Darryl Sutter's dismissive treatment forced a rookie's parents to miss his first NHL game
Darryl Sutter recently made a snarky comment to reporters asking about rookie Jakob Pelletier, a comment that wasn't well received by many Flames' fans. The recently promoted Winger made his NHL debut on Saturday and while he didn't post a point, made his presence on the ice known.
Players really don't like this type of thing. And tell you what, I had a person reach out to me who had a similar experience years ago in his first NHL game. He had flown in the day before and the team hadn't given him any indication whether he was gonna play or not. So, he's got his family calling him, asking, "Are you in the lineup? We need to book airfare. We need to get there, we want to see this." And he kept saying, "I don't think I'm probably going to play, so I don't know, I don't know." The night before, nothing. Morning skate, nothing. Did the coaches even talk to him? Sutter didn't talk to him, didn't even make eye contact, anything. None of the other coaches even said anything about him playing or not. It finally took a teammate telling him he was in the lineup and, by that point, it was too late for his parents to attend his first NHL game.
Darryl's as old-school as they get. Your coach doesn't have to be your best friend. But you don't forget these things. The person who talked to me just couldn't stand that. These are important moments. The dismissiveness toward Pelletier, to me, it comes across as Sutter thinks it's a joke.
Darryl's as old-school as they get. Your coach doesn't have to be your best friend. But you don't forget these things. The person who talked to me just couldn't stand that. These are important moments. The dismissiveness toward Pelletier, to me, it comes across as Sutter thinks it's a joke.
McKenna the current Vegas Golden Knights analyst, went on to explain how players don't like dismissiveness like this. McKenna makes a good point about how personal the moment is and how this has happened with NHL players before, who wanted to fly their parents and friends out to watch their debut.
McKenna makes a great point about how the old-school attitude and lack of seriousness toward Pelletier's debut is nothing short of unprofessional. The Sutter apologists, much like the Torts apologists will bring up how hockey has been done, time immemorial but that excuse is just an excuse to be arrogant, more or less.
| POLL | ||
Do Darryl Sutter's ways still work in the NHL? | ||
| Yes, they are effective | 58 | 16.7 % |
| No, players don't take well to it anymore | 205 | 58.9 % |
| Depends on the player | 85 | 24.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
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