Posts tagged Brent Sutter at FanHouse

On Monday night when the Penguins hit the ice against the Rangers, the game featured the brotherly matchup of Jordan Staal vs. Marc Staal, an event that gets mentioned no fewer than 100 times whenever it takes place. The same thing happens when Jordan and/or Marc take on Eric Staal in Carolina, and may God help us when Jared Staal makes the the NHL. The somewhat over the top promotion of the matchup even results in extracurricular activities from the viewers at home.

Anyway, there's another family reunion of sorts on Tuesday night, when the New Jersey Devils take on the Carolina Hurricanes. The Devils, as you may know, are coached by Brent Sutter, while his son, Brandon, happens to play for Carolina. It's the first time the two have ever faced off in a game, and Brent isn't exactly looking forward to the challenge of coaching against his son, even though he played against his five brothers time-and-time again in the NHL. As Colin Stephenson of the Star-Ledger reports, (Brent) Sutter thinks this is a completely different challenge:

"It's an awkward thing,'' Sutter said, turning serious. "It's a unique thing... as a dad, I'm very proud of him, as I am of all my kids. It's different than playing against a brother. It's just different. It's your own son.''

Brandon was the Hurricanes No. 1 pick (11th overall) in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, and has recorded one goal and five assists in 32 games for Carolina this season. He's also managed to come back from a devastating hit by New York's Doug Weight earlier in the season.

Fire & Ice has more on the father vs. son tilt.

When Denis Savard and Brent Sutter were teammates on the 1996 Blackhawks, I wonder if they ever thought they'd be coaching in the National Hockey League at the same time. Beyond that, I wonder if they ever imagined they'd throw their players under the bus on the same night. After Chicago's 1-0 loss to Columbus last night, Coach Savard went rip city on a number of unnamed players that the team has committed to via long-term contracts, but whom he feels have not committed to paying the price for victory:

"They were very happy when they signed it ... Well, commit to us, commit to the jersey, commit to the people here. They don't want to commit to the Indian, let's go upstairs and get them out of here ...

The message of (Chairman Rocky Wirtz, President John McDonough and general manager Dale Tallon) is pretty clear: We're here to win the Stanley Cup. If they want to play like that, we aren't going to win the Stanley Cup."

If "Commit To The Indian" isn't the name of a Blackhawks blog within the next 48 hours, I'll seriously question my faith in Chicago puckheads. Savard went on to say: "If you get cut, too bad. It's the way it is. If you go into that locker room, there's nobody wearing an ice pack or having stitches getting done. None of them." I can't imagine which players he's referring to, but I'm pretty sure one of them rhymes with "Smavlat."

Meanwhile, in New Jersey, Coach Sutter did his best Herb Brooks from "Miracle" impression.

Jamie Langenbrunner will never win the Hart Trophy. His stats aren't gaudy enough, his jerseys don't sell well, and he doesn't currently have dual residency in both Mario's house and rectum. Yet all he's done is warm up the paddles, plant them on the New Jersey Devils' flat-lining carcass and zap away until he heard a heartbeat. It's not the stuff of postseason hardware -- it's the stuff of leaders and, more importantly, champions.

Langenbrunner had surgery during the preseason, and was out of the Devils' lineup following that sports hernia procedure until Nov. 14. His absence created a creeping devastation of New Jersey's forwards lines; with the first line struggling to find itself without Scott Gomez, the young second line -- frequently featuring Travis Zajac and Zach Parise -- couldn't find consistency without their veteran wing man. Meanwhile, the Devils' power-play was the most non-threatening befuddlement since Kevin Smith unleashed "Jersey Girl" on an unsuspecting public.

When Langenbrunner returned from injury, the Devils were 7-8-2; they've been 7-2 since then, a streak that's seen Langenbrunner go 2-9-11 with six helpers coming as a power-play point man. Even when he doesn't score, he makes a difference: In the Devils' 3-2 skills competition shootout victory on Sunday, he played 23 minutes, 9 seconds -- more than any other forward and every Devils defenseman other than Paul Martin.

While Colin White's return to the Devils' defense has had a similar impact, Langenbrunner has settled a flock of forwards whose chemistry for most of this season was like that of gasoline mixed with chocolate pudding. Coach Brent Sutter told SI's Darren Elliot that his winger's "quiet leadership" has set the example for his teammates, and Sutter has been expecting this from Langenbrunner since he went down with the injury, holding off on naming a captain until he returned. He may not even have to formally name one now -- Langenbrunner is wearing the 'C' for New Jersey, with or without the letter on his sweater.

With his victory in Philadelphia on Saturday night, Martin Brodeur finally joined Patrick Roy in the 500-Win Club and set his 35-year-old eyes on eventually breaking St. Patrick's NHL record of 551 wins. Brodeur's critics will no doubt mark the occasion by pointing out he's having one of his worst seasons statistically as a pro and by raising the usual gripes about his being the overrated product of a defensive system. (Roy's wins, of course, never came while he was playing behind guys named Chelios or Carbonneau or Schneider or Foote or Bourque, and always came when he was playing for firewagon hockey teams with the stalwart defensive responsibility of Arena Bowl XX. Uh-huh...)

Brodeur's supporters, meanwhile, will point out that this season he's playing behind a Devils defense corps with the solidity of wet single-ply toilet tissue and, overall, a squad in the midst of a frustrating transition under Coach Brent Sutter. With his team playing inconsistent hockey -- and on some nights, that's putting it kindly -- the first-year NHL head coach has blasted the Devils' old ways and publicly criticized veteran players like Patrik Elias that have underperformed this season.

But would Sutter ever turn his ire to Brodeur, the team's biggest star and its unquestioned soul? And if so, what would be the consequences?

It's been awhile since we had the readers of FanHouse help us with captioning a photo. Let us help you indulge your creative side, shall we?

Photos of coaches on their benches are almost always good photo material. The day an NHL coach smiles is the day tomato juice tastes good. Which is, suffice it to say, almost never.

How about Mr. Scowley up here? Brent Sutter has got one serious pout going on, like his mommy gave the last ice cream bar to one of his brothers. Meanwhile, the kid behind the glass is laughing at the Devils' head coach while Dainius Zubrus looks like he's going to vomit after watching Martin Brodeur let in another softie.

The official (boring) caption: A young Devils fan looks on as New Jersey Devils coach Brent Sutter watches his team in the third period of NHL hockey as they lose to the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-0 Monday night, Nov. 5, 2007 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

So, give it your best shot. Fire away!

New Jersey head coach Brent Sutter filled out his coaching staff yesterday, opting not to draft any of his Red Deer peers to the NHL and turning to some familiar drinkers of Lamoriello Kool-Aid: goaltending coach Jacques Caron, back for his 15th season; first-year assistant coach Tommy Albelin, the "eye in the sky" for the Devils; John MacLean, passed over for the head coaching position but back as an assistant; and some guy named Larry Robinson.

Caron was no surprise, given that the Devils changing Marty Brodeur's goaltending coach is akin to the PGA forcing Tiger Woods to play with a new caddy. MacLean is still being groomed as a potential head coach. And who knew all of those nights perennial seventh defenseman Tommy Albelin was watching Devils games from the cheap seats had prepared him for a coaching gig?

But Larry Robinson, back behind the bench as an assistant? Stunner. As I reported earlier this month, he had been rumored as a possible assistant coach should MacLean had gotten the job. But with Sutter trying to take his "snarly" coaching style from the bush-leagues to the big league, how will Larry "Who's Yer Buddy?" Robinson's role as a players' coach fit in with that transition?

Turns out Sutter had approached Lamoriello about bringing Robinson on. He told a conference call of reporters (via the Newark Star-Ledger) that he felt no pressure having a two-time former Devils head coach on his bench: "Not an inkling at all. That's not on my mind whatsoever. It's an addition I felt very comfortable with. I'm thrilled to have Larry on the staff."

While Joe Bechtel of 2-Man Advantage isn't thrilled with Larry coming back, Robinson could help bring together a Devils defense that's suddenly without a standout defenseman for the first time since 1991. Of course, the way things look for the Devils, Robinson could lace them up and probably move right into the top defensive pairing this season. It's never good to have more talent behind the bench than on the roster at a particular position -- just ask the 2006 Oakland Raiders' offensive line.