His longevity and success really merits a debate on where he ranks amongst the very best coaches in NHL history.
Scotty Bowman, Joel Quenneville, Al Arbour, and Dick Irvin are the only coaches who have both more regular season wins as well as more Stanley Cup championships than Sutter.
Among the coaches with more regular season wins than Sutter, only Bowman, Quenneville, and Ken Hitchcock have a higher Points Percentage than him.
It’s important to consider that the NHL regular season wasn’t always as long as it is now, so some coaches of the past didn’t have the chance to accumulate as many regular season wins as more contemporary coaches do.