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

[n8]

I fully understand the Rangers signing Sullivan, but hiring Tortorella as an assistant makes no sense to me.

1. He failed as head coach there before.
2. Dude is like 70 years old.
3. He's coming off a shitty tenure with the Flyers.
4. He hasn't been an assistant coach since at least the 1990s

Sure it's just Sullivan's buddy joining him in NY, but I really don't get why Tortorella is really interested in the role at all nor do I understand why the Rangers want him back.

What Torts adds is a nuclear threat. If the players manage to get Sullivan fired in two years, Johnny boy is in the tunnel giving his best murder stare.
You better play for this coach or you're all going to hockey hell!

 

[Homelander]

Quinn is already an assistant coach for the Penguins.

Well, becoming the HC

 

[Homelander]

It's just that this is the New York Rangers to a T. Sullivan has only gotten past the first round once since 2016-2017. Someone like that is going to be the highest-paid HC in the NHL? Really?

Dolan is a joke in many ways. His blind loyalty and foolish allocation of financial resources are his two biggest weaknesses.

 

[Fatass]

Sully will get them into the playoffs and I’m sure even a harsh critic of sully @Andy99 would say that.

A short term boost is likely

Yup. Devils might be the club that gets pushed back because of Sully’s getting the Rangers back to the playoffs.
Caps
Canes
Rangers
Devils will need to make a wildcard spot.

 

[OtherThingsILike]

Legitimate question - would Sullivan be massively different than Laviolette for this current Rangers group?

I'm not sure. Sullivan is a better coach than Laviolette for sure. His time with the Penguins was marred by the fact that the team is too old to make the playoffs; the team is intrinsically unfixable regardless of which system the coach uses - and Sullivan tried plenty of them. I think the Rangers might also be too old, but they do have Shesterkin, Fox, and Lafreniere. If something could be built around those players, Sullivan could do something there.

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?

Yes. At the beginning of the 2021-2022 season, both Crosby and Malkin missed 12 games. The Penguins went 5-3-4. Letang also missed a couple of those games.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Coach who needs the fastest roster possible and relies on both defensemen pinching leading to endless odd-man rushes against taking control of that roster...yeah, that'll work.

I mean, at least he's a infinitely better than Torts, but so are most of my shits.

 

[Zirakzigil]

Well, becoming the HC

Has already been ruled out and told to interview elsewhere.

 

[Homelander]

Has already been ruled out and told to interview elsewhere.

Well then, I retract my LOL!

 

[n8]

Coach who needs the fastest roster possible and relies on both defensemen pinching leading to endless odd-man rushes against taking control of that roster...yeah, that'll work.

I mean, at least he's a infinitely better than Torts, but so are most of my shits.

The Rangers are not a very fast team. That or, they aren't actually using their speed. Torts always demanded players be in the best physical condition for his style of play. Maybe it's like a carrot stick combo.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

The Rangers are not a very fast team. That or, they aren't actually using their speed. Torts always demanded players be in the best physical condition for his style of play. Maybe it's like a carrot stick combo.

The Pens were a very fast team once, but players age and slow down and the system never did. The high-end talent on the Rangers roster is slowing down and the young talent that is there isn't really fast to begin. Guys like Lafrenière are the kind of players who immediately enter and never leave his doghouse.

He's a good coach, but he needs a roster that fits his style and the players to buy in. The Rangers do not have the kind of roster that fit his style, even if they buy in.

The biggest complaint about Sullivan is, incidentally, the complete opposite of what helped him win those Cups. He was extremely adaptable in those Cup years...he's been the antithesis of that ever since. If a team dials into what Sullivan is doing, no changes will be made.

Torts...listen, he's exclusively coached teams I dislike to mediocrity in a capped NHL. I wouldn't want him anywhere near anyone on my favorite team's roster, even the ones I want to punish. Sullivan is far from the worst coach in this league, he just needs a roster that fits his system and I really don't see that with the Rangers.

This both feels inevitable, and the worst possible landing spot for Sullivan's system.

 

[n8]

The Pens were a very fast team once, but players age and slow down and the system never did. The high-end talent on the Rangers roster is slowing down and the young talent that is there isn't really fast to begin. Guys like Lafrenière are the kind of players who immediately enter and never leave his doghouse.

He's a good coach, but he needs a roster that fits his style and the players to buy in. The Rangers do not have the kind of roster that fit his style, even if they buy in.

The biggest complaint about Sullivan is, incidentally, the complete opposite of what helped him win those Cups. He was extremely adaptable in those Cup years...he's been the antithesis of that ever since. If a team dials into what Sullivan is doing, no changes will be made.

Torts...listen, he's exclusively coached teams I dislike to mediocrity in a capped NHL. I wouldn't want him anywhere near anyone on my favorite team's roster, even the ones I want to punish. Sullivan is far from the worst coach in this league, he just needs a roster that fits his system and I really don't see that with the Rangers.

This both feels inevitable, and the worst possible landing spot for Sullivan's system.

In his time in NY, Torts was about effort, grit, and paying the price to win. If you slacked off, you would not hear the end of it. At his peak, he had guys like Girardi and Callahan sacrificing their body to make Lundqvist's job easy. You had the likes of Dubinsky, Brian Boyle and Brandon Prust playing specific roles and really bringing the effort. The short coming of that roster was just not enough high end talent to outplay the opposition. The likes of John Mitchell, Stu Bickel, and Mike Rupp represent a desert of depth. And after awhile, when there's nothing left to give, Torts message falls flat.

If he becomes the AC, it'll be interesting to see how he's deployed. When he is the VOICE, I think that's where he can be a real problem. I hope to see the version of Sullivan that knows how to adjust to other teams. That's what killed the Rangers vs LA that one cup finals.

 

[Fatass]

Incoming 35 million contract?

 

[BurntToast]

Honestly, it doesn’t make sense for the Rangers. Sully isn’t a magician. The only way this works, is with a roster overhaul.

This core’s coaching carousel is just baffling. They have had every style of coach and can’t win a cup. The Rangers are trying to get water from a stone.

Sully is willing to take the free cash. 1 season of work and then free money.

 

[Fatass]

Honestly, it doesn’t make sense for the Rangers. Sully isn’t a magician. The only way this works, is with a roster overhaul.

This core’s coaching carousel is just baffling. They have had every style of coach and can’t win a cup. The Ranger are trying to get water from a stone.

Sully is willing to take the free cash. 1 season of work and then free money.

Silly took an older Pens core to two Cups. The Rangers have an old core. Actually makes sense what the Rangers are doing. Rangers will likely win that division again.,

 

[BurntToast]

Silly took an older Pens core to two Cups. The Rangers have an old core. Actually makes sense what the Rangers are doing. Rangers will likely win that division again.,

Are you high? Your best players are north of 30. Crosby was under 30 and better than anyone on the Rangers.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Silly took an older Pens core to two Cups. The Rangers have an old core. Actually makes sense what the Rangers are doing. Rangers will likely win that division again.,

Geno was 30, Sid was 29, Kessel was 29, Guentzel was a rookie, etc. when the Penguins won that last Cup. That roster had a few old guys, but the core was still firmly in their primes.

 

[Hockey4Lyfe]

Silly took an older Pens core to two Cups. The Rangers have an old core. Actually makes sense what the Rangers are doing. Rangers will likely win that division again.,

Panarin is already past the age that Malkin and Crosby were when they won their two cups.

Oh and let’s not forget that Crosby and Malkin were light years better than anyone on the Rangers around that age.

This is a retread and has already been stated, Rangers do not have the horses to play his style.

It’s either Sully reinvents himself, the Rangers miraculously get cap space and can maneuver the cap/roster, or Sully gets ran out of town again within a couple years.

I would put money on him getting ran out of town looking at the Rangers roster that is in a much worse position than the Penguins were in 2018.

 

[Fatass]

Are you high? Your best players are north of 30. Crosby was under 30 and better than anyone on the Rangers.

“Your”?
I friggin’ hate the Rags. My post was from a non biased pov. The Rangers were Presidentvtrophy winners the previous season. Their core is still there, although older. Sully will be brought in (and paid a record amount for a coach) to squeeze out more juice from that old core. IMO he will do that for one season.

 

[Hockey4Lyfe]

“Your”?
I friggin’ hate the Rags. My post was from a non biased pov. The Rangers were Presidentvtrophy winners the previous season. Their core is still there, although older. Sully will be brought in (and paid a record amount for a coach) to squeeze out more juice from that old core. IMO he will do that for one season.

I would gladly bet against this but we will see.

 

[BurntToast]

“Your”?
I friggin’ hate the Rags. My post was from a non biased pov. The Rangers were Presidentvtrophy winners the previous season. Their core is still there, although older. Sully will be brought in (and paid a record amount for a coach) to squeeze out more juice from that old core. IMO he will do that for one season.

The main core is closer to 35 than 30 and Drury is a head-case. Without overhauling the roster, I can’t see them making the playoffs.

It’s not like their other coaches were bad.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

It’s either Sully reinvents himself, the Rangers miraculously get cap space and can maneuver the cap/roster, or Sully gets ran out of town again within a couple years.

I would put money on him getting ran out of town looking at the Rangers roster that is in a much worse position than the Penguins were in 2018.

The most frustrating thing about Sullivan is that he's entirely capable of reinventing himself and making damn near any style work. He just became overly-attached to a specific system after those Cups and refused to change it despite his roster aging out of it...for years on end.

If the Rangers get the coach the Penguins have had for these past ~6-7 years he's going to be hated by both fans & a sizable portion of the media. At least New York media is more likely to criticize him than Pittsburgh media was...though I'm sure Brooks will be eating out of his palm.

if the Rangers get the coach the Penguins had those B2B years then...the Rangers probably get back to the playoffs before being beaten by a younger and better roster. A lot of turnover is necessary to make this work. That happened for the Penguins, it'll just be quite a bit harder with the Rangers core being half a decade older than the Penguins core was and without a GM who does not give one solitary f*** what anyone thinks like the Pens had with Rutherford...and a hefty dose of luck given Rutherford's...uh...career.

 

[Fatass]

Rangers, with Sully, will have 110 points and be a favourite for the 2026 Cup. 35 million well spent.

 

[SharksFan1992]

One of the richest contracts for a coach in league history and yet he hasn't done shit in 7 seasons.

God i wish i could be an NHL coach. I could have two good seasons and make generational wealth without even doing anything for the next 20 years because god forbid you don't hire a retread.

How many coaches have 2 Stanley Cups since 2015? Did you expect him to win a championship every season?

 

[Big McLargehuge]

How many coaches have 2 Stanley Cups since 2015? Did you expect him to win a championship every season?

On the flip side Scotty Bowman is the only coach in the expansion era to win Cups with multiple teams.

Hell, Glen Sather was the last non-Bowman head coach to win more than 2 without allowing a sexual predator to prey and that was with the 80s Oilers.

Coaches are humans and they're going to default to what worked in the past...and what worked in the past rarely works in the present in this league. It's a copycat league, which both rarely works and renders winning formulas redundant quickly.

 

[Clark Kellogg]

Ice Hockey is a sport with no balls.
Chris Drury had Kris Knoblaugh in the organization and passed him over for Laviolette.
Drury has a lot in common with ice hockey.