Darryl Sutter Forced a Kids Parents to Miss His First NHL Game With Ridiculous Move

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S. Harper
January 24, 2023 (11:15)

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Imagine being ready to make your NHL debut, you want to make a good impression for your team and your Coach so you can continue to your dream as an NHL player. Then Imagine how you would feel after playing hard when you were out there but your Coach doesn't even remember you or know who you are? That was the case for Calgary Flames highly touted prospect Jakob Pelletier.

After Flames game game a member of the media asked Flames Head Coach Darryl Sutter what he thought of Pelletier's game to which he replied:

"Pelletier what number was he? Then pick up the stat sheet to share his time played.

Sutter is an old school Coach and well respected in the community and League for what the entire Sutter family has done in hockey, but this was purely disrespectful to Jakob Pelletier. This also drawn the anger of a former NHL goaltender Mike McKenna who's now a Hockey Analyst and had this to say about Sutter.

"Players really don't like this type of thing. And tell you what, I had a person reach out to me who had a similar experience years ago in his first NHL game. He had flown in the day before and the team hadn't given him any indication whether he was gonna play or not. So, he's got his family calling him, asking, "Are you in the lineup? We need to book airfare. We need to get there, we want to see this." And he kept saying, 'I don't think I'm going to play, so I don't know, I don't know." The night before, nothing. Morning skate, nothing. Did the coaches even talk to him? Sutter didn't talk to him, didn't even make eye contact, anything. None of the other coaches even said anything about him playing or not. It finally took a teammate telling him he was in the lineup and, by that point, it was too late for his parents to attend his first NHL game.

Darryl's as old-school as they get. Your coach doesn't have to be your best friend. But you don't forget these things. The person who talked to me just couldn't stand that. These are important moments. The dismissiveness toward Pelletier, to me, it comes across as Sutter thinks it's a joke."

- Mike McKenna

Pelletier has been impressive during his Junior hockey career as well as this season with the Calgary Wranglers the Flames AHL affiliate.