Flames fire coach Darryl Sutter after missing playoffs

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The Calgary Flames started the 2022-23 season making a long-term commitment to head coach Darryl Sutter, and ended it looking for a different voice behind the bench.

The Flames fired Sutter on Monday in the latest major change at the NHL club after a disappointing season. Sutter’s dismissal comes 11 months after being the winner of the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s top head coach.

"I interviewed 25 players, coaches, coaching staff, training staff, spoke to prominent agents who represent key players on our team, and it became clear to me that we need a new voice to guide us forward," Flames president of hockey operations and interim general manager Don Maloney said.

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FILE - Calgary Flames head coach Darryl Sutter leaves the ice at the end of the first period of an NHL hockey game against San Jose Sharks, Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022, in San Jose, Calif.  (AP Photo/Josie Lepe, File)

One year after winning the Pacific Division and advancing to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Flames fell to fifth in the division and missed the postseason with a 38-27-17 record.

"The players were very, very frustrated with the season," Maloney said at a Monday news conference. "They truly believe we had a team good enough to be in the playoffs."

Sutter’s departure comes two weeks after former Flames general manager Brad Treliving turned down a contract extension and parted ways with the team.

"The players of today, they want a voice, they have a voice, and you have to listen to that voice," Maloney said. "You don’t want to make it that the inmates are running the asylum, so to speak, but