After the Blackhawks lost the first two games of their opening Stanley Cup series to Toronto at home, speculation arose that coach Darryl Sutter might not survive the loss of the series.
That kind of talk has pretty much been put to rest after the Hawks not only rebounded to win the first-round matchup in seven games, but also went on to sweep the Vancouver Canucks to reach the Western Conference finals.
But Sutter is still without a contract for next year as the Hawks get ready to play Detroit in Game 5 Sunday night, hoping to stave off elimination for at least another night.
“Like a lot of players,” says Sutter, “on June 15 I’m a free agent. Guess I’ll get on my horse and that’ll be it.”
While General Manager Bob Pulford insists that Sutter knows perfectly well what the club’s intentions are–presumably to retain their longtime employee–Sutter professes not only ignorance, but indifference as well.
“My focus is not on my career,” he says. “I’m trying to win and nothing else.”
It is this intense focus that is both Sutter’s great strength and the main chink in his coaching armor. His players, while buying into Sutter’s system and work ethic, are sometimes aghast at the withering heat that emanates from their coach when the reality of their performance does not equal his perception of their abilities.
One player who has been at loggerheads with his coach almost since his arrival in Chicago is Joe Murphy, whose nine playoff goals leave him only one shy of the league lead. Murphy has no quarrel with Sutter’s system.
In fact, he says, “he’s definitely a good X’s-and-O’s coach. We’ve got good systems. We’re breaking them down every day and picking up new things and fitting them in our game plans. That’s huge, being able to break down the other team.”
What he does quarrel with is Sutter’s methods of motivation. Sutter, who thinks Murphy has the body and talent to be a superstar, gets frustrated when he feels the veteran winger is content to be merely a good player. And he’s not the type to suffer in silence. Asked if he thought Murphy understood why he gets on him, Sutter answered, “No, he doesn’t.” Sutter is right.
“There’s times in the regular season,” Murphy concedes, “that a guy needs a kick in the butt, but not in the playoffs. If a player doesn’t realize what’s at stake now, he should go home. I’ve been in the league nine years, and I know what it takes to win.”
So, apparently, does Sutter, who has gotten the Hawks deeper into the playoffs than most people felt possible. In Detroit’s Scotty Bowman, he is up against a coach with six Stanley Cup rings with three franchises. Sutter had never gotten past the first round until this year.
But Pulford indicates that the coach’s job was never in jeopardy. “Darryl knows his situation with me,” says Pulford. “He was our captain, and he’s been our coach. He does a good job, and he knows where he stands with me.”
But Sutter also knows what it means to be a head coach of any major-league sports team. “Scotty Bowman was fired in Buffalo because he couldn’t coach anymore,” says Sutter. “I see Gene Lamont getting fired by the White Sox because he’s too easygoing and I see Brian getting fired because he’s too intense. I’ve still got that burr under my saddle. I know the deal, and I couldn’t care less. I’ve said it before: It’s the worst job in sports.”
So why would he want to do it? “The only reason I started,” he says, “is because I was done playing before I wanted to be done playing. You feel you have something still to give back.
You don’t even know if you can coach. You don’t know until you do it. I know if I’d have stayed as an assistant here I’d have quit right away. You go down and work with the kids and get back to the roots where it isn’t just the money. The kids are excited about coming to the rink every day, and we had some success.
“So you’d like to see if you can have success at a different level.”
Success is sometimes difficult to measure. The Hawks had the best record in the conference in Sutter’s first year, but were swept out of the playoffs in the first round. That taught him a valuable lesson that he applied this year: The goal of the regular season is to make the playoffs.
“The biggest thing in coaching,” he says, “is you’ve got to have some input in the players you have, what kind of team you want–otherwise forget about it.”
