Wrapping Up The Brent Sutter Ordeal

"When it involves family and it involves personal things around your life that you thrown everything into and then ultimately you have to make a decision on something, it might not be the right decision for some people and that's fine, that's always out there."

"Yet, I don't at all look at it like I'm quitting on anything. I threw two years of my life (into it) and made a big commitment 3,000 miles away from where my life was and tried to do everything I possibly could to try to accomplish a goal there that we wanted to accomplish. But, by me doing that, my life has suffered in other areas and those areas to me are bigger than the game."

Sutter claimed he wasn't quitting because he put two years into his job. Unfortunately for him, he signed a three-year deal.

So by backing out of the deal, he is, in fact, quitting. If the Devils play two periods of a hockey game, what exactly do you call it?

But more importantly, Sutter once again cites his family as the reason for his resignation.

If he's so adamant about his family to the extent that he has to back out of a contract, he should be spending time with them on a daily basis. Not when he finds time for them during a homestand.

Stan Fischler cites Steve Mcfarlane as saying:

"Brent Sutter's character will be brought into question. Not just by New Jersey Devils fans, either. Rarely does someone who fails to honor the full length of a contract, then sign up for the same job with another employer, avoid a few stares of disgust. Even if that new employer happens to be your brother."

McFarlane's comments are dead-on. The man backed out of his contract, only to turn around and accept the same job elsewhere.

Had he waited just one year to be a free agent, he would have been justified in joining his brother.

Scott Niedermayer never demanded a trade to play alongside brother Rob, but waited until he was a free agent to sign with Anaheim. Couldn't Sutter have done the same?

The fact is, he backed out of a deal, and only three days later came out of his temporary retirement.

Was there collusion? We can speculate to no end, but we'll never know for sure.

However, we do know that Sutter said he was going home for family reasons, yet he's forfeiting most of his time with them to coach for another team. And we know that he began reconsidering just three days after his resignation. There is no excuse for that kind of behavior.

On the day he stepped down, Sutter said “There’s been all this talk about Calgary, for so long, but Darryl and I have had no discussion about that (the Flames’ coaching job). This decision I’m making now has zero to do with the Calgary Flames’ situation.”

Yet merely three days later, he began negotiations for the very job he'd dismissed. we now know his words mirror his initials: BS.

For more articles on this topic, please see:

Scott Burnside (ESPN)
Stan Fischler (MaxHockey)
Tom Gulitti (Fire and Ice)

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