Never Go Against The Pizzeria

This is the lesson that Brent Sutter should have learned in his time in New Jersey-- you never go against the pizzeria or the family. With Sutter wanting to leave for "family reasons", everyone knew that after Mike Keenan was dismissed as Calgary coach-- odds were that he was going to head there to be with brother Darryl. Why couldn't he be upfront with people and be a straight-shooter and not try to pull the wool over people's eyes when it was blatantly obvious what was going to happen.

Frankly, I believe this to be a bad move for the Flames. There's a need for a drastic change and I don't think that bringing in another Sutter could be the cure for what ails them. Sure, it's nice to see some kind of lineage there, but this could have been time for a change in thought, a change in appeal-- but alas, we have the same gimmick we've always seen with the Flames in the past few seasons.

While Brent's numbers don't lie and his success at the junior level and to an extent when he was in New Jersey during the regular season is impressive, his inability to get the Devils out of the first round of the playoffs in each of his two seasons is something that should be disturbing to Flames' fans. Especially for a team who hasn't been out of the first round since they were in the Cup finals four seasons ago. Whether it's the players fault or the coach's fault is still something left up for debate, but the fact remains that Sutter's coaching record isn't that you would want to see when you need to get a team to that next level.

However, the one thing that Sutter could be able to do is get Dion Phaneuf back to his old self which made him a top-10 pick in 2003. Phaneuf was coached by Sutter in his years in Red Deer and Sutter was able to get the most out of the hulking defenseman, which could turn out to benefit the Flames in one aspect. What Sutter could do with Jarome Iginla and Miikka Kiprusoff may be another tale, but one worth looking at right now.

Yes, another Sutter in Calgary, which could be nepotism at it's best, but it is what it is. Once Sutter said he was leaving Jersey, fact of the matter is that regardless of how much he denied, regardless of his reasons-- WE ALL KNEW what was going to happen next. That mistrust to the Devils and Lou Lamoriello may cause karma to come back to Sutter in a bad way and be the worse thing for Sutter and Flames fans when all is said and done. Had he been up front, I'm sure people would be more forgiving and allow this be the course of action; but to claim family reasons and that reason being he wanted to coach next to his brother the GM, that's a tad underhanded and a bit classless.

However, when all is said and done, should Brent fail-- there's 150 other Sutters who could be the next in Darryl's holster to take over for Brent. Of course, this assuming that Darryl would still have a job. This may be Darryl's last gimmick for the Flames and should this not pan out-- it could be curtains for the Sutter regime in Calgary.