Is Another Sutter Joining the Flames?

The whispers about Brent Sutter becoming the next Calgary Flames head coach got a little louder last Friday after general manager Darryl Sutter made it official and fired Mike Keenan.

Finishing figth in the Western Conferencec with 98 points, Calgary was expected to go far this spring and make a real challenge for the Stanley Cup. Surprisingly, they didn’t make it past the first round as they were eliminated by the young and emerging Chicago Blackhawks.

Days after that playoff series ended, rumors were spreading that Keenan, who is fourth all-time among coaches with 672 wins, would be relieved of his duties. The presumed replacement would be Brent Sutter who, according to more rumors, wanted to leave New Jersey where he’s been coaching and return to his Alberta roots.

After approximately three weeks of denying rumors of a coaching move, Sutter went ahead and made the move with Keenan after taking time to evaluate the season with his staff.

“Our team did not meet expectations,” Sutter said. “Following detailed evaluation over the past three weeks, and taking into consideration all factors affecting our season ending result, we believe this is a necessary change required to allow our team to continue towards our objective of winning the Stanley Cup.”

Since coming to Alberta on June 14th, 2007 Keenan went a combined 88-60-16 but underachieved in the playoffs by losing both years in the first round. Known for his reputation of being hard on his players, ‘Iron Mike’ as he is affectionately known, has had a big time backer in Flames veteran forward Craig Conroy who didn’t want to see Keenan  depart.

“I was hoping he was going to come back for another year, but Darryl’s got to make the decision he feels is best for the team,” Conroy said.

"He (Keenan) could have been harder on the players but he was trying to be fair and he tried to put a lot of the onus on the players.”

Keenan’s biggest highlight as an NHL coach was leading the New York Rangers in 1994 to their first Stanley Cup championship since 1940. For whatever reason, Keenan hasn't led his team past the first rough since 1996.

Stay tuned to see if Darryl does in fact go out and hire his brother Brent as the next head coach.