Sutter Ready For New Role Behind The Bench Following 17-Year Playing Career
As one journey ends, so begins another adventure for Brett Sutter.
The outgoing Wranglers captain announced his retirement from professional hockey Monday, trading in his shoulder and shin pads for a brand-new track suit.
For Sutter, the move to Wranglers assistant coach is the next step in a career that’s come full-circle, 19 years on from being selected by the Flames in the NHL Draft.
The 37-year-old began his new duties this week at the Scotiabank Saddledome, as the Flames and Wranglers staff conducted mid-summer meetings, after a move behind the bench was first discussed earlier this month.
“Brad Pascall and (Craig Conroy) approached me about it during Development Camp, I was still training at the time, thinking about maybe coming back and playing another year, going through the whole process,” Sutter told Flames TV’s Brendan Parker Monday. “I took a few days to think about it, I talked to my wife and family about it.
“Just to stay in this organization, and work for a couple of guys that I respect as much as I do them, it was a chance I couldn’t pass up.”
It’s a logical transition for Sutter, who spent his playing career as a true leader on the ice.
He wore the ‘C’ for each of his final seven seasons with the Wranglers and Ontario Reign, and over the course of his playing days, served as captain for three AHL teams and one WHL squad.
A feat to be proud of, for sure, as are his 1,090 career AHL games played, a figure that stands as the fourth-highest total in AHL history.
For Sutter, though, his lasting playing memories are moreso built around the community of friends and colleagues he and his family built as they criss-crossed across North America.
“It’s kind of beyond the on-ice stuff, I think you look back at some of the friendships you’ve made,” he said. “I have teammates and my wife has wives on the team, people that we’ll just love forever, coaches that got you there.
“I think you just more look back at the people you’ve met, and what they’ve meant to you, life-long friends.”
Some of those life-long friends will be calling Sutter ‘Coach’ instead of ‘Cap’ this fall, a distinction he says he’ll be making clear in his new role.
His goal, though, is to be approachable, to help develop those Flames prospects he’s already built rapports with as a teammate.
And like he did for the better part of two decades as a player, it’s a challenge he’s ready to embrace with work boots on.
“I’m just so fortunate to have the opportunity to stay in this organization, and come back and help these kids that I care about so much on the Wranglers,” he said.
“My family’s really excited.”
