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NYR close to naming Mike Sullivan as new Head Coach UPD: Named

The richest?

Nobody - Pens fans included - expected him to "win every season." However, he hasn't done much winning at all recently. Yes, he won back-to-back Cups, but he's only won a single round in the eight seasons since then. To be rewarded after almost a decade of mediocre results is questionable.
 
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CarolinaBlueJacket said:
Typical Rangers MO...Big name your way to victory and it rarely works.

Serious question: If there is no Crosby, Malkin, Letang, would Sullivan be considered a good coach?
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There was a lot of coaches that had those players and they didn’t get results. I feel like Sullivan is a bit underrated now. The team Dubas gave him I very much doubt any coach would coach as a Jack Adams candidate
 
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wonton15 said:
Legitimate question - would Sullivan be massively different than Laviolette for this current Rangers group?
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In terms of play style and effectiveness? Probably. In terms of developing young players better? Probably not.
 
People here saying that Drury needs to overhaul the Rangers roster in order to make Sullivan’s system work: he is definitely going to try and do that this offseason. I don’t think Dolan signs him to a three-year extension if he wasn’t convinced that he can make tough decisions with some players who have been here a long time, especially after a breakdown where a few of them came off negatively.

With that said however, I don’t trust him to make the right moves. Keep in mind, this is the guy who traded Buchnevich for Sammy Blais and gave a three-year deal to Barclay Goodrow. I doubt his idea of giving Sullivan guys to work with is in sync with his actual system.
 
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LeonDraisaitl said:
There was a lot of coaches that had those players and they didn’t get results. I feel like Sullivan is a bit underrated now. The team Dubas gave him I very much doubt any coach would coach as a Jack Adams candidate
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Who exactly are these good coaches that had these players and didn’t get results? The only coach between Bylsma and Sullivan was Mike Johnston and he is objectively one of the worst NHL coaches in the last 20 years.

I look forward to the public perception of Mike Sullivan coming to reality in the next few years.
 
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Unless money is everything I don’t understand why highly valued coach would want to go to the Rangers

It feels like this league lives by the past and can’t see the future. That roster is so badly built and on the verge of collapse
 
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Honestly, hiring Torts as an assistant would be a great idea IMO. The Rangers need someone who's going to hold them accountable and is not afraid to call them out on it. If he's the main guy, he'll quickly wear out his welcome, but if he's the assistant, he can focus more on that, and let Sullivan run the team. Team defense is in critical need of improvement, and Torts can absolutely help with that aspect.

Also, one key difference between the recent Penguins teams and the Rangers is, the Rangers have goaltending. The Pens goaltending has been horrid the last few seasons.
 
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BB88 said:
Unless money is everything I don’t understand why highly valued coach would want to go to the Rangers

It feels like this league lives by the past and can’t see the future. That roster is so badly built and on the verge of collapse
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Being the coach of the New York Rangers is prestigious. Big market, big city, etc. For some people that's important. I'm sure the money helps too (it should - wouldn't you want a bigger salary if you could get one?).

Also - NYR won the president trophy a year ago. I think they definitely have issues, but aren't as bad as some people think. I expect them to bounce back and be in the playoffs next year, for sure.
 
Think it's just going to be a re-run of the end of his time in Pittsburgh.

Panarin is either gone or overpaid on an extension. Miller exiting his prime. Ditto for Trocheck. Zibanejad on an albatross deal. Laf, at best, on a cap inefficient deal unless he somehow becomes a 60-70 pt guy. And that's before possibly needing to retain on Kreider. And you'd need Igor to still be Igor. After extending Cuylle and KAM, you don't have much left for next year. Then, what? Go HAM in the summer of 27 at UFA?

This team's best shot at a cup in the next 5 years is hoping McDavid wants to hit UFA and be a Ranger.
 
LeonDraisaitl said:
There was a lot of coaches that had those players and they didn’t get results. I feel like Sullivan is a bit underrated now. The team Dubas gave him I very much doubt any coach would coach as a Jack Adams candidate
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I mean, the roster currently isn't great. I blame him more for failing to adjust his tactics to fit the roster

But the team he got when he took over was basically his fantasy lineup in terms of how he wants to play (which is fast), and that playstyle emphasizing the strengths of the team. They had great team speed to execute his aggressive forecheck (and then backcheck effectively), but even the guys who weren't burners (Hornqvist, Bonino, Dumoulin) thought the game fast which allowed them to still have success.

He had the core in their prime, plus guys like Kessel, Daley, Hagelin who could fly. Then younger guys like Rust, Sheary, Scott Wilson who could also wheel. He honestly couldn't have constructed a better team to execute his gameplan.

So if the Rangers have guys like that, I could see this working. Otherwise, it might be an adventure
 
Mike Sullivan, good coach with an accomplished resume but let's not act like he didn't have some absolute horses during his success. Geno, Sid, Letang, Jake, Kessel and great supporting players... this current Rangers roster ain't that lol.
 
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Empoleon8771 said:
The deal is apparently a 5 year, $35 million deal for Sullivan to coach there. Definitely the largest coaching contract ever handed out in the NHL.

Was obvious the Rangers would do whatever it took to get Sullivan, and it turns out “whatever it took” was a dump truck of cash.
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Largest annual contract but Babs 8yr/50m is still the largest total. Still massive though.
 
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thebeernerd said:
People here saying that Drury needs to overhaul the Rangers roster in order to make Sullivan’s system work: he is definitely going to try and do that this offseason. I don’t think Dolan signs him to a three-year extension if he wasn’t convinced that he can make tough decisions with some players who have been here a long time, especially after a breakdown where a few of them came off negatively.

With that said however, I don’t trust him to make the right moves. Keep in mind, this is the guy who traded Buchnevich for Sammy Blais and gave a three-year deal to Barclay Goodrow. I doubt his idea of giving Sullivan guys to work with is in sync with his actual system.
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The problem is I really struggle to see how he can realistically do that with as little cap space and movable contracts as the Rangers have. There are some moves that I think make sense, but I just don't see how they have the cap space to make it work.

One move I think makes a lot of sense is sending Schneider to Buffalo for Byram. But how are the Rangers going to afford Byram's likely $6+ million extension? The Rangers desperately need puck movers on their defense and I think a Byram-Borgen 2nd pair would be completely solid, but how are they getting the money to make that work?
 
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Empoleon8771 said:
The problem is I really struggle to see how he can realistically do that with as little cap space and movable contracts as the Rangers have. There are some moves that I think make sense, but I just don't see how they have the cap space to make it work.

One move I think makes a lot of sense is sending Schneider to Buffalo for Byram. But how are the Rangers going to afford Byram's likely $6+ million extension? The Rangers desperately need puck movers on their defense and I think a Byram-Borgen 2nd pair would be completely solid, but how are they getting the money to make that work?
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It’s going to be difficult to remake the roster so that it fits Sullivan’s system there’s no question about that. It’s going to be a longer process. Which seems ridiculous considering the ages of the rangers top players but the GM never really has a plan for anything so it’s expected. I think the major reconstruction is going to be the 2026 offseason.
 
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The Rangers may need to make some long term moves this offseason that will impact short term results.

As others have said, if their core isn’t playing well, you get the results that they got this year as almost a bottom 10 team.

They are an old core that peaked last year and are on a downward trend and the team has hardly any money to play with.

Something drastic needs done and I can’t see Sullivan being the one to promote that change. Dude continued to run 30+ year old career bottom 6 players instead of youth night after night.
 
No coach is changing the composition of that roster, where most of their core performers are aging and declining.

Maybe Shesterkin is better and they’re a playoff team next year, but don’t think they’ll be anything resembling a contender.
 
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