Sutter wants to stay, puts ball in organization’s court
Flames’ coach says club needs ‘consistency’
Despite the all-too-apparent frustrations, regardless of the stonewalling he’s faced from a predominantly setin-its-ways group reluctant to change, Brent Sutter isn’t ready to throw up his hands; toss in the towel.
His preference is still to return as coach of the Calgary Flames.
Now it’s up to management and ownership to make a call.
“I’m not really going to discuss myself right now because obviously there’s some other things that have to go on here with me, with players,’’ said Sutter, whose contract expires on June 30th. “At the appropriate time I’m sure there’ll be discussions between myself and management and we’ll go from there.
“As far as the team goes, sure you want to see it through.
“There’s a lot of work to be done. obviously. you miss playoffs three years in a row it’s not something that sits well with anyone. this year was definitely a real kick in the gut, the way it finished.
“Disappointing is a very soft word for it.
“I do know this team ... there are some things that have to be done to move forward.’’
As he has attempted to alter a culture over his three-season reign, this franchise has struggled, missing the playoff party each year. So there are many factors in play here, both for an organization and an individual.
“No. 1, you want consistency in your team. There’s not much difference in how teams play, in structure, systems. It’s in the consistency. That’s the biggest thing over the three years ... trying to get everyone to under- stand that. It is about team. It has to be about team success. And those are things that have to be addressed with this team over the summer, moving forward. No question.’’
In that, in endeavouring to revamp the attitude here, you feel he’s going to need assurances of backing higher up the food chain to continue.
If they want him back, believe in his message, he’ll get that kind of support.
If not, if they feel he’s had more than enough time already, he won’t.
“This isn’t something that just happened the last three years. This is something that has to be addressed, has to be dealt with, now. what magnitude and what that is, I guess at the end of the day management and ownership will decide that.
“But if you want to be a team that consistently has a chance to win at this level . . . hey, I know a thing or two about winning. So I’ll certainly voice my opinion if asked on it. But it’s definitely something the organization has to deal with.’’