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

[BusinessGoose]

I genuinely think that there's a huge divide in what the Pens fans think (which is clearly obvious) and what the people inside the hockey bubble think, where Sullivan is held in high regard. Not saying anyone is right or wrong, just my feeling.

We have internet anonymity

They all have to play nice with each other

So it wouldn't really make sense for anyone in the hockey would circle of trust to start calling for heads

We don't have any real skin in the game, so we can evaluate on a much harsher scale

Which again, agree, not saying either group is right or wrong

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I find it incredibly unlikely that Dubas would accept the job if he were told “you have to keep Sullivan.” He can just wait for an actual good job with no limitations attached

Exactly. I'm really not trying to be a doomer here... I just think that if the team is seriously gonna make Sullivan a "no-go" issue just about any quality candidate with energy and a vison is gonna say "thanks but no thanks." I feel like that's kind of a big sticking point... more than people are copping to.

And I'm not trying to paint Dubas as some savior here, either. He has his baggage, too.

 

[Lust for Life]

if FSG wants to give Dubas the keys to the kingdom as rumored I highly doubt Sullivan is gonna be an issue

 

[Lust for Life]

that being said, I imagine none of the GMs is gonna can Sullivan straight away anyway. he gets at least half the season IMO

 

[IcedCapp]

Exactly. I'm really not trying to be a doomer here... I just think that if the team is seriously gonna make Sullivan a "no-go" issue just about any quality candidate with energy and a vison is gonna say "thanks but no thanks." I feel like that's kind of a big sticking point... more than people are copping to.

And I'm not trying to paint Dubas as some savior here, either. He has his baggage, too.

Yeah this has nothing to do with Dubas’ ability or even Sullivan. Dubas just left a job, in part, due to a desire to have close to full autonomy. Why would he go to a worse position (the pens just is definitely less desirable than the leafs at this point in time) where the very first edict is “you don’t have full control over the team.”

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

To a degree yes. But I also think they are at the point where the whole apple cart could be tipped over by a stiff breeze. Even his little fanclub that we call the local media seems more divided than before. And how could they not be? Dude just turned in a huge stinker... even putting the players themselves aside (who also turned in a huge stinker).

If he goes into next season like business as usual and then proceeds to shit down his leg for the first 20 or so games... even I'M not too sure what his future is, here.

I'm just operating under the assumption that Sullivan's job is safe until he's officially fired. Better for my sanity that way, as opposed to rocking back and forth in a room with his name scrawled all over the walls in chicken scratch like many do around here.

They gave him an extension before his current deal was even up, before the dust had settled following his team's 4th consecutive failure to clear the bar of advancing past the 1st round (after a 3-1 series lead and leads in the final three games). At this point, I won't even pretend to know what the f*** is going on with this team or ownership because a coach with those failures at his feet gets told to pack his shit immediately. But here we are, rooting for a team who has made dysfunction their brand over the course of the past half decade. We're gluttons for disappointment.

 

[vikingGoalie]

no gm will take a job where he has no say on the head coaching position.
also, no GM would come in and fire sullivan right away and any GM that would do that without even working with Sullivan for half a season first i wouldn't want as our GM.

Now half a season in, all bets are off.

 

[66-30-33]

no gm will take a job where he has no say on the head coaching position.
also, no GM would come in and fire sullivan right away and any GM that would do that without even working with Sullivan for half a season first i wouldn't want as our GM.

Now half a season in, all bets are off.

I bet the new GM gets fired before Sully...at that point just make Sully the coach AND GM with full control. Maybe he will fire himself.

 

[Ryder71]

Dubas or Darche, click!

 

[IcedCapp]

I bet the new GM gets fired before Sully...at that point just make Sully the coach AND GM with full control. Maybe he will fire himself.

Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised to see GMMS at some point. Maybe POHOMS

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Yeah, I wonder if Sully's not so ingrained in this organization that he'll coach until he doesn't want to anymore, then pop upstairs into a FO exec role. Fun to think about, for sure!

 

[IcedCapp]

Yeah, I wonder if Sully's not so ingrained in this organization that he'll coach until he doesn't want to anymore, then pop upstairs into a FO exec role. Fun to think about, for sure!

We have wildly different definitions of fun

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

We have wildly different definitions of fun

I'm reminded of, uhhhh, Scuderi (?) saying something to the effect of "you need guys like me, you can't have six Kris Letangs out there" and envisioning Sully putting together a forward corps of 12 ZARs.

The beautiful game.

 

[IcedCapp]

I'm reminded of, uhhhh, Scuderi (?) saying something to the effect of "you need guys like me, you can't have six Kris Letangs out there" and envisioning Sully putting together a forward corps of 12 ZARs.

The beautiful game.

you stupid skill guys are ruining Jacques Lemaire’s beautiful game

 

[66-30-33]

Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised to see GMMS at some point. Maybe POHOMS

FSG: Dubas/Tulsky is fired, our new GM is Sullivan and he will also be POHO with full control over everything.
Sullivan: Thanks, I just wanna give a shoutout to the boys at HFBoards. I'm not leaving bitches!

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

you stupid skill guys are ruining Jacques Lemaire’s beautiful game

Listen, if you're moving your feet with two hands on your stick you're doing it wrong. You gotta be belly on the ice, flailing wildly as the guy with the puck effortlessly skates by you.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I'm reminded of, uhhhh, Scuderi (?) saying something to the effect of "you need guys like me, you can't have six Kris Letangs out there" and envisioning Sully putting together a forward corps of 12 ZARs.

The beautiful game.

lol I think that was Gary "don't call me Spiro" Agnew. Mike Johston's staff. Natch.

Listen, if you're moving your feet with two hands on your stick you're doing it wrong. You gotta be belly on the ice, flailing wildly as the guy with the puck effortlessly skates by you.

So Brian Dumoulin? Ahhhhh... the NEW Scuderi.

Hey I forgot about him, too. Why hasn't he gotten a new long term contract? I'm thinking something like 3.5M for seven years. He's ONLY 31, after all. And think about what a DEAL that would be!

 

[Pancakes]

I find it incredibly unlikely that Dubas would accept the job if he were told “you have to keep Sullivan.” He can just wait for an actual good job with no limitations attached

Most people around the league think Sullivan is a really good coach though. I don't see that being a deal breaker.

 

[ThosePuckingPenguins]

Most people around the league think Sullivan is a really good coach though. I don't see that being a deal breaker.

Yeah I really don’t think people here realize how much he’s revered in the hockey world. I mean, Rangers fans want him bad for example. I don’t think a new GM wants to fire Sullivan immediately as much as we all want it.

 

[Pancakes]

Yeah I really don’t think people here realize how much he’s revered in the hockey world. I mean, Rangers fans want him bad for example. I don’t think a new GM wants to fire Sullivan immediately as much as we all want it.

He would have a job in minutes if he got fired.

We all want him gone, but that's not the perception around the league. So I don't know that a new GM would be bothered by having to keep him for a little while.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised to see GMMS at some point. Maybe POHOMS

I wonder sometimes if he is just burned out on coaching. The thing that really strikes me about last-five-years Sullivan is simply the lack of energy. It's like autopilot every single year. Maybe he would find terrific success as the head coach of another team. It's not like he's an idiot. But maybe he just has his sights set "higher" and being behind the bench has lost it's appeal.

Clearly I'm just 100% speculating but dude seems a little checked out. The only thing he seems to have much energy for lately is complaining about the refs after every loss and making excuses for his miserable powerplay while not actually doing much tangible about it. Or anything for that matter.

 

[Pens x]

MacKinnon is out. Narrows the list a little bit.

Good, they must have looked at his body of work.

 

[3ladesof5teel]

This has to be finalized before the end of the week I would imagine, we are coming up on a month until the NHL draft, there's work to be done.

Unless of course Sullivan is already planning out the draft and trades/players hes going to bring in

 

[IcedCapp]

Most people around the league think Sullivan is a really good coach though. I don't see that being a deal breaker.

I’m not saying he wants to fire Sullivan. Let’s say the coach was some rando named Bob who was 13-69 last year. Dubas probably doesn’t want to be told “you have to fire the coach.” He probably wants to, but it should be his decision

 

[Empoleon8771]

Tim Benz: Making sense of Mike Sullivan's reported AHL action plan for the Penguins' new GM

A Pittsburgh Penguins-related item we dropped into “First Call” last week has really stayed with me through the weekend. Tony Androckitis of Inside AHL Hockey posted these notes about the Penguins on both the NHL level in Pittsburgh and the AHL level in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. • “There are big...

triblive.com

I think everyone here fairly criticized Sullivan for his refusal to play any young players from WBS in regular roles last year, but I think the situation was that Sullivan just thought those guys stunk. It seems like Sullivan has been adamant this off-season about needing to improve WBS to have more NHL caliber players as call-up options.

I don't really recall seeing anything special in the few games that guys like Poulin and Hallander got, so I have a feeling Sullivan wants to push the new GM so that those caliber of players aren't Sullivan's first call-up options.