Cullen to join pens in a development role

[Pens x]

So much for all of that moving bask to Minnesota for family reasons.

Solid hire

 

[Griffin6612]

I bet they discuss their life plans with each other and both get a say in the matter like reasonable adults.

Yeah these digs at his wife are pretty low

 

[Honour Over Glory]

A Player Development role wouldn't require him to live in Pittsburgh, since it likely mostly involves working with prospects, anyway. So he can live in Minnesota, and travel around to where the prospects are to keep track of them, and give them suggestions on how to improve.

This actually makes three people working in "Player Development" for the Pens, incidentally:
Scott Young - Director of Player Development
Tom Kostopoulos - Player Development Coach
Matt Cullen - Player Development

I'm pretty sure TK already works out of WB/S, and does a lot of work with the AHL team, so I'd imagine that hiring Cullen will allow TK to focus more attention to the prospects in the pro leagues, while Cullen can focus on those in Junior and College leagues, but that's just my speculation.

Well his role is to work with Sully so I would guess he's staying close by. I think he just wanted to stay in a spot and he liked the school situation and living in Pittsburgh.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

More she than they I suspect, but your point is taken.

Who hurt you?

 

[Ogrezilla]

I wouldn't be happy if I deferred to my GF or some such person if I'm the one making the vast majority of the money. So if I'm not happy they're not gonna be happy, I can assure you of that. lmao

Money isn't everything, but it's vitally important. And if you have that leverage, it's a great tool to use in making such decisions.

You do you. I would never be with someone looking for leverage to use in our decision making. That's a big glowing red flag imo.

 

[Ogrezilla]

So much for all of that moving bask to Minnesota for family reasons.

Solid hire

Well, no. They may have just changed their minds after having actually done it.

 

[Ryder71]

Who hurt you?

In that capacity no one, and I fully intend on keeping it that way.

As far as Cullen goes I think it's a good hire. He's well respected, has a good demeanor and hopefully those types of attributes serve him well in his new role.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

In that capacity no one, and I fully intend on keeping it that way.

As far as Cullen goes I think it's a good hire. He's well respected, has a good demeanor and hopefully those types of attributes serve him well in his new role.

Listen while a little bit of Handgela time is nice once in a while, a partner is great. Cullen has kids with this wife. He has no "only his choice" and hers. It's a group choice at that point because he's at work and she's the one with the kids and their education.

I'm glad the family likes Pittsburgh to settle there and raise their family there and have Matt work there as well. It'll be fantastic.

 

[EightyOne]

I prefer my partner and I to be equally disappointed and frustrated in regards to working locations.

*shrugs*

 

[RSPens]

Happy wife, Happy life...I'm sure what ever they decided, was the best decision for the family. Matt has enough cup rings, when they decided to come back to Pittsburgh last year, I'm sure it wasn't about trying to win another cup (it was probably a minor consideration). I'm sure when he came back last year it was because the family likes the city and organization enough to be back in Pittsburgh. Also if his boys are playing hockey, Pittsburgh is one of the best cities in the US for them to learn the game and develop.

However with that said, it is kind of pathetic that we are here discussing how a couple, that we don't know personally, make their decisions. That is a private matter between Matt and his wife and we have no place being any part of it.

As for the hire, its a great move by the organization. Matt is loved in Pittsburgh by the fans and by his teammates. Having a former player with his experience, dedication and work ethic is crucial to a successful franchise. I'm sure wherever they decide to live they will likely be taking in billets and doing everything possible to help the young prospects succeed.

 

[ZeroPucksGiven]

Happy wife, Happy life...I'm sure what ever they decided, was the best decision for the family. Matt has enough cup rings, when they decided to come back to Pittsburgh last year, I'm sure it wasn't about trying to win another cup (it was probably a minor consideration). I'm sure when he came back last year it was because the family likes the city and organization enough to be back in Pittsburgh. Also if his boys are playing hockey, Pittsburgh is one of the best cities in the US for them to learn the game and develop.

However with that said, it is kind of pathetic that we are here discussing how a couple, that we don't know personally, make their decisions. That is a private matter between Matt and his wife and we have no place being any part of it.

As for the hire, its a great move by the organization. Matt is loved in Pittsburgh by the fans and by his teammates. Having a former player with his experience, dedication and work ethic is crucial to a successful franchise. I'm sure wherever they decide to live they will likely be taking in billets and doing everything possible to help the young prospects succeed.

I agree with much of what you said, but I think people are genuinely curious how it appeared that his wife was all about Minnesota, but now they aren't.
Could be she changed her mind or is ok with it bc presumably the commitments in this role are much less than as a player?

 

[Riptide]

Awesome. It'll be nice still having him around the players. Dude was loved in that locker room.

Yeah. I was really happy to see this. I wondered if this was an option when he put his kids into the public system last fall when they came back to PIT.

 

[Riptide]

Could be a financial decision as Pittsburgh is cheaper to live in by about 20%.

Perhaps... but I doubt it. 36m in career earnings... he can probably afford to live just fine in Minny if he wanted to. I suspect that the GM situation there is a lot more off putting then the cost of living. This way he stays in PIT for a couple of years transiting to a new role while being around a GM and coach he's very comfortable with and around a team that he knows pretty well. He can always move back to Minny down the road if that's really where they want to be... but it wouldn't surprise me if they stuck it out in Pittsburgh for at least 2-3 years. Potentially even longer depending on how much upheaval they're willing to put the kids through.

I sincerely hope his beloved wife was consulted beforehand, because this goes against everything we heard a couple years back. lol

That was then. It's very possible that when he went to Minny as a player he wasn't as content/comfortable/whatever there as he was here. It wouldn't have surprised me in the least if they had discussed this (or the possibility of this) back then.

So much for all of that moving bask to Minnesota for family reasons.

Solid hire

As @Freeptop pointed out - he can live pretty much anywhere and do this job, as he will have to travel to see the players anyway.

 

[Shady Machine]

I wouldn't be happy if I deferred to my GF or some such person if I'm the one making the vast majority of the money. So if I'm not happy they're not gonna be happy, I can assure you of that. lmao

Money isn't everything, but it's vitally important. And if you have that leverage, it's a great tool to use in making such decisions.

Lol. Either way, Cullen is a millionaire and gets to do what he loves. I have no idea where you learned relationship advice.

That said, the rest of the advice is pretty sound so that's promising!

Who knew HFBoards could provide marital advice too? What a place.

 

[Peat]

I agree with much of what you said, but I think people are genuinely curious how it appeared that his wife was all about Minnesota, but now they aren't.
Could be she changed her mind or is ok with it bc presumably the commitments in this role are much less than as a player?

From what they said about him assisting Sullivan, it could be possible his role will be pretty head on and Pittsburgh based. Although I don't know for sure.

But yeah, I am feeling nosy about what's changed in their assessment of where to live, because it feels like something may have.

 

[SHOOTANDSCORE]

Listen while a little bit of Handgela time is nice once in a while, a partner is great. Cullen has kids with this wife. He has no "only his choice" and hers. It's a group choice at that point because he's at work and she's the one with the kids and their education.

I'm glad the family likes Pittsburgh to settle there and raise their family there and have Matt work there as well. It'll be fantastic.

True, I'm sure the kids have a significant say in where they live.

Perhaps... but I doubt it. 36m in career earnings... he can probably afford to live just fine in Minny if he wanted to. I suspect that the GM situation there is a lot more off putting then the cost of living. This way he stays in PIT for a couple of years transiting to a new role while being around a GM and coach he's very comfortable with and around a team that he knows pretty well. He can always move back to Minny down the road if that's really where they want to be... but it wouldn't surprise me if they stuck it out in Pittsburgh for at least 2-3 years. Potentially even longer depending on how much upheaval they're willing to put the kids through.



That was then. It's very possible that when he went to Minny as a player he wasn't as content/comfortable/whatever there as he was here. It wouldn't have surprised me in the least if they had discussed this (or the possibility of this) back then.



As @Freeptop pointed out - he can live pretty much anywhere and do this job, as he will have to travel to see the players anyway.

I was wondering if living in Minny just wasn't how they remembered it. Sometimes we build stuff up after a while and it just doesn't meet expectations.

I'm sure he could do this job or another for the Pens if they wanted to stay in Minny but the article really makes it sound like he'll be spending a lot of time in Pittsburgh for this specific job. So I'm not sure how well that would work for them. It could just be a poorly written article though.

Didn't Gonch take the same job and had to step back because he was spending too much time away from his family?

 

[Shady Machine]

From what they said about him assisting Sullivan, it could be possible his role will be pretty head on and Pittsburgh based. Although I don't know for sure.

But yeah, I am feeling nosy about what's changed in their assessment of where to live, because it feels like something may have.

Didn't Gonch live in Dallas while part time assistant coaching?

Reality is these guys are on the road half the year anyway, so I don't see why he couldn't live in Minnesota and travel 2 weeks out of a month.

 

[Peat]

Didn't Gonch live in Dallas while part time assistant coaching?

Reality is these guys are on the road half the year anyway, so I don't see why he couldn't live in Minnesota and travel 2 weeks out of a month.

That's certainly possible - hence the *may* have changed. For all we know, they're in Minnesota still and Cully's going to rack up some air miles.

 

[billybudd]

I call for a moratorium on evaluating the nature of players' or ex-players' marriages. This isn't as bad as the time someone wrote an insane manifesto about how Dupuis was a bad husband, but we could do without psychoanalyses of Matt Cullen's wife.

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

So much for all of that moving bask to Minnesota for family reasons.

Solid hire

Still wonder if he would have been that player we needed in that Caps series loss. Thats when he was still playing at a high level and we had our injuries. And he was the one who did well agaisnt them when Crosby was out the year before.

Thanks wife.

 

[canadianguy77]

I wouldn't be happy if I deferred to my GF or some such person if I'm the one making the vast majority of the money. So if I'm not happy they're not gonna be happy, I can assure you of that. lmao

Money isn't everything, but it's vitally important. And if you have that leverage, it's a great tool to use in making such decisions.

Sometimes in relationships, sacrifices are made by one half of the relationship.

If the chance ever arises, and it makes sense, it's only fair to pay it back.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Didn't Gonch live in Dallas while part time assistant coaching?

Reality is these guys are on the road half the year anyway, so I don't see why he couldn't live in Minnesota and travel 2 weeks out of a month.

Strain on family sucks. I can tell you living in the US while my gf moved to Canada before I eventually joined her, I went from Cleveland to Bellevue/Seattle, a stint in San Diego and then finally to where she was after 2yrs. The amount of air miles I racked up, every weekend I would go see her or she'd come to me.

Matt talked about it before how he did not want to uproot his kids and do the whole thing when they're old enough now to need more attention. He went back to Minnesota because of that. It turned into a shit show and he wanted to end it with a place that respected him and that was Pittsburgh. I don't see him doing that split life. Not unless the Pens tell him it's ok he goes back and reports to the pens from there etc for 2-3 months out of the year.

I wouldn't want to be away from family like that after retiring to continue doing the same shit.

 

[Ugene Magic]

Let's not pretend their kids didn't have a say in whether they get to hang out in Minnesota's or Pittsburgh's locker room here. The adults make the final say, but the kids run the roost.

A perk the Pens are more than happy to give.

Welcome home....

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Let's not pretend their kids didn't have a say in whether they get to hang out in Minnesota's or Pittsburgh's locker room here. The adults make the final say, but the kids run the roost.

A perk the Pens are more than happy to give.

Welcome home....

Pens need Cullen far more than he needs the Pens.

 

[Gurglesons]

I call for a moratorium on evaluating the nature of players' or ex-players' marriages. This isn't as bad as the time someone wrote an insane manifesto about how Dupuis was a bad husband, but we could do without psychoanalyses of Matt Cullen's wife.

Amen. How is this shit onboard with the mods if politics are not? I came here to read a why there was 3 pages about Cullen getting the retirement gig in our org and it’s just a bunch of keyboard warriors dissing his wife?