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.’'
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.