Darryl Sutter goes insane

I didn't want to do this. I didn't want to break down Free Agent signings on Canada Day. I didn't want to laugh at Bryan Murray's inexplicable decision to sign Sergei Gonchar over Anton Volchenkov, or Brian Burke's infatuation with Colby Armstrong's truculence.

But geez, Darryl Sutter, are you serious?

Sometimes an NHL GM might look to bring back veterans who had good young careers with that team. Lou Lamoriello brought back John MacLean to coach and traded for Jason Arnott. That's fine. Ken Holland had a couple of years where he had Chris Osgood starting back with Detroit, and that was fine as well, because Detroit won a Cup with him.

But today's moves by the Calgary Flames border on insane. Do the reminders of the years with Alex Tanguay and Olli Jokinen conjure up positive thoughts in the mind of Sutter? Sutter's a guy who ran his team into the ground against the salary cap last year by signing Jay Bouwmeester. Now he's found two former players who couldn't be more abject failures as Calgary Flames had they come out of the dressing room each game with their skates on the wrong foot.

What am I missing here? Is Roman Turek in as Mikka Kiprusoff's newest backup goalie? Is Al McInnis coming out of retirement? Was it bad enough that they brought Theo Fleury and Craig Conroy for nostalgia? Are the Eagles still touring?

The Tanguay signing is confirmed. Olli Jokinen is just a crazy Internet rumour right now. That guy may go down in history as one of the biggest failures in Calgary. He scored just 19 goals in 75 games with Calgary. They gave up a first round pick for him, and promptly gave up on the guy for Ales Kotalik and Christopher Higgins. Higgins is currently a free agent who scored two goals in 12 games in his brief stint in Cowtown. Kotalik had three goals in 26 games.

Remember when Darryl Sutter stepped down as the Flames coach so he could concentrate on managing? Harley Hotchkiss should have kept him as far away from the phones as possible. This is the guy who has drunk-dialed his way through the last two July 1sts and trade deadlines.

Sutter has always been a bit nuts, and if this Jokinen rumour is true (hell, even if it isn't) it's time for the Flames to take him out behind the barn Old Yeller-style.