Well, Darry Sutter is staying put as the Calgary Flames general
manager. From
George Johnson of the Calgary Herald, team president Ken King was
adamant this morning about that fact:
“We weren’t vascillating on whether or not to keep Darryl,” said
King of his embattled general manager.“It wasn’t a question of,
‘If this happens, he’ll stay,’ or ‘If this happens, he won’t.’ We’ve
gone through our evalutions. We’ve made decisions.”What we want
to do here is put an end to the death watch; to other people’s
speculation.“We move forward.”
Ever since the Flames’ desperation moves of using half the Toronto
Maple Leafs roster in a last attempt at making the playoffs fell
woefully short, there has been an outcry that it’s time for Sutter to
step down. He’s made increasingly bad decisions and currently the
atmosphere surrounding the club is nothing short of absolute doom and
gloom. Still, you have to have respect for King for coming out and
standing by his GM, putting to rest any doubts as to the immediate
future of Sutter.
Still, he has put himself into an incredibly deep hole. The team is a
mess, there is nothing resembling chemistry or cohesiveness on the
roster and the Flames are right up against the salary cap. Barring
sweeping changes, the Flames won’t look much different next season than
they did at the end of this last one. After seeing how the team
performed, it’s understandable why that possibility has upset the local
media and fans.
That doesn’t mean changes aren’t coming. Sutter and the Flames will be
hiring some front office help, likely an assistant GM to help provide
some feedback to Sutter when he starts thinking about making some dumb
decisions. King also stated that the team will look to take a better
approach with media relations, which have eroded during Sutter’s tenure.
He also stated that Jarome Iginla isn’t going anywhere.
So, Sutter stays and Iginla stays; not much changing in Calgary this
summer.
