Old is new at the fires

Simon-Oliver Lorenz
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Bennett no doubt summed up his personal situation, which was dismissed last week by Geoff Ward’s unkind man.

The thing is, the replacement of the ward does not exactly have a renaissance. When Daryl Sutter got his first job as an assistant coach at the NHL in 1987, only one of his current players was born – Captain Mark Giordano.

For nearly 35 years, Sutter has been running his bumps as a coach, general manager or consultant. This Thursday night, with the Montreal Canadians, his first game at the head of the flames will be his 1286^E As head coach on the circuit.

A few hours before the meeting, fever was not the theme of the day. Without passion, Giordano told media representatives that Sutter mainly wanted to make “adjustments” to the game’s system. Avoid turnovers, improve defensive work in front of the net, “play well” on a personal basis

“We were pumped,” Elias Lindholm said in the voice of a man who had not been pumped. “We have two good training sessions, at high speed. The guys can’t wait to play tonight,” the center added.

Go back to Calgary

Giordano, on the other hand, knew Sutter as coach early in his career: then defender, then 22, playing his first 7 career games on 2005-2006, wearing the caps of a Sutter driver and general manager of flames. The following season, he stepped down as coach, but remained with the company until 2011.

“I found the same person,” the veteran said. Its principles are the same. What he expects from his players, the intensity, the details he brings to match-making. But over the years it has undoubtedly changed quite a bit. We will see as time goes on. ”

At the microphone, Daryl Sutter did not really explain how his rule would bring “a new beginning”.

After four seasons without a coaching position, when asked if he kept the same approach as before, he replied affirmatively and said with a smile that he was “only improving”.

According to him, things have changed a lot since he stepped behind an NHL bench in the late 1980s: coaching staff has a lot more storage than ever before, and he now considers the arrival of “much more detail” video work. In addition, there are now 31 teams in the league and it needs to “get acquainted” with more players than ever before as there are not twenty.

Very fast

Things have been moving at a high pace for him over the past week: Ward’s firing was announced on March 4 after the Flames victory. Of course, Sutter, who previously worked as an anaheim duck consultant, was already involved, but he still had to predict his new team in disaster.

He did not join the team until the start of this week after suffering two defeats at the hands of the Flames over the weekend under assistant coach Ryan Huska.

Sutter quickly made a strong impression by subjecting his men to intense skating sessions.

He said he thought players would respond a lot to his message.

“Now we need a better performance,” he said. There is nothing magical: easy to talk about, now you need to take the next step. ”

In the game against the Canadians, the Flames finished sixth in the North Division, six points in fourth place, and the second would give them access to the playoffs. It’s definitely hobs that occupy this level, but less of a game than the Albertons.

The Canadian, meanwhile, arrived in Calgary overnight and did not skate Thursday morning. The meeting will begin at 9pm Montreal time.