Former player shares his thoughts on Darryl Sutter as a person and information on how he used to punish his team after a loss

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Josh tupper
May 3, 2023 (8:35)

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The termination of Darryl Sutter came as a surprise to a lot of people in the NHL. Sutter was yet to begin a 2-year extension with an annual value of around $4,000,000 per year. This means the Calgary Flames chose to pay Sutter $8,000,000 to not coach the team, rather than utilize his services within the organization. Reports have stated this decision was heavily influenced by exit interviews from players who all but refused to return with Sutter in place.

The decision however did create some questions, it was previously reported that Brad Treliving's decision to not return to Calgary, was heavily based around his inability to replace Sutter. Now the Flames find themselves as a team with a new arena deal, but no coach or General Manager to help build for its eventual opening. So why was it so important to terminate Sutter?

Well a post that showed up online yesterday may shed some light on it. A report surfaced from The Sports Aux, which is a Hockey Recruitment platform. The website allows players, once verified, to provide feedback on their coaches. The website details the process as follows:

Once verified, Players and Coaches have the ability to anonymously leave ratings and reviews. Players can only leave ratings and reviews on their past and current coaches and agents, and Coaches can only leave ratings and reviews on their past and current players. The Sports Aux cross-references a players' years played with the coaches on staff during those seasons, creating their unique coach list to rate and review. A similar process happens for verified coaches.

Once a review has been submitted it is sent to The Sports Aux Admin Panel where it is grammatically reviewed prior to posting.

So what was said about Sutter? Well one former player had this to say:

Darryl was the most negative person, let alone coach, I have ever come across in my career. He would belittle players in a team setting constantly and went as far as to not feed grown men on the airplane because we lost a hockey game.

This review of Sutter seems to align rather closely with what a lot of players have said over their careers. His treatment of players like Jakob Pelletier this season were likely just the icing on the cake. While Sutter has proven in the past that his style can work, he's also a coach with a very short shelf life. Players today don't want to be belittled by a coach and sometimes as a coach you have to figure out a way to evolve your style.

POLL
Will Darryl Sutter coach in the NHL again?
Yes, he'll find another job	45	14.2 %
No, this was probably his last job	234	74.1 %
Depends on how desperate teams get	37	11.7 %
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