Big congratulations to the Canadian Juniors on their gold medal. Flames prospect Dustin Boyd looks pretty solid. Oilers prospect Andrew Cogliano looks like a combination of Paul Ranheim and Jani Rita, so they've got that going for them. (Also, Devan Dubnyk further strengthens the Oil's depth at backup goaltender. Kudos, K-Lo!)

Brent Sutter quite rightly has gotten massive praise for the team's success. One of my pet peeves for years has been the treatment of the Sutters as something akin to the Borg from Star Trek, like they all have the same brain. There's been plenty of that in the coverage too, but I must admit, I did get a bit of a Flames vibe off of this junior team. I'm not positive what it was, although I'd say it's related to the patience they showed for gaining scoring chances--skate, forecheck, hit, and let chances develop as they will.

Related--Randy of Game Certainty dropped this in the comments yesterday:

On 640 Mojo Leaf's Lunch, Ken King hinted Brent Sutter could be coaching the Flames next season.

Interesting, although I've never heard this possibility mentioned before. I think it would be a dubious move by the Flames for a few reasons, but more importantly, I can't imagine why Brent Sutter would want to do it.

Clearly, Brent Sutter is due to move to the pros. There is absolutely nothing left for him to prove in the juniors: Red Deer has won a Memorial Cup (2001) and been elite just about every other year, plus there's those two gold medals. Assuming he's ready for the change this summer, I don't think it's much of an exaggeration to say he'll have his pick of the available jobs, and probably a few that are unavailable.

To choose the Flames coaching job (which is better than even money to be 'vacated' by Darryl Sutter this summer), Brent would have to not only be willing to work for his brother, but also believe that the job GM Darryl has done up until then (and is likely to do going forward) gives him the best possible chance to succeed -- and that isn't even to mention his perception of the strength and resources of the ownership and organization in general, or his enthusiasm for jumping into the shadow of the '04 playoff run and whatever happens this year.

I suppose this isn't farfetched, although if he's weighing (say) a dozen job offers, it'll be far from obvious. Also, the chance to stay close to home would be appealing, no doubt.

Fortunately for him, there's another NHL organization within driving distance of Red Deer and Viking which is probably in for a shakeup this summer, at the coaching position if not GM as well. Call it my dark horse prediction for June 2006:

"The Edmonton Oilers are pleased to announce the hiring of Brent Sutter as their new General Manager and Head Coach."

I don't think Nichols, Laforge, and the boys are that smart, but what the hell.