Not the whole article, but read it and weep lol…
“Sullivan was asked if he’s concerned about losing his job.
“I’m not concerned about it, no,” he said. “I’m well aware of what I signed up for. It’s the nature of the business. My main focus is trying to do what I do every day, applying a certain process
I’m comfortable with to win games. I’ll bring everything I can to the table every day to help this team win, until such time when someone tells me otherwise.”
There is little question this season has affected Sullivan. He is known around the Penguins’ players and front office members for his legendary competitive streak. No one likes losing, but Sullivan hates it with a particular passion.
His team has been doing a lot of losing this season.
“I think I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t bother me,” Sullivan said. “I take a lot of pride in what I do.”
Sullivan is sensitive to the idea that he never makes adjustments. That, he said, is anything but true.
In terms of lineup deployment, Sullivan has been doing everything in his power to ignite his once-great team. At one point,
Erik Karlsson and
Kris Letang were both removed from the top power play.
Sidney Crosby and
Evgeni Malkin were placed on the same line for a two-week stretch, something Sullivan has never done. The lineup has been different almost every night.
And then there are the strategic adjustments.
“There has been a narrative in Pittsburgh that there haven’t been adjustments to our team game or our tactics,” Sullivan said. “It’s quite the opposite. I won’t bore you with details. But there’s been a whole lot of change in how we’ve approached the way we do everything, from details to how we play in all three games, on both sides of the puck.”
Sullivan doesn’t appear to have lost his locker room. His players routinely praise him, on and off the record, and that hasn’t changed.
“He’s been great,”
Marcus Pettersson said. “He’s so steady, so honest with us. He’s so direct. Tells you what you need to do better, what you’re doing well. We have total respect for him.”
“I ask hard questions of myself and my staff all the time,” he said. “I wouldn’t be doing my job if I wasn’t asking those questions.
Now, do I doubt myself? The answer is no. I have a strong belief in how I go about my job every day. I have unwavering belief in that process.”
Sullivan will keep doing things his way, critics be damned.
“I think it’s important as an individual in our business to have strong convictions,” he said. “If I don’t have strong convictions, then I’m not deserving of being in this seat. I understand when a team doesn’t have success, then the critics are going to come out. That’s what we all sign up for and that’s OK. But if I were to read every time that happened, we’d be all over the place with respect to how we go about our day-to-day work. So, I do hold myself accountable. That never changes.”
Sullivan said he will continue to hold himself and his team accountable. He doesn’t know any other way and he believes that, if he and his players remain on the same page, everything will turn around in Pittsburgh.“
