Johnny Gaudreau, Darryl Sutter and how a coach talks about a player

CALGARY — It is common that when NHLers revisit their old haunts they hang out with friends, family and even former teammates. Not every player who departs a city desires to sever every attachment. So Johnny Gaudreau — who played parts of nine seasons with the Calgary Flames before signing with the Columbus Blue Jackets as a free agent last summer — sought out company during his stopover in what used to be his professional home.

“I got to see some old friends,” Gaudreau said before taking a brief pause, “who weren’t on the team for the Flames, by the way. Just so Darryl knows.”

It was a direct reference to when a handful of Flames players visited with Gaudreau in Columbus in December. The Flames then played poorly against one of the league’s worst teams, leading head coach Darryl Sutter to express displeasure with a few unnamed players following a 3-1 loss at Nationwide Arena.

“We had some guys who came for a visit, not to try and win a hockey game,” Sutter said after the Flames lost to the Blue Jackets. “Very disappointing.”

Gaudreau’s quip came in his return news conference at the Scotiabank Saddledome, hours before Monday’s game. Much was made about how Flames fans would receive Gaudreau, especially after his former teammates Sean Monahan and Matthew Tkachuk came back to Calgary for the first time within days of each other in late November. Gaudreau’s Blue Jackets teammates booed and jeered him at practice to get him accustomed to what was likely to come.

But a simulation doesn’t compare to the real thing, and even the real thing was more intense than expected.

Gaudreau was booed from the moment he stepped onto the ice for warmups. During a break in the first period, fans gave him a standing ovation following his video tribute, bookended by more boos. When he was awarded a penalty shot, the fans did not relent. They were especially pleased when he turned over the puck in the offensive zone after tangling with Noah Hanifin, leading to an odd-man rush and a game winner from Dillon Dube in a 4-3 Flames overtime victory.

“I kind of knew what was going to happen, but still, there’s nothing that gets you ready for something like that,” Gaudreau said. “They were cheering and rooting for me for the past nine, 10 years and now they’re all booing me. It’s hard.”

On an overmatched Blue Jackets team, Gaudreau is easily the team’s most dynamic player. Against Calgary, he had five shots on net, his pair of power-play assists helped bring the Blue Jackets back from an early 2-0 deficit and he logged the most minutes of any Columbus skater at 22:54.

“I think I was just getting opportunities,” he said. “A couple of bad turnovers by them. It led me to semi-breakaways, semi-rushes. I was just trying to put pucks on net.”

Gaudreau’s return to Calgary as a visiting player came at a time when Sutter was at the centre of a familiar situation.

Sutter has been scrutinized, in both English and French, for how he spoke about Jakob Pelletier’s NHL debut on Saturday afternoon. Sutter was asked to assess his play, but he first responded by asking what number Pelletier wore. He then read his stats off the game sheet, letting everyone know that Pelletier played a shade under seven minutes and had limited time on the man advantage. In a follow-up question, Sutter added that he had a “long way to go” as a 21-year-old. It differs from what we might have expected from other coaches in that same situation: some appreciation of how a young player got to live out his dream in front of his family and friends.

A media storm likely would have been avoided if Sutter had stuck to that script, or said something along the lines of what he said behind closed doors. Or even what he said earlier in the week when he likened Pelletier to Dube and Andrew Mangiapane.

On Sunday, “Le Journal de Quebec” reported that Sutter met with Pelletier the day after his stat read went viral and told the rookie he played a good game. Not only that, but when asked a question about what it would take for his team to play a full 60-minute effort Monday, Sutter walked back some of his earlier comments on Pelletier.

“Somebody alluded after the game the other night about evaluating Jakob Pelletier, well you couldn’t evaluate him,” Sutter said. “The kid played 420 seconds so you evaluate him off the stat sheet. It’s not fair to the kid.”

Even if he went out of his way to address it, what Sutter initially said didn’t help his cause with the section of Flames fans already exasperated at the coach’s reputation with young players.

At the podium, Sutter speaks with a dry wit that often results in surly soundbites, although his demeanour varies from one news conference to the next. Some days, he’ll gladly spin a yarn about travelling to old hockey relics like the Montreal Forum or Chicago Stadium. He is also capable of bestowing compliments on his players and the team when he feels like it.

But when he draws out a knife to cut, it can hurt. And Gaudreau was no stranger to those types of comments.

In their limited time together, Gaudreau was subjected to a few snipes from his former bench boss. Ahead of Gaudreau’s 500th career game, Sutter said that he hoped his star forward would show more “energy” in that game than he did in his 499th. When Gaudreau hit the 100-point mark last season, Sutter shrugged it off.

“I don’t care,” the head coach said in April 2022. “Does that win a Stanley Cup? I’d rather have the guys that win the scoring race in the playoffs.”

During the playoffs, after Gaudreau missed a breakaway chance in Game 3 against the Dallas Stars, Sutter said, “those guys have to put it away.” Even if Sutter broadened his scope, Gaudreau was obviously the target.

Sutter’s style demands the best from his players. He certainly doesn’t throw praise around and it can take some time for new players to adjust to what Sutter might say publicly, as Jonathan Huberdeau can attest.

However, if we’re going to mention the inflammatory comments about Gaudreau, it’s only fair to mention the good, too. Last season, he posted the best numbers of his career alongside Tkachuk and Elias Lindholm and earned Hart Trophy consideration. Sutter commended Gaudreau at different points for his play, including in that 500th game, and at the end of last season, saying he was “proud” of him.

Gaudreau was once asked to compare Sutter to his father, Guy, who also grew up on a farm and coached his son similarly to how Sutter did. Yes, he left the organization as a free agent instead of recommitting long-term to play more years under Sutter. But if the following thoughts are any indication, it doesn’t seem as if Gaudreau totally objected to the Sutter way. Or at least he knew what to expect.

“He was always hard on me, my dad, growing up,” Gaudreau said in April 2022. “If I played bad, he was hard on me. I think that’s why I play well under coaches who demand a lot from their players. I kind of grew up that way.”

On Monday morning, Sutter said he was “disappointed” to lose Gaudreau as a free agent and acknowledged his success with the Flames.

“There’s three things that are important, right?” Sutter said. “Good person, good player, good teammate. He checked the boxes really good. I only coached him for that year and 30 games or whatever it was. For me, what I appreciated the most was just seeing the progress that he made as a complete player and to be able to say that, and do that, and hit those offensive numbers.”

This is from the same man who expressed indifference about some of Gaudreau’s milestones. Chalk it up to Sutter’s duality, which was similarly on display with Pelletier.

It absolutely is warranted to bring up that Sutter’s latest soundbite rubbed many people the wrong way.

There are times when Sutter’s tough love style can be valid, as it was following the loss to Columbus earlier this season. But there are other times, like his comment over the weekend, where he comes across as callous.

Sutter’s approach has led him to a pair of Stanley Cup wins, so expecting him to radically change is a fool’s errand. He is also not going to start praising players just for the sake of doing it. But even if he has a proven track record of ultimately getting the best out of his players, it is OK to question whether some of the moments are really effective in their development.

(Top photo of Johnny Gaudreau and Tyler Toffoli: Sergei Belski / USA Today)