Darryl Sutter criticized for roasting his own player.

Calgary Flames head coach Darryl Sutter has built a reputation over many years of being a hard-nosed type of coach and a demanding taskmaster. It is that style of coaching that has earned Sutter both a tremendous amount of respect across the league as well as a tremendous level of success as a head coach, but sometimes it can also rub some people the wrong way.

That was on full display on Saturday when Sutter drew the ire of several media pundits for his comments about the National Hockey League debut of young Jakob Pelletier, who at just 21 years of age, was playing in his first ever NHL game for the Calgary Flames and as a former first round draft pick (29th overall) there was a considerable amount of interest in that debut.

When he was asked about the debut following the game however, Sutter behaved as though he had no idea who Pelletier was and instead merely read some stats off of the score sheet instead of offering any genuine comments about the young man's performance.

Perhaps even worse though, Sutter had to ask the reporters in attendance for Pelletier's number.

As I mentioned, that response appeared to rub some the wrong way including Flames insider Eric Francis who seemed stunned at the respect, or lack thereof, shown by Sutter towards his player.

Francis' displeasure was one thing, but the displeasure from Montreal radio host Tony Marinaro was another matter entirely. Marinaro laid into Sutter for his disrespect of Pelletier, holding nothing back.

"A lot of respect for everything Darryl Sutter has accomplished in his coaching career BUT this is not one of his finer moments," wrote Marinaro on Saturday. "Lack of respect for his player. His reply is unacceptable. Come on man!!!"

Do you agree with the criticism? Or was this merely a good natured attempt at humor on the part of Sutter that may not have landed?