Darryl Sutter pushes the right buttons

The Calgary Herald looks back at the chief architect of the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals Flames team: GM/coach Darryl Sutter.

If you enjoy Sutter stories, you'll love this read. A multitude of gems.

“I couldn’t care less about his GM-ing,” said Rhett Warrener. “It was his ability to walk through the dressing room and know exactly what the mood of the team was — that was his greatest asset. He could walk in the room and, after two seconds, he would know whether it was, ‘OK, time to kick them in the pants,’ or time to have (Rich Preston) come in and tell a joke or time to give them the day off. He had that uncanny ability to know exactly what we needed.”

And this...

Mike Commodore recalls Sutter targeting Craig Conroy one night before a contest, needling him relentlessly, until . . . .

“Craig exploded and started screaming at Darryl,” he says. “Connie was riled — I thought his head was going to explode. Then Darryl started clapping and said, ‘Here we go.’ And out of the dressing room (we went).

“I was like, ‘Oh my god.’ But we won the game.”

Source: Scott Cruickshank, Calgary Herald