The Calgary Flames did what so many thought would never happen: they fired Darryl Sutter.

The firing came on Monday morning and sees the Flames move on from their bench boss before a two-year, $8-million extension kicks in. It’s a move that reportedly came on the back of consultations with players, coaching staff, training staff members and agents representing some of the players.

Here’s some of what Flamesnation’s Ryan Pike wrote about the firing, and a press conference held by president of hockey operations Don Maloney:

Maloney shared that the decision came at the end of his lengthy review of the organization, which included consulting with the team’s players, coaching staff and training staff, as well as agents representing some of the club’s top names.

“It became clear to me that we need a new voice to guide us forward,” said Maloney.

According to Maloney, the debriefing meeting with Sutter took two and a half hours. Maloney had a lot of positive things to say about Sutter as a coach, but alluded multiple times that “today’s player(s)” may not respond well to that approach over time and eventually tune those types of coaches out.

“He’s a firm coach, a hard coach, a demanding coach,” said Maloney. “There’s a shelf life to that type of coach and unfortunately for us obviously I felt his time expired with us.”

Maloney declined to get into specifics regarding what the findings of his organizational review were, aside from them resulting in Sutter’s departure. There were numerous reports throughout the season regarding friction between Sutter and Treliving, as well as Sutter and several players, including Nazem Kadri and Jonathan Huberdeau.

Now, the focus turns to hiring a new GM. Maloney noted that he’s “getting names together” but that Treliving won’t be considered, as the club needs a new voice. (He also emphasized, when asked, that Treliving’s departure had nothing to do with Sutter.) Once a new GM is hired, the new GM will hire a new head coach, and the new head coach will build a coaching staff.

In other words: it’s reasonable to expect announcements from the club to continue over the next few weeks and months. The tone of the press conferences will probably be a bit more upbeat as the club gets key pieces in place off the ice to enable a more successful future on the ice.

Round one MVP

What a round one it has been, and this evening we get to see the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers square off in a game seven of their own.

And on Daily Faceoff Live on Monday, Tyler Yaremchuk and Frank Seravalli talked about who their round one MVP’s are.

Tyler Yaremchuk: This one comes from Tony Couture in the Daily Faceoff YouTube chat, and he wants to know if you’ve got an early Conn Smythe to pick through one round of the playoffs. It’s tough to do, but I will say that [the books] do have Connor McDavid as the favourite, followed by Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. But, who’s one player who has maybe stood out as the MVP of round one?

Frank Seravalli: Matthew Tkachuk. That would be my round one MVP; I know that’s not a Conn Smythe winner, but that’s the guy I would pick.

Tyler Yaremchuk: if I had to throw a name into the ring here and someone whose odds I actually like over on Betano, it would be Roope Hintz of the Dallas Stars. He’s set at 17:1 and had 12 points in round one, two points per game and five more points than anyone else on that team. Joe Pavelski went down, and Hintz stepped up and was a big reason why that top line kept humming.

Snoop Dogg to Ottawa?

That’s right.

Snoop Dogg is the latest celebrity looking to throw their hat into the ring to buy the Ottawa Senators.

Snoop has joined forces with the Neko Sparks group to put in a bid for the Sens. Here’s some of what Daily Faceoff’s Colton Davies wrote about the latest news:

In a report from The Athletic’s Ian Mendes, he states that iconic rapper Snoop Dogg has aligned himself with Los Angeles-based entrepreneur Neko Sparks to purchase the Ottawa Senators.

A close source to the Sparks bid who did not want to be named as they are not authorized to speak on the deal confirmed that “He’s (Snoop Dogg) passionately involved. He’s coming up with ideas. And he’s legitimately excited. He wants this team.” Sparks sets the ambition of leading the most diverse ownership group in NHL history. According to a source who spoke to Ian Mendes, the consortium includes more than a dozen investors, with the majority of the ownership group comprised of people of colour.

Snoop Dogg has an enormous following on social media, including 80.1 million followers on Instagram and 20.9 million followers on Twitter. Snoop also performed at the halftime show of Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles in 2022, alongside Dr. Dre, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar.

A source confirmed to The Athletic that “He’s passionate about trying to make this game affordable for visible minorities and kids in low-income areas who haven’t been able to play hockey in the past. He wants to be community oriented.”

In addition to being an iconic hip-hop artist, Snoop is a cofounder of Case Verde Capital, a cannabis investment firm. In 2019, he purchased Death Row Records, and in 2020, he launched Snoop Cali Red Wine. He has Ben active hockey supporter; in the 1994 music video for the hit song “Gin and Juice,” he sported a Pittsburgh Penguins jersey.

Last week, it came to the front that Ryan Reynolds and The Remington Group have placed a $1 Billion bid to purchase the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club. The next round of proposals will be set in two weeks.