The Calgary Flames fired head coach Geoff Ward on Thursday night, replacing him with former coach and two-time Stanley Cup champion Darryl Sutter.
The Flames routed the Ottawa Senators 7-3 at home on Thursday night, but Ward's fate was apparently sealed after going 11-11-2 to start the season. He was officially hired in the offseason after replacing Bill Peters on an interim basis last season.
Overall, Ward was 35-26-5 in his first NHL head-coaching stint.
Sutter has been a head coach for 18 seasons in the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks, San Jose Sharks, Flames and Los Angeles Kings. Sutter led the Kings to the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014, playing a puck-possessing system that made Los Angeles one of the league's top defensive teams.
He has a career coaching record of 634-467-101-83, including 107-73-15-15 as head coach of the Flames from 2002 to '06, leading them to the Stanley Cup Final in 2004. He also served as the team's general manager from 2003 to '10. Sutter has had winning seasons in 15 of his 18 years behind an NHL bench as head coach. His last NHL job was as an advisor to the Anaheim Ducks.
Sutter's deal with Calgary is for three years.
This is the fifth head coach hired by general manager Brad Treliving since he took over the Flames in 2014. Calgary is two points out of the final playoff spot in the West Division, although the Montreal Canadiens -- who fired their head coach last week -- have two games in hand.
Ward held court with the media after the win over Ottawa and appeared unaware of his fate.
"We've got to get ourselves ready again for another hard hockey game," Ward said. "We're really not thinking about what's happened in the past; we're thinking about what we need to do to prepare ourselves [for] the next one."
