Sutter takes a shot at Matthew Tkachuk by praising Tyler Toffoli, and it goes viral

One of the biggest stories of this past off season was, of course, the Matthew Tkachuk trade. Tkachuk decided he didn't want to stay with the Calgary Flames any longer. He was eventually shipped to the Florida Panthers for Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Cole Schwindt, and a draft pick.

Even with getting Huberdeau and Weegar in return, Tkachuk isn't an easy player to replace. During a new conference Thursday, Flames coach Darryl Sutter indicated he felt Tyler Toffoli could replace some of the skillset that left with Tkachuk. He was then asked what comparisons he would make between Tkachuk and Toffoli. It was time for a classic Sutter answer in his deadpan style.




Notice how Sutter has no emotion when talking about Tkachuk... Conversely, this little sentence shows very well the respect Sutter has for Tyler Toffoli. He was actually the one who made the request to his GM to bring him back under his command last winter.


Toffoli won the Cup with the LA Kings in 2014. His coach at the time was Darryl Sutter.

It's hard not to see this as anything but Sutter feeling the Flames are in a better place without Tkachuk than with him. The team has definitely improved since Sutter took over. Can the Flames go all the way? Time will tell.