For the 25th consecutive year one of the six Sutter brothers is playing in the National Hockey League.
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The Calgary Flames signed Ron Sutter over the weekend. At the end of last season, Calgary fired his brother Brian as coach.
“I never would have guessed that I’d been playing for Calgary,” the 37-year-old center said. “Hopefully, I can settle in and contribute in a big way. I’m expecting to come in, play my game and be myself.”
Last season Ron played for the San Jose Sharks, whom his brother Darryl coaches. He had five goals and six assists in 78 games.
The Sharks let him go before the season but he hung around and stayed in shape by skating with their injured players.
“Ronnie brings a winning attitude,” Calgary coach Don Hay said. “He has been through these stretch drives.”
Brian was the first of the six Sutter brothers to play in the NHL. He began his career in 1976 with the St. Louis Blues and remained with them for 15 seasons.
Then came Darryl, who spent 13 seasons with the Blackhawks starting in 1979-80, and Duane, who broke in that same season with the New York Islanders and ended his career 11 years later with the Hawks. In midseason, Duane joined Darryl in the coaching ranks when he took over the Florida Panthers.
Next came Brent, who went to the Islanders in 1980-81 and played 18 seasons in the NHL, winding up with the Hawks.
Ron and his twin brother, Rich, were the last of the Sutters. Rich began his nomadic 13-year career with Pittsburgh in 1982-83 and Ron started out with Philadelphia that same season.
House cleaning: After finally taking over the Phoenix Coyotes last Thursday, new owners Steve Ellman and Wayne Gretzky are wasting no time making changes.
The first to be swept away was General Manager Bobby Smith.
One or more star players seem certain to follow.
Gretzky replaced Smith with Cliff Fletcher, who also will be the team’s executive vice president.
“Bobby Smith worked very hard under very difficult circumstances,” said Gretzky, who is running the team. “He did an excellent job, but at this point we felt that the organization needed to make a change.”
Fletcher spent the previous two seasons working as a senior advisor to Tampa Bay GM Rick Dudley. Before that he spent 19 years as Calgary’s general manager followed by six years as chief operating officer, president and GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was the Flames’ general manager when they won the Stanley Cup in 1989.
With Ellman and Gretzky looking to cut costs to lessen the financial burden that they shouldered, Fletcher probably will be trying to make some trades before the March 13 deadline.
The Coyotes’ three biggest stars–center Jeremy Roenick, left wing and captain Keith Tkachuk and goaltender Sean Burke–are considered the most likely to be moved.
Appeal denied: San Jose’s captain and star right wing Owen Nolan will have to serve the entire 11-game suspension he received for hammering Dallas’ Grant Marshall on the head with an elbow on Feb. 1.
Marshall was knocked unconscious and carried off the ice on a stretcher. He was hospitalized overnight with a concussion and missed the Stars’ next game.
Colin Campbell, the NHL’s vice president in charge of discipline, imposed the 11-game suspension.
San Jose GM Dean Lombardi and Sharks President Greg Jamison appealed his sentence to Commissioner Gary Bettman on the grounds that it was too harsh.
Bettman thought not.
“I have concluded that the original determination regarding the length of Mr. Nolan’s suspension was warranted and appropriate,” Bettman said in a statement.
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“The commissioner asked a lot of questions, and we did our best to answer them [during the 2 1/2-hour hearing],” Lombardi said. “We can’t complain about the process. We had our chance to be heard.”
Report cards: The NHL’s director of officiating, Andy Van Hellemond, is grading his referees and linesmen.
There are four grades as follows:
– An official who follows procedures exactly and always is top of the game.
– An official who is on top of the game most of the time.
– An official who needs to improve.
– An official who is in danger of being dismissed.