The Calgary Flames fired head coach Darryl Sutter on Monday after missing the playoffs and following reports that players were upset when speaking with management in their end-of-season meetings. Now, one of those players is sharing some of those opinions in the media.
Speaking in French with Montreal-based radio station BPM Sports, Jonathan Huberdeau opened up about his relationship with Sutter and the challenges he faced this season.
"You’re supposed to put your players in a position to succeed and I think this season he didn’t do that," Huberdeau said in comments translated by Sportsnet. He later added: "They gave me a big contract… Gave (Nazem) Kadri one too, but I was disappointed that I wasn’t put in situations where I could have as much success as possible."
The Flames acquired Huberdeau from the Florida Panthers — along with MacKenzie Weegar — in a blockbuster trade for Matthew Tkachuk. At the time, Huberdeau was coming off a 115-point season — including a league-best 85 assists — and he was expected to supplement the offence the Flames lost when Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau left the organization. The Flames were so confident in the move they signed Huberdeau to an eight-year, $84-million contract that begins next season, but instead, his offence dropped by more than 50 per cent to just 40 assists and 55 points this year under Sutter.
Speaking Monday, Huberdeau said the way Sutter wanted him to play impacted his production and he's hopeful the next coach will reignite his offence.
"It really didn't click between me and Darryl last year," Huberdeau said. "There were a lot of factors. There was a big difference in points between my last two years. And the style of play he wanted to play, it didn't fit my style of game... Having a new coach is going to help my game and my confidence, too."
Huberdeau also addressed how Sutter deployed the team's young players — including a controversy involving the coach and rookie Jakob Pelletier in January. Speaking to media after Pelletier's NHL debut, Sutter pretended to not know who the player was and asked reporters "What number is he?"
Sportsnet's Eric Francis reports that Sutter was reprimanded behind the scenes for his actions in that press conference and Huberdeau said it didn't sit well with the other players, either.
"We were disappointed. Especially a young kid that comes in, you don't need that. For a young player, just play well. In the moment we were pretty surprised, but that's Darryl," Huberdeau said. "I think he didn't want to talk about it in the media, he wanted to turn the page... but after he went to see Jakob and told him he played well and that he was happy for him, but then why are you saying this stuff to the media and then you go see the kid to tell him he played well? I don't think you needed to do that, but that's Darryl."
Sutter's firing comes just a couple of weeks after general manager Brad Treliving also departed the organization. Don Maloney has been promoted to president of hockey operations and said Monday, after Sutter's firing, that he will focus on hiring a new general manager before hiring a head coach.
Huberdeau was asked if the pressure to perform will now shift to the players once a new coach is brought in.
"Yeah, certainly," he replied. "But this year was a lot harder mentally. I lost my confidence, my swagger."
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