Confirmed with Link: It's Started! (Management firings)

[Headshot77]

Hextall slept his last sleep

 

[Andy99]

I think Kirk had a lobotomy and woke up as a hair guy

Talk about two extremes of Geno love/hate lol

 

[Josey Wales]

He isn't despite the hyperventilating of certain fans here who think firing the coach fixes everything.

IT DOESN"T???

 

[cygnus47]

I just don’t see it. Teams play us differently, and can match our speed better, is how I’ve seen it.

The whole thing with the 2016 system was that we were happy to defend on the rush so we could play high pressure in every zone because we weren't concerned about making mistakes. Our current system is the complete antithesis of that. Sully doesn't want us giving up any rushes, and we don't get close to generating any ourselves.

Go watch the 2016 playoffs if you can and look at our positioning on defense. We played high in the zone on defence (this is the biggest thing, we now play passive zone defense in the bottom half of our zone and defend the net) and attacked the puck carrier and put extreme pressure on the points. We aggressively looked to cut off passes in all zones and trap the puck carrier in bad spots in all zones. That's systemic, not just speed. That's trying to generate rushes.

Our breakout wasn't always along the wall or across to the trailer. We used plays like the Murphy dump a lot. Our PK was in your face instead of passive. Our PP ....was probably not coached but Phil made it work.

We scored by generating a load of rushes by forcing the play and risking the puck carrier making a great move and putting us out of position. We don't generate rushes anymore because our system focuses on defending the house.

You'd remember Sully talking about how the whole system was about "pressure" and "speed". When's the last time you heard him say that? The speed helped us make up for mistakes by being able to get back on the rush, but it is still a completely different way of defending.

Does any part of our current system make you think pressure? Literally any aspect of it?

 

[Pens x]

Hextall slept his last sleep

I suspect he’s about to go into a very long hibernation. What franchise offers him a GM job at this point in his crappy career? Maybe a team offers him some bullshit advisor role, where he won’t have to interact with fans or the media.

But even in a retread league like the NHL, sleepy is toast getting a GM job. A guy fan only fail so many times.

 

[canadianguy77]

The whole thing with the 2016 system was that we were happy to defend on the rush so we could play high pressure in every zone because we weren't concerned about making mistakes. Our current system is the complete antithesis of that. Sully doesn't want us giving up any rushes, and we don't get close to generating any ourselves.

Go watch the 2016 playoffs if you can and look at our positioning on defense. We played high in the zone on defence (this is the biggest thing, we now play passive zone defense in the bottom half of our zone and defend the net) and attacked the puck carrier and put extreme pressure on the points. We aggressively looked to cut off passes in all zones and trap the puck carrier in bad spots in all zones. That's systemic, not just speed. That's trying to generate rushes.

Our breakout wasn't always along the wall or across to the trailer. We used plays like the Murphy dump a lot. Our PK was in your face instead of passive. Our PP ....was probably not coached but Phil made it work.

We scored by generating a load of rushes by forcing the play and risking the puck carrier making a great move and putting us out of position. We don't generate rushes anymore because our system focuses on defending the house.

You'd remember Sully talking about how the whole system was about "pressure" and "speed". When's the last time you heard him say that? The speed helped us make up for mistakes by being able to get back on the rush, but it is still a completely different way of defending.

Does any part of our current system make you think pressure? Literally any aspect of it?

A lot of people are misremembering how different the '16 and '17 teams were.

 

[Pens x]

Doesn’t Hextall’s kid work for the Pens? That’s a bit awkward.

 

[BusinessGoose]

Doesn’t Hextall’s kid work for the Pens? That’s a bit awkward.

Damn charity hires

 

[cygnus47]

A lot of people are misremembering how different the '16 and '17 teams were.

Yeah I'd probably agree that the 2017 system was closer to what we have now. We also got an absolute dream run of guys going on heaters in the playoffs. The 2016 one was completely different though. We run back 2016 playoffs 100 times and we win like 90 of them. We had to get so much luck to come out on top in 2017.

This is also to say that I give Sully complete credit for 2016. I don't think that was luck AT ALL. His system and identity and clarity of message was as good as I've ever seen by a coach of any team. But he is as responsible as JR and Hextall for f***ing this team up since 2018.

 

[SEALBound]

Yohe and Ol'29er just had an hour show. The segment on Sullyvan was hilarious...It started paraising him to high heaven than as they go on they started piling on him, he was lost all year, he did not look like himself, the players were saying he was soft on them, on and on...kind of thing we have been saying long...he did not have his heart in here this season, he was milking it, last season, if Dumo I think closes on Zib a second quicker we are in the second round and Sully never get to hear about four miserable years...This year he was just daydreaming there and trying to stick it to someone...

That makes sense. There was a lot of hate about Sullivan. He seemed to have completely dropped the "just play" mentality that helped them so much in 16/17. After every penalty, they pan to him and he's having a tantrum.

A lot of people are misremembering how different the '16 and '17 teams were.

They were fast. There were a lot of good skaters. Vets were fast and the young kids had legs for days. Every line was balanced and complemented each other extremely well.

 

[molon labe]

The whole thing with the 2016 system was that we were happy to defend on the rush so we could play high pressure in every zone because we weren't concerned about making mistakes. Our current system is the complete antithesis of that. Sully doesn't want us giving up any rushes, and we don't get close to generating any ourselves.

Go watch the 2016 playoffs if you can and look at our positioning on defense. We played high in the zone on defence (this is the biggest thing, we now play passive zone defense in the bottom half of our zone and defend the net) and attacked the puck carrier and put extreme pressure on the points. We aggressively looked to cut off passes in all zones and trap the puck carrier in bad spots in all zones. That's systemic, not just speed. That's trying to generate rushes.

Our breakout wasn't always along the wall or across to the trailer. We used plays like the Murphy dump a lot. Our PK was in your face instead of passive. Our PP ....was probably not coached but Phil made it work.

We scored by generating a load of rushes by forcing the play and risking the puck carrier making a great move and putting us out of position. We don't generate rushes anymore because our system focuses on defending the house.

You'd remember Sully talking about how the whole system was about "pressure" and "speed". When's the last time you heard him say that? The speed helped us make up for mistakes by being able to get back on the rush, but it is still a completely different way of defending.

Does any part of our current system make you think pressure? Literally any aspect of it?

Imagine if Jarry were facing what Murray and Fleury did?

Reason enough he needs to go. Cup goalies tend to control the play when necessary. Stopping pucks for a faceoff or shutting down a breakaway. This guy literally let goal after goal when our guys were set up.

Could say that our defense sucks in comparison to those cup teams, but how far off is it really?

 

[Flying Dego]

Dave Beeston from Boston is one of the men responsible for putting the Pens back on track. Pretty funny.

They mentioned again that they'd let the new GM make coaching decisions BUT made sure to talk about Sullivan being terrific and one of the best coaches in the league. Also that he just signed his extension.

To me that says FSG tells the new GM make it work, we ain't footing the bill for a buyout.

 

[metalan2]

Even if Sullivan stays, even if he picks his own team, it'll still be better than what Hextall did.

 

[Jobeycool]

Hextall slept his last sleep

He needs a new nickname : ) Hex mess..

 

[Flying Dego]

Imagine if Jarry were facing what Murray and Fleury did?

Reason enough he needs to go. Cup goalies tend to control the play when necessary. Stopping pucks for a faceoff or shutting down a breakaway. This guy literally let goal after goal when our guys were set up.

Could say that our defense sucks in comparison to those cup teams, but how far off is it really?

The new GM is gonna need to be pretty slick though. There's no quick FA goalie to solve this. Gonna take a savvy guy to make a trade with little to give.

 

[MayorofWBS]

So we didn't finish the job? Sully is still here to deep six everything. Like I said, Penguins GM position is as undesirable as it gets. Can't wait to see what corpse they trot out to try to fix this dumpster fire.

 

[ZorkEnchanter]

We need a pinned post at the top of every page with the disclaimer:

Just because Sullivan was not fired today does not mean the new GM won't fire him.

Hiring and firing head coaches is the GM's job.

Agreed. I think the new GM candidates will bring that up in their interviews... we'll know by the quality of the GM based on what he is/is not allowed to do.

 

[Flying Dego]

So we didn't finish the job? Sully is still here to deep six everything. Like I said, Penguins GM position is as undesirable as it gets. Can't wait to see what corpse they trot out to try to fix this dumpster fire.

Whoever comes in doesn't get full power. No doubt about it. They need to be at peace that a coach is cemented to work around here.

Maybe they can fire all his assistants AGAIN lol. Not sure a coach has lived longer with this amount of failed expectations.

Agreed. I think the new GM candidates will bring that up in their interviews... we'll know by the quality of the GM based on what he is/is not allowed to do.

Is FSG really gonna sign off on firing a coach and paying him out over 16M and paying for an actual coach? That seems like a non starter.

Edit: my mistake, over 18 million

 

[AjaxTelamon]

Dave Beeston from Boston is one of the men responsible for putting the Pens back on track. Pretty funny.

They mentioned again that they'd let the new GM make coaching decisions BUT made sure to talk about Sullivan being terrific and one of the best coaches in the league. Also that he just signed his extension.

To me that says FSG tells the new GM make it work, we ain't footing the bill for a buyout.

Not how I heard that. They said the coach and his staff are great, not that they're the right fit for this team. The ownership group are not a bunch of idiots, they know Sullivan's playoff losing streak predates GMRH.

That being said, we better hope we get a GM that isn't afraid of making some waves.

 

[Flying Dego]

Not how I heard that. They said the coach and his staff are great, not that they're the right fit for this team. The ownership group are not a bunch of idiots, they know Sullivan's playoff losing streak predates GMRH.

That being said, we better hope we get a GM that isn't afraid of making some waves.

I have been on the boat to remove the stale coaching for years now. I would love to be wrong but again not sure the ownership loves to blow 18M on a coaching buyout.

I will do cartwheels if they actually approved it.

 

[ZorkEnchanter]

Not how I heard that. They said the coach and his staff are great, not that they're the right fit for this team. The ownership group are not a bunch of idiots, they know Sullivan's playoff losing streak predates GMRH.

That being said, we better hope we get a GM that isn't afraid of making some waves.

Yeah, I mean you don't want the management group in a public setting to drop hellfire on the coaching staff then say man you should work here it's a good group?....

This sounds like every transition we've seen in sports/my work. I.e. the GM will either be told those things in private and we may or may not see a change.

If Sullivan were fired this year or next, he'll be hired within a year. (he's not the right coach for the Pens but maybe he'll find a fit.)

I'm not watching a Sullivan coached team again, I got better things to do in life... sniffing glue, playing Zelda, getting punched in the nutz... those things.

But, I'm pretty impressed that they fired Hextall the day after the last game. At least they recognize this is currently a cluster-f***.

We'll see what happens next.

 

[Turin]

People saying the job is undesirable are just being wieners. It absolutely isn't - I think it's clear the job description is to get back to a process. Hextall got fired ultimately not because the team missed the playoffs but because they missed the playoffs in large part because he had no idea WTF he was doing and why. A good process is a good process whether you're in a contention window, rebuilding or on the bubble.

On Sullivan, pretty sure he stays unless the new hire is really unimpressed with him, but he will be on a short leash if the team is inexplicably doing the same stuff they did this year and if he's as uncreative and soft again.

 

[Flying Dego]

Yeah, I mean you don't want the management group in a public setting to drop hellfire on the coaching staff then say man you should work here it's a good group?....

This sounds like every transition we've seen in sports/my work. I.e. the GM will either be told those things in private and we may or may not see a change.

If Sullivan were fired this year or next, he'll be hired within a year. (he's not the right coach for the Pens but maybe he'll find a fit.)

I'm not watching a Sullivan coached team again, I got better things to do in life... sniffing glue, playing Zelda, getting punched in the nutz... those things.

But, I'm pretty impressed that they fired Hextall the day after the last game. At least they recognize this is currently a cluster-f***.

We'll see what happens next.

See ya in 2027 lol

 

[Josey Wales]

I have been on the boat to remove the stale coaching for years now. I would love to be wrong but again not sure the ownership loves to blow 18M on a coaching buyout.

I will do cartwheels if they actually approved it.

SOOO if FSG & New GM shitcans them that makes the SC Champs again right, Because it is not thee players fault

 

[ZorkEnchanter]

Whoever comes in doesn't get full power. No doubt about it. They need to be at peace that a coach is cemented to work around here.

Maybe they can fire all his assistants AGAIN lol. Not sure a coach has lived longer with this amount of failed expectations.

I mean any good GM candidate worth his salt would ask Sullivan straight up, "You actually think this PP is good?"

I can see no world where a good GM candidate does not come in and question all of these horrible systems and either change the Assistants and/or coach.