Penguins and Head Coach Mike Sullivan Agree to Part Ways

[john66]

Don't feed the trolls

[KG]

Sounds like Torts will be joining Sully in NY. Quinn is not. He’s looking for a HC job. Please Dubas, do not do it.

[Badamski9]

Not happy with this at all. Sully was dealt a losing hand by DubASS. Yeah, he had the aging trio of Crosby, Letang, and Malkin. But DubASS FAILED in the supporting team. Pens have no playoff appearances for 3 years. DubASS is the reason. Sully had no power in the hand he was dealt. Good luck in your future Sully. DubASS this is ALL on you. Time for you to be unemployed.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but, not sure how you blame Dubas for this. First, Kyle Dubas has been on the job for 2 seasons....so, how would he be responsible for 3 years of missed playoffs?

Biggest mistake Dubas likely made is still trying to do the impossible Hextall task of not giving up assets but still trying to compete. He listened to the noise from FSG, Sullivan, and others, instead of focusing on the job he needed to do, which he did start doing last summer.

Nobody has an endless string of assets. You can't applaud the work and success of Sullivan under Rutherford as GMJR gutted our picks and left our prospect pool barren, then turn around and dump all the failure on the incoming GM for the sins of his predecessors. FGMJR built up no prospect pool and Hextall made numerous gaffes with the NHL roster that Dubas was left to clean up.

Dubas gets high marks from me for doing something that was likely a year or two too late.

Couldn’t agree more with this! Graves was a big miss, but lots of positives.

[FLPensFan]

Not happy with this at all. Sully was dealt a losing hand by DubASS. Yeah, he had the aging trio of Crosby, Letang, and Malkin. But DubASS FAILED in the supporting team. Pens have no playoff appearances for 3 years. DubASS is the reason. Sully had no power in the hand he was dealt. Good luck in your future Sully. DubASS this is ALL on you. Time for you to be unemployed.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but, not sure how you blame Dubas for this. First, Kyle Dubas has been on the job for 2 seasons....so, how would he be responsible for 3 years of missed playoffs?

Biggest mistake Dubas likely made is still trying to do the impossible Hextall task of not giving up assets but still trying to compete. He listened to the noise from FSG, Sullivan, and others, instead of focusing on the job he needed to do, which he did start doing last summer.

Nobody has an endless string of assets. You can't applaud the work and success of Sullivan under Rutherford as GMJR gutted our picks and left our prospect pool barren, then turn around and dump all the failure on the incoming GM for the sins of his predecessors. FGMJR built up no prospect pool and Hextall made numerous gaffes with the NHL roster that Dubas was left to clean up.

Dubas gets high marks from me for doing something that was likely a year or two too late.

Couldn’t agree more with this! Graves was a big miss, but lots of positives.

Graves and Karlsson might be the two guys who have the most to gain by a new coach coming in. Both guys were solid before arriving to Pittsburgh, and neither was built to play in a Mike Sullivan style defensive system.

[Skatingpen]

Signed already with the Rangers…… this was no sudden decision

[Stillerz Bar]

We will see a lot of him going forward

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/449 ... ivan-coach

[Pens4Life]

I think he might start good with NYR, then it will fizzle out.. but I dont see SC win in NY for him.

[Puck-Lurker]

Signed already with the Rangers…… this was no sudden decision

Good on him. Best of luck to Sullivan, but that NYR team is not going anywhere.

I'm willing to bet Dubas had some actionable indication that Sullivan would get snapped up almost immediately, making it an easy sell for FSG to let Dubas fire him.

[KG]

Sounds like it's 5 years $7mill a year for Sully. Well, at least FSG is off the hook for the remaining 2 years of his contract here.

[Pitts]

I feel kind of weird about it all. It happened so fast.

[Tico Rick]

Thoughts on Marco Sturm? Haven't seen his coaching record in Germany, but remember he was a pretty smart hockey player.

Haven't heard his name in the conversation. Would have to do some more research.

Another name I heard for the first time that was very intriguing to me was Kori Cheverie. She was a guest coach for a game with the Penguins last season. She's been a player, assistant coach, and a head coach in the PWHL, college, and national team level. Here's the thing that stood out to me from the video I watched about her....she doesn't have a specific, set system, formation, or strategy. She is known for adjusting the teams game play based on the opponent and the flow of the game. She'll look for weaknesses in an opponent and adjust her gameplan to attack those weaknesses. She'll also adjust her style based on the score or situations within the game. She also likes to focus on individual skills and develop them and use when adapting her system.

That sounds like an awesome quality to have in a coach, but as the video reviewer also made mention, it takes a VERY strong level of communication to make it work, because you are always changing what you are doing and if a player doesn't understand or the communication isn't effective, the adaptability isn't going to work.

Another name I've heard in a couple of places, who should be granted an interview at least, is Jeff Blashill. He's supposedly very good with young players and now has experience working with Cooper, who many regard as a gold standard in NHL coaching. He has college, AHL, assistant NHL and head coaching NHL experience, plus he's got Sault St. Marie ties.

Cooper might be viewed as the gold standard, but his teams have been eliminated three years in a row in the first round.

I think Cooper is suffering from a bit of what I said in another thread...his GM hasn't "helped" him in the long run. Brisebois has made some amazing trades the last several years for guys like Hagel, Bjorkstrand, Gourde, Moser, and Geekie. But, like the Penguins...the AHL assets are dry. They have no first round picks the next 3 years, they are running up against a Florida team 2 years in a row who is hotter and younger (sounds like a pickup line) than TB is, and finally other than Guentzel, nobody stepped up on that team. Kucherov with 4 assists, Point only 2 goals. Florida did a good job shutting them down.

For as long as Cooper has been in charge, TB has only missed the playoffs once (in his early years), 2 Cups, 2 more Cup finals. I don't think his system is stale per se, I think it is more of the big swings of Brisebois are catching up, Stamkos is gone and aged, Kucherov and Hedman are aging, and they don't have the young stars to keep the train going.

Any chance that Cooper gets canned in Tampa Bay?

I think Hallam would be an interesting choice, especially if the Pens can't move EK.

Not a fan of Mitch Love – I never liked his work with the Beach Boys.

[largegarlic]

I don't have anything against Sullivan personally, and if he were going somewhere out west, I'd have no problem saying that I hope he does well in his next gig. But going to the Rangers, I have to say that I hope he crashes and burns...but maybe then does well coaching a Western conference team after that.

[Jesse]

Hearing 5 years, $35M as the price tag.

[Antonio]

Absolutely bonkers

[penscup]

Only in your alternate reality.

[Antonio]

Alternate reality to think it's crazy that a coach makes 7 million a year in the nhl? Ok.

[Puck-Lurker]

Alternate reality to think it's crazy that a coach makes 7 million a year in the nhl? Ok.

He had 5.5M for the Pens, 7M is a 27% bump.. it's not crazy in that context.

Is he worth THAT? No, I really don't think any coach is worth more than maybe 4M when you look at player salaries to compare them with.

I could totally see Rags wanting this guy right here and now. Sully's stock is low for us, but in the league he's seen as one of the very best available. 7M X5? I will believe that.

[penscup]

7 Million is chump change for NY or LA.

[FLPensFan]

Seems Sullivan took less time away "with family and not taking interview requests" than Dubas did when he left Toronto. Sure smells like Sullivan saw lots of other doors opening and decided those were better options and better $$$$. Good for him, better for us.

[Pitts]

Seems Sullivan took less time away "with family and not taking interview requests" than Dubas did when he left Toronto. Sure smells like Sullivan saw lots of other doors opening and decided those were better options and better $$$$. Good for him, better for us.

Let's just call it a "mutual parting" and leave it at that. But, I agree and it's good for both.

[pekkasteele]

Lets hope he convinces Drury to trade for his faves, Nieto, Acciari and so on!

[Puck-Lurker]

Lets hope he convinces Drury to trade for his faves, Nieto, Acciari and so on!

Nieto's contract is up though. They can UFA sign him. So give them Acciari, K. Hayes and Heinen for a bag of frozen pucks

[BigMcK]

The last, and only time, that I rooted the Rags to win, were Stanley Cup finals in '94 Vs Canucks.

Just so grateful that I will not have to support them for ever again.
Sullivan had to have been in communication with Rangers GM staff long before his firing. Same with his legal team. My support for his personal success going forward is null and void. He had no desire to stay here, and his dishonesty to Penguins fans is disgusting after all the wasted years of ego behind the bench.

Step out, and be gone.

Loser.

[Puck-Lurker]

Seems Sullivan took less time away "with family and not taking interview requests" than Dubas did when he left Toronto. Sure smells like Sullivan saw lots of other doors opening and decided those were better options and better $$$$. Good for him, better for us.

Let's just call it a "mutual parting" and leave it at that. But, I agree and it's good for both.

Whatever else is true...

Sullivan had poor results for a very long time now. Certainly, the team is not at 2016 levels, but more was expected. Round 1 exits and a stretch of not even getting to the playoffs. This year was a new low, being so far out.

Sullivan has been here for a very long time. For any coach, the message gets stale eventually. Complacency kicks in. From a change of scenery point of view, makes sense.

Sullivan would have needed to revert to being much more of a development coach, over any win-this-game-now. That would require playing some young dude over the Acciaris of this world, accepting that it might cost a couple of points now and then, but can pay back down the line.. Sullivan has been known for putting his vets out no matter what for years.

NYR wanted to hire him, a lot. There will have been interest from other teams. Even without communication between Sully and Rags, everyone could see he'd get hired quickly and easily. Dubas said that teams would definitely come calling for Sully.. and that he'd not block any requests.

Speculation:
I imagine there was informal communication between Sully and Rags. Nothing contractual, just a feeler, see where his head's at maybe. Sully had been on a hot seat for a while and networking is a thing. No talk of hey we would hire you if you get fired, just conversation and showing an interest.

Sully gets fired. NYR immediately phones Dubas to get to talk to their target. Dubas knew there'd be interest and is only too happy to accommodate. NYR calls on Sully, who knew Rags would probably be interested and has given it some thought already. Deal is quickly ironed out.

Salary off the FSG books and $$$ available to hire a new coach.

Everybody happy without assuming much malice.

[Pens4Life]

Lets see how Drury and Sully shape out roster, because at the moment, they arent very good.