A familiar face could appear behind the Calgary Flames bench next season.
Though Flames GM Daryl Sutter is keeping his eye on other coaching prospects, he’s content steering the Flames on the ice, and in the front office.
“As of right now I’m the best one,” Sutter said of his own candidacy for the head coaching position, four days after axing coach Mike Keenan.
“If I feel at the end of our search (for a new coach) that if I am the best candidate, then I’ll be the coach,” said Sutter, who coached the Flames to the Stanley Cup final in 2004, only to lose in Game 7.
Sutter said the organization prefers three other coaching candidates who are under contract right now.
“That’s the problem, all the best coaches in the league are under contract right now,” said Sutter.
“I think there’s three guys that are excellent — I won’t tell you who … and then I’m fourth.”
Keenan was fired after leading the Flames to a 98-point regular season and their fourth straight first round exit from the playoffs. Sutter and Flames owner Ken King made it very clear that anything less than a Stanley Cup isn’t good enough for the organization. The Flames hope to have a new coaching staff in place by the NHL entry draft, which begins on June 26, Sutter said.
