1
Duane Sutter, left to right, the Calgary Flames' director of player personnel, Darryl Sutter, general manager of the team, player Brett Sutter, who is also the GM's son, and Ron Sutter, the Flames' western pro scout, pose together after a team practice on Thursday. (Jeff McIntosh/For The Globe and Mail)
CALGARY —
You can't swing a hockey sock inside the Pengrowth Saddledome without hitting a Sutter.
Up in the stands, general manager Darryl Sutter watches the Calgary Flames practise and scribbles notes. Not far away, Duane Sutter, the team's director of player personnel, does the same. Down in the hallway outside the Calgary dressing room, Ron Sutter, the Flames' western pro scout, chats with his fellow bird dogs.
And there on the ice is Brett Sutter, the GM's son and nephew of the personnel director and western scout. At 21, Sutter has the distinction/burden (take your pick) of carrying on the Sutter legacy while in the same breath trying to be his own player.
It's not an easy gig. In fact, it's even more difficult in an organization that could change its logo to a flaming S in honour of the most famous puck-slapping clan to come out of Viking, Alta., and no one would mind.
But Brett is cool. Yes, he was drafted 179th overall by the Flames three years ago (talk about symmetry: Darryl was also picked 179th overall in his draft year). And sure, just having his surname stitched onto the back of his jersey has created some on-ice difficulties in the past. But Brett Sutter is cool enough to take the taunts or use them as incentive.
"The guys here have been good," a grinning Sutter said of his training-camp teammates. "You get the odd chirp, but I always have a few good lines to come back with."
Such as?
"You can't put them in a newspaper."
In the WHL, when he played for his other uncle, Brent, Brett Sutter got the worst of words from rivals who suggested he wouldn't be in the league if it weren't for his heritage. Sometimes he would file those comments away in the hope of extracting a little payback.
"You get even more motivation to run guys into the boards when you hear that stuff, just to prove them wrong," Sutter said.
Brett grew up playing his minor hockey in California when Darryl coached the San Jose Sharks. One of Brett's fondest moments was helping his midget team win the state and regional title before losing in the national championship game.
From there, he jumped to the WHL's Kootenay Ice, where he was eventually named captain. He later bounced back and forth to the Red Deer Rebels, where he also served as captain and scored 28 goals and 29 assists in his final year.
As a pro rookie, Sutter came close to making the Flames last season, only to be sent to Calgary's AHL affiliate in Quad City, Ill. This season, the Flames have added Curtis Glencross to their corps of hard-working forwards while anticipating more from Eric Nystrom and Brandon Prust. That means making the big club and playing for Mike Keenan, who coached four Sutter brothers in the past, is going to require as much patience as effort — not that Brett expected anything less.
"I'm trying to build off last year's camp," he said. "We have some [exhibition] games coming up and I'm hoping to get in there and prove myself and show that I'm my own player."
On Oct. 2, Brett was sent down to the Flames' AHL affiliate.
This isn't the first time the Flames have gone the Sutter-Sutter route. When Brian coached the team, Calgary drafted his son Shaun 102nd overall in 1998. Shaun never made it to the NHL, but is still playing overseas.
The difference now is that the GM, the player personnel director and head coach like what they see in the second-generation Sutter, who scored the highest fitness-test results among the Calgary rookies.
"He's a bright young man who takes his job very seriously and wants to get better every day," said Keenan, who was asked which Sutter Brett most resembled as a player. "The fundamental differences aren't that great, but they had their own nuances in terms of personalities. … Brett is trying to establish himself as a competitor as well. Probably he's leaning more toward Ronnie and Brent rather than to his uncles, Duane and Richard."
Translation: Brett Sutter has an upside offensively.
As for the GM's opinion, Darryl Sutter said his son "is having a good camp," adding what has become the family's code of honour: "He's done it the hard way."
Brett, who played in last night's preseason game against the Phoenix Coyotes, has tried to store away as much of his father's data as possible.
"He's so knowledgeable about the game," Brett said of his dad. "He's taught me a ton of things about hockey, about life, too."
Such as?
"Work hard and be respectful. Treat people the way you want to be treated."
Recalling the one time he had to face his no-nonsense dad after getting into trouble, Brett laughed and spoke about the treatment he received being in Grade 10 and going to a party he shouldn't have.
"He sat me down and gave me the do's and don'ts and these were the rules living in his house," Sutter said. "He's very upfront. I'm sure that's the way he is around the rink."
That's the way every Sutter is around the rink, especially at the Saddledome, where these days most every day looks like a Sutter family reunion.
"Those are fun," Brett Sutter said of his family get-togethers. "We always say we're not going to talk about hockey, and 30 minutes later we are."
