While things have remained relatively quiet for the Anaheim Ducks on the free agency front, the Ducks made a somewhat confusing hire as they bring in Former Kings coach Darryl Sutter as the new “Coaching Staff Advisor”
Darryl Sutter is a veteran of 406 NHL Games played and a remarkable 1285 games coached across 4 different teams (Chicago Blackhawks, San Jose Sharks, Calgary Flames and most recently Los Angeles Kings).
Posting a 635-467-101-82 record as a coach, Sutter is a extremely accomplished coach at the NHL level, his most recent stint as the bench boss of the Los Angeles Kings was during their time as one of the most formidable teams in the entire league, winning a Stanley Cup in his first season as head coach, losing in the Conference Finals the next season and winning another Stanley Cup during his third year behind the bench. Unfortunately following that 2nd Stanley Cup things started spiraling for the Kings and Sutter, over the next 3 seasons the Kings made the playoffs only once and lost in the first round only managing 1 win in a 5 game shellacking at the hands of the San Jose Sharks. Following his 6th season behind the bench in LA, a 39-35-8 season that saw the Kings miss the playoffs for the 2nd time in 3 years the team parted ways with Sutter and he retired a year later on June 20th, 2018.
Here we are just a year after his retirement and the “full-time rancher” is back in the NHL, completing his tenure as an employee for all 3 California teams taking on the role of “Coaching Staff Advisor” for the Anaheim Ducks. So what exactly is a Coaching Staff Advisor? It’s hard to say exactly. It’s not exactly a standard position in the NHL, nor any other sport to my knowledge for that matter. It’s likely a more respectable, glorified version of a consultant position. He’ll likely be around the team, and be there to assist Dallas Eakins (Or any of the other assistants for that matter) as he transitions back to the NHL, and help to assist him with any difficulties he might run into.
No this isn’t something that should have Eakins watching his back, no this isn’t Bob Murray putting a potential successor to Eakins in place should he falter out of the gate. This is far more likely Sutter missing hockey and wanting to get back into the league. Yes he’s a coach of an era gone by, and yes the Ducks just got rid of another coach who fits that description, but having a 2 time Stanley Cup Champion, a coach with over 1200 games coached and led 3 separate teams to the Conference Final (2 of them to the Stanley Cup Finals) isn’t a bad thing. It could be a blessing for Dallas Eakins who already has one failed coaching stint in the NHL under his belt, having someone who has had success everywhere he’s gone acclimate him to the league is a commodity that I think a lot of NHL coaches would welcome as they get their feet wet.
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