If anyone is having doubts over whether Calgary's terrible season is due to head coach Darryl Sutter, the latest report states he's at least a major factor, if not the main reason. During a show on Sportsnet 960 Tuesday, host Pat Steinberg described the locker room as 'disjointed', adding players are tuning out their head coach.
"I know for a fact there are multiple veterans who haven't seen eye to eye (with Sutter)," said Steinberg.
Some fans of the Calgary Flames and the radio station have pointed out that Sportsnet 960 has generally danced around the issue of Sutter's coaching abilities as it is the official station of the team.
There's also a report that
Nazem Kadri was vocally critical of Sutter, and has been
"very blunt about the communication between players and the coach." Calgary has not been mathematically eliminated from the 2023 post season, but it will take little short of a miracle to get in at this point. A miss ensures Sutter will be in the conversation, unless an announcement is made before then. There's also the issue of GM Brad Treliving and some of his decisions. One of those decision was to sign Sutter to a two-year contract tension running until the end of the 2024-25 season. That happened in October of 2022, the start of the current NHL season.
If Sutter has lost the veterans, it stands to reason that the rest of the team will follow, if that hasn't already happened. New star player
Jonathan Huberdeau, picked up in the
Matthew Tkachuk trade and almost immediately signed to a huge new contract, has sputtered playing under Sutter. He's currently on pace for one of his worst healthy seasons since entering the NHL.
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