Sutter leaves Ducks to become Flames coach
Darryl Sutter stood outside the visitor’s dressing room one day in Pittsburgh last season and explained why he decided to join the Ducks as a special advisor to coach Dallas Eakins and why he had zero interest in returning to coach an NHL team again.
Sutter changed his mind Friday, when he accepted a three-year contract to coach the meandering Calgary Flames, his second stint with the franchise after serving as its coach from 2003-06 and guiding it to the Stanley Cup Final in 2004.
“It’s unfinished business,” Sutter said on a Zoom call.
Sutter, 62, replaced Geoff Ward, who was fired with the Flames stationed in fifth place in the North Division with an 11-11-2 record, two points out of a playoff position and 14 behind the division- and league-leading Toronto Maple Leafs going into Friday’s action.
Sutter was a midseason replacement when the Kings fired Terry Murray in 2011-12, rallying the team to the eighth and final playoff spots in the Western Conference before they went on to win the franchise’s first Stanley Cup championship. The Kings won the Cup again in 2014.
Sutter was fired along with Kings general manager Dean Lombardi in a series of housecleaning moves in 2017. In 2019, former Kings player Daniel Carcillo said he saw Sutter kick a player seated on the bench and berated another who suffered from a concussion.
Sutter denied the allegations Friday.
“No,” he said. “I think honesty and truth always prevails. We’ll just leave (it at) that.”
Sutter joined the Ducks last season to mentor Eakins, who was promoted after four successful seasons with the their AHL team, the San Diego Gulls. Sutter has an all-time coaching record of 634-467-184 with the Kings, Flames, San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks.
Sutter is the fifth coach in five years for Calgary.
“There’s a group of five or six players who have started their careers here and have been here through all those coaches,” Sutter said. “What’s important for them to know now is that I’m here with them and I’m going to stick with them and whatever works best for them is what I’m going to do.”
Dancing Terry
Right wing Troy Terry returned to the Ducks’ lineup Wednesday against the Blues, after he was scratched for four consecutive games, and he assisted on Max Comtois’ second-period goal for his first point since Feb. 9.
Eakins likened Terry’s play to that of someone on a dance floor.
“There were some people who were unbelievable dancers and there was always somebody in there that just didn’t quite hear the beat and it looks off,” Eakins said. “That’s how I equate Troy’s play a lot of times. When he is dancing to the beat and he’s feeling his game and he’s got great support from his two linemates, he backs off people, he beats them, he makes plays.
“When he starts to force things or he doesn’t have the support of his linemate getting close to him, that’s when he looks like a bad dancer. That’s what it is.”
Guhle update
As expected, defenseman Brendan Guhle cleared waivers and the Ducks assigned him to San Diego. He sprained his knee during a training camp scrimmage and hasn’t played for the Ducks this season. He played five games with the Gulls on a long-term injury conditioning loan.