You know perhaps I'll get some flack for this but a part of me is just sad about the whole thing. Sullivan was a big part of back to back cups. He should be a treasured figure in Penguins lore. So should Bylsma.
But instead, Shero/GMJR/Hextall/Dubas all clung to their coaches for way too long and destroyed any goodwill those coaches generated.
And don't get me wrong, Bylsma and Sullivan also became massively stubborn and went from being good coaches to bad ones and they let their own egos and flaws overcome them. They're 100% not blameless in all this.
But I dunno I just think about it and for me it's a situation where both of them should have been fired long before it got to the point where they became that loathed by the fandom. This org always takes way too long to do the right thing.
It's just a sad situation all around and it could have been averted if Sullivan and the team had parted ways three or four years ago when it was first time to do so.
Shero clung on to Bylsma and it cost him his job, then Bylsma also was fired. The others had a far worse situation. Bylsma for his stubbornness at the time, at least he wasn't a weasel piece of shit like Sullivan. Disco didn't go above Ray or JR to get extensions with Mario and Burkle. It's funny anyone thinks These gms in the Sully era even have a choice. They all read from prepared media statements to talk up Sullivan the same way across 3 gms.
Sullivan, he's got the ownership on his side. Those Gm's aren't keeping him too long - ownership wants him here this long and would rather fire Gms or strip them of their power so they quit than fire him.
Yeah it's f***ing sad. We all say we're angry because we are but really it's from a place of being sad to see this franchise go straight to shit. At least with a walnut like Dan, the team was fun. This team now is just another sports franchise owned by a billion dollar entity that takes favouritism to insane heights.
I respect the f*** out of Dan more now because of how pathetic Sullivan is. At least a Disco f***ing found ways to win when Sid had scrambled brains, Geno missed half a season, Staal and his shit, etc. Yet he still f***ing got them to be a strong team, hell his post cup seasons blow Sullivan's out of the f***ing water.
Sullivan's cups aren't Sullivan's cups. They're Sullivan-Tocchet cups. That f***wad couldn't do any of that shit if they fired Tocchet with MJ. I 100% believe that they would not have won both cups if Sullivan didn't have Tocchet there to tell him to shut the f*** up when he had dumb ideas and worked with him to make changes to the system.
Since he lost Tocchet that dipshit hasn't figured a f***ing thing out and had others take the fall for his stupid ass. f*** Sullivan, f*** FSG.
Watch 80% of this board not give a shit once this team has a random hot streak for most of a month like they haven't learned a f***ing thing the last couple of years.