Brian Sutter

Brian Louis Allen Sutter ( born October 7, 1956 in Viking, Alberta) is a former Canadian ice hockey player and currently general manager of the Red Deer Rebels of the Western Hockey League.

• 2.1 As a player
• 2.2 As a coach

Career

As a player

Brian Sutter began his career in 1972 in the second-rate Canadian junior league AJHL before moving in 1974 to the Lethbridge Broncos in the WCHL. He proved there his talent as a solid scorer and his physical toughness, so he was selected at position 20 in the NHL Amateur Draft 1976 by the St. Louis Blues in the second round.

The 1976/77 season spent in both the CHL farm team as well for the Blues in the NHL. 1977/78 he finally was able to prevail in the NHL squad the Blues, even if he could not get his qualities as a scorer and scored only 22 points. But the next season he had a big jump in power and he had the second-best points total of all players from St. Louis and was the top scorer with 41 goals the team. He was then appointed by then youngest captain in franchise history at the age of 22 years and eleven months.

Sutter was an important pillar of the Blues in the following years. He was a solid scorer who preferred the hard game and fist fights did not go out of the way, but still showed leadership qualities. So he had with the 1982/83 season one of his best years, when he scored 46 goals and 30 further prepared and also had to serve in the penalty 254 minutes. 1982, 1983 and 1985, he was invited because of his good services to the NHL All-Star Game.

Mid-eighties piled up at Sutter injuries and he could from 1985 to 1987 only 58 games contest. The term injuries but he used to collect first coach experience and acted as an unofficial assistant coach. 1987/88 he was again complete a full season in the NHL squad, but then ended his career.

He had played for the St. Louis Blues, nine of them as captain twelve seasons. The Blues locked after the retirement of his jersey number 11, which is awarded to no more players and hangs a banner at the Scottrade Center.

Career Stats

( Key to Career statistics: Sp or GP = Games Played, T or G = goals scored, V or A = achieved assists; Pts or Pts = scored points scorer, SM or PIM = received penalty minutes, / - = Plus / Minus balance sheet; PP = scored majority gates; SH = scored shorthanded goals, GW = achieved victory gates; Play-downs/Relegation 1 )

As a coach

Directly after the end of his active career Brian Sutter was appointed in the summer of 1988 to head coach of the St. Louis Blues. In the 1990/91 season he reached 105 points, the second best result of the season so far in the history of the franchise and the Blues finished second in the NHL. Nevertheless, they came, as in the two seasons before, not on the second round of the playoffs also. Nevertheless, Sutter was awarded the Jack Adams Award as the best coach in the NHL. In the same year he was also assistant coach of Team Canada, who won the Canada Cup.

In 1992 he left the team and was coach of the Boston Bruins. There he was able to record this season equal increase by 25 points compared to the previous season and finished with both the Bruins in the NHL as well as voting for the Jack Adams Award for second place. However, the Bruins could not last long in the playoffs. In the following two years, the Bruins always among the four best teams in the Eastern League, but stayed out of the big success.

1995 Sutter took a break from the sport of ice hockey and put his coaching job in Boston down. Two years later he returned to the NHL and coached the Calgary Flames from his home province of Alberta. The team had two disappointing seasons behind them where they missed the playoff qualification. But even under Sutter, the sporting situation did not improve and in the summer of 2000 he left the team again.

In the summer of 2001, he assumed the position as head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, who were four years in a sporting crisis. In his first season in Chicago, the team was able to increase significantly. Instead of the 29 victories the previous season the team won 41 games and qualified for the playoffs again. Sutter was subsequently nominated for his performance coach again for the Jack Adams Award. But the success was short- lived, as in the following two years, the team fell into their crisis back and delivered in the 2003/04 season with only 20 wins, the worst result of the season for 47 years. After the failure of the 2004/05 season due to the lockout, the management of the Blackhawks decided the expiring contract of Sutter not to renew.

Sutter coached then the Bentley Generals in the Canadian Amateur Hockey League Chinook League and won the amateur championship of common Alberta and British Columbia.

In July 2007, his brother Brent Sutter was named head coach of the NHL team the New Jersey Devils. He was by then team owner, coach and general manager of the Red Deer Rebels of the Canadian Junior Football League WHL, but had to be new commitment in the NHL give the coach and management positions at the Rebels. Brian Sutter took his successor as general manager of the Rebels.

Awards and achievements

As a player

• NHL All-Star Game in 1982, 1983 and 1985

As a coach

• Jack Adams Award 1991
• Canada Cup 1991 ( as assistant coach )

Family

Brian Sutter has six brothers of which there are five, all younger than him, made ​​it to the NHL. Brent Sutter graduated 1,111 games and scored 829 points. With the New York Islanders, whose captain he was for four years, he twice won the Stanley Cup. Brent was playing with his older brother Duane, who won the Stanley Cup four times. Duane played 731 times in the NHL and came to 342 points. From 2000 to 2002 he coached the Florida Panthers and is currently the Director of Player Development.

Darryl Sutter completed 406 games and scored 279 points, is currently general manager of the Calgary Flames and was coach of three NHL teams. Another brother, Rich Sutter, played 874 games in the NHL and scored 315 points. For a little over a year, he played in Chicago under the leadership of his brother Darryl. After his playing career, he worked as a talent scout for the Minnesota Wild and Phoenix Coyotes.

Ron Sutter was also coached by his brother Darryl and indeed in San Jose for a total of three years. Ron played 1,093 games in the NHL and was able to achieve 533 points. For a year he was captain of the Philadelphia Flyers.

As general manager of the Calgary Flames Darryl Sutter chose his own son Brett Sutter in 2005 NHL Entry Draft in the sixth round at position 179. Brett Sutter currently plays together with his cousin Brandon Sutter with the Red Deer Rebels, the team owner Brent Sutter and coach Brian Sutter is.

Brian's son Shaun Sutter was selected in the NHL Entry Draft by the Calgary Flames in 1998, but never made ​​the jump to the NHL. After three years in Sweden and the UK, he now plays in the Lusatian foxes in the 2nd Bundesliga in Germany.