NHL Insider reveals what head Coach Darryl Sutter's future will be with the Calgary Flames

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Brett Thomas Wills
April 13, 2023 (4:26 PM)

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While the Calgary Flames are about the clear out their lockers and coaching staff is almost certainly also cleaning out their offices for what is most definitely a way too early start to summer, one hockey insider believes that head coach Darryl Sutter is a lock to return as bench boss.

On The Jeff Marek Show, Elliotte Friedman suggested that because of Sutter's $8 million extension he'd be crazy to walk away at this time despite the fact that he likely lost the room and many players regressed under his tutelage during the 2022-2023 season.

It's no secret that from top to bottom the Calgary Flames organization is in need of a major overhaul and that includes behind the bench, but it would appear that Brad Treliving is comfortable with having Sutter behind the bench come September, this will likely be a detriment to a team that underachieved by a massive margin this season.

While part of the blame for the failures this season should be on Sutter's shoulders and his old-school approach (see decision about who to put out in a shootout as an example), it's my belief that he should not be back in any capacity within the Flames organization.

It's also my opinion that when Sutter was brought in this time around, that it was to stick a band aid on a problem that needed fixing right away going back to relieving Bill Peters and replacing him immediately with Geoff Ward who had no coaching experience at the time, then having to replace Ward with Sutter just twenty-four games into the 2020-2021 season. Darryl Sutter has outlived his welcome in Calgary, unfortunately the Flames won't take this into consideration until it's too late again next season.