The Calgary Flames are nowhere near to hiring a new coach to replace the departed Brent Sutter.
Or, as GM Jay Feaster puts it, “We’re in the first inning of a nine-inning baseball game, if you will.”
Feaster says the club is still in the process of collecting a “master list” of names, after which the candidates will be cut down to “five or six people we would like to pursue and have conservations with.”
Among the potential candidates, according to the Calgary Herald:
---- Troy Ward, coach of the Flames’ AHL affiliate (Abbotsford Heat)
---- San Jose coach Todd McLellan, if the Sharks decide to go in a different direction
---- Bob Hartley, former Avalanche coach who Feaster is close to