Starting with his two goal performance, including the overtime winner, in the Checkers’ first playoff game against Oklahoma City, the rookie center enjoyed the biggest postseason breakout of any player. After posting just five points in 23 regular-season outings, he equaled that in five playoff games, putting him just one point behind Zach Boychuk for the team lead.
Not bad for a 21-year-old who had not played a playoff game since his rookie season of junior hockey in 2009. A fourth-line player for most of his time in Charlotte, Sutter, previously known more for his defense and his size (6-foot-5, 203 pounds), now has his sights set on bigger things for next season.
He had a similar goal coming into this season, but like many other young players in his situation, the trickle-down effect of the NHL’s lockout stacked the odds against him. He was in the ECHL with the Florida Everblades up until late February when the Checkers, wary of their own injuries and those in Carolina, decided to bring reinforcements for their long trip to Abbotsford.
With the injury situation only getting worse, there was no way the Checkers could afford to send him back in the coming weeks, regardless of his play. Come playoff time, he had cemented his spot in the lineup based on his own merit. Even when mainstay Sean Dolan, the team's checking center for most of the last two seasons, returned from injury, Sutter either kept his spot or moved to the wing.
“He stepped right in and he brought his game up another level,” said Checkers coach Jeff Daniels. “You saw it in the playoffs when you couldn’t get him out and didn’t want to get him out of the lineup. He deserved the ice time he got.”
All five of Sutter’s playoff points during the five-game series with Oklahoma City came at even strength, though his last one, an assist on Bobby Raymond’s goal to tie the game at 2-2 in Game 5, came just after a power play expired. No other Checker had more points at even strength, while his plus-3 rating also led the team.
It was a development few could have predicted, including Sutter himself when he wasn’t able to make the Checkers’ team out of training camp.
“You train all summer with the goal of not being sent down and playing for Charlotte," he said. "When I did get sent down it hurt a little bit, but I understood where the coach was coming from and from an organizational standpoint that it made the most sense. "You’re not mad at anyone personally, you’re just more upset at the whole situation with the lockout and you’re pissed off at the owners and the players up top.”
It appears he made the best of that unusual situation. He had begun to discover that offensive side prior to his recall, when he scored seven points in his last seven games with the Everblades.
“From where he was at the start of the year from where he is now, as disappointed as he was when I told him he had to go down to Florida that could have been the best thing for him,” said Daniels. “He got a chance to play and wasn’t sitting in the stands playing once every three or four games. He was playing every night and playing in big situations, knowing that when the lockout ended we were going to need players.”
With Sutter having two more years on his entry-level contract with Carolina, the only question for next season will be whether or not he can continue to produce enough consistent offense to justify a larger role. With many of the team’s other centers candidates for NHL jobs, including his cousin Brett, he could very well get that opportunity.
“I‘ve got to have a big summer because I want to be a big part of this team next year full-time, not just part of the year,” he said.
