Sutter hired as Flames coach again, sees 'unfinished business'

Darryl Sutter said he's owed the owners of the Calgary Flames a Stanley Cup championship since 2004.

Sutter, who is starting his second stint as Flames coach after Geoff Ward was fired Thursday, said Calgary's seven-game loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2004 Stanley Cup Final rankles him.
"For me it's unfinished business," Sutter said Friday. "It's still really clear in my mind losing in the Stanley Cup Final with the team and thinking about it on the flight home from Tampa, about the players and the owners and how much that resonated with me and how much it stayed in my mind. So I'm thrilled to be back.
"It's like I have a debt to pay to the Flames owners], and we're going to win a Stanley Cup for them."
***[RELATED: [Flames fire Ward as coach, replaced by Sutter]*
Flames co-owner Murray Edwards was a member of the ownership group in 2004, as was Bud McCaig, the father of current co-owner Jeffrey McCaig.
Sutter isn't expected to join Calgary until Monday at the earliest because of NHL COVID-19 testing protocol and matters to attend to on his farm in Viking, Alberta. Though he hasn't coached in the NHL since the 2016-17 season with the Los Angeles Kings, he said his approach will be the same.
"There's fundamentals that never change in terms of taking care of your own end, shot volume and puck possession and things like that, where analytics became involved," he said, "and I think when I went to L.A. we used the analytics part very effectively and at the same time played a style that was conducive to winning championships. If you look at the teams that are winning championships, if you look at how [the Lightning] quietly changed their style of game by bringing in certain types of players, having a better defense and getting star players to buy in, and they went from being a contender to winning championships.
"[The Flames] are a very intriguing group because there's a lot of really good players. They just have to adjust their style a little bit to do what it takes to win, and we'll do that."
Sutter coached the Flames for three seasons from 2002-06 and was their general manager from 2003-10. He then coached the Kings for six seasons from 2011-17, winning the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014. Sutter was 634-467-83 with 101 ties in 17 seasons as an NHL coach with the Chicago Blackhawks, San Jose Sharks, Flames and Kings.
The 62-year-old said he understands that the NHL is trending younger and that's he's fully prepared to deal with that.
"I've got children same age as most of our players, and I have a lot of respect for them and what they're going through in their lives, not so much on the ice as off the ice," he said. "I've always had a great relationship with what's going on with players off the ice. It's something I feel really good about, helping young players or helping guys get through situations."

Sutter has a reputation for maximizing players' abilities and demanding hard work and commitment. He said relationships are critical to that.
"The biggest part of the head coach's responsibility now is the 1-on-1 and the honesty and getting the most out of guys," Sutter said. "And it's not always easy. Sometimes it's a pull, sometimes it's a push, sometimes it's a side by side. That part of the game hasn't changed. What has changed is the size of the staffs, the number of guys that you have to use to work with players.
"I've always said my good fortune as coach is I understand people and it doesn't take me long to figure that out."
The Flames play at the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; NHLN, CBC, SN, NHL.TV) and at home against the Ottawa Senators on Sunday. Calgary (11-11-2) is fifth in the Scotia North Division, two points behind the fourth-place Montreal Canadiens.
Sutter is expected to run practice Tuesday.
"Deep down, I believe it's a good hockey club," he said. "We just have to put it all together and they've got to do it as one. Sometimes it's hard for young guys. They get off track a little bit and want to do it as individuals. We're going to do it as a team. We're going to be happy doing it. There's nothing better than feeling good about it after you've worked your tails off and win."