty kill during his tenure.
About a month later, the Wranglers announced Cull’s replacement as AHL head coach: Wranglers assistant coach Brett Sutter.
On paper, it seemed like an odd move. But the more you dig into it, the more inspired the choice seems to be.
So why did the move seem odd? Well, he’s slated to be the third-youngest head coach in the AHL in 2025-26, with only Cleveland’s Trent Vogelhuber and Rochester’s Michael Leone being younger. Sutter is one of just six AHL bench bosses who have yet to celebrate their 40th birthday.
Moreover, Sutter has very little formal coaching experience. He retired in 2024 and spent 2024-25 on the Wranglers staff, primarily as an assistant coach, but also briefly serving as an interim head coach after Cull had been called up to the Flames and interim coach Joe Cirella had a scheduled eye procedure. (Sutter had the unique opportunity to be an AHL All-Star Game coach in his first year in coaching, period.) The next-least high-level coaching experience for any other AHL head coaches is four seasons, for Colorado’s Mark Letestu and San Jose’s John McCarthy. And both of those guys worked in player development in addition to their bench coaching tenures.
But when you think about it, Sutter’s also a pretty bold choice because of the playing experience he does have and how recent that experience was:
  • Sutter last played in 2023-24, and the Wranglers roster in 2025-26 could include several guys who were his teammates that season. That list includes Artem Grushnikov, Yan Kuznetsov, Etienne Morin, Jeremie Poirier, Ilya Solovyov, Parker Bell, Clark Bishop, Lucas Ciona, Alex Gallant, Sam Honzek, Dryden Hunt, Rory Kerins, Adam Klapka, Sam Morton and William Strömgren. There’s a high level of familiarity there.
  • Sutter closed out his playing career as captain of the Wranglers, closing out a hat-trick of sorts, as he also served as captain in prior AHL stops in Charlotte and Ontario.
  • Sutter was a late-round NHL draft choice in 2005, and while he didn’t play a ton at the NHL level, he had to grind to get his NHL opportunities and has a clear grasp of what it takes to get to the NHL and stick around.
  • Sutter played 1,090 games in the AHL, the fourth-most of any person in that league’s long history.
If the idea was to allow Sutter to continue his development as a coach and utilize him as a resource for the many young up-and-comers in the system, his ascension to the head coaching role for the Wranglers ticks a lot of important boxes.
Want to learn more about the new Wranglers head coach? Mike Gould and myself interviewed him this week on The Back Burner, which can be found on the FlamesNation YouTube page!

PRESENTED BY 6IX INNING STRETCH PODCAST

Love baseball? Don’t miss The 6ix Inning Stretch — the brand new podcast from The Nation Network, presented by Betway. Hosted by Toronto sports reporter Lindsay Dunn and 3-time MLB All-Star Whit Merrifield, this weekly show delivers insider stories, unfiltered Jays talk, player interviews, and expert analysis from around the majors. New episodes drop every Wednesday — listen on your favourite podcast platform or watch on the Bluejaysnation YouTube channel.

Editorials

Breaking News