Confirmed with Link: Penguins and Mike Sullivan part ways

[Gurglesons]

It'll be interesting to see what the team does with a clean slate for next season. I'm annoyed that Dubas waited this long, but at least it's a positive step towards figuring out what to do with this team.

It’s going to be funny when they suddenly make the playoffs despite trying to tank.

 

[ChaosAgent]

yessssssssssssss

 

[TheGreenTBer]

It's kind of brilliant really

He either gets total control of the team, or they tell him to go home and he still gets paid.

Not a Rangers fan but if he coaches the Rangers that will be more than enough soap opera to keep him awake at nights IMO.

 

[HandshakeLine]

It’s going to be funny when they suddenly make the playoffs despite trying to tank.

"Who could have foreseen this miracle turnaround?" - half of HFPens.

 

[HandshakeLine]

My head canon is going to be that Mike Sullivan marched into KD's office and demanded that they strip Crosby of the C and give it to Rust.

He wanted to give it to Acciari, the Unsung Hero (tm).

 

[Icarium]

Damn, Johe actually managed to write an article about Sully's departure already. I thought he would be too busy crying himself to sleep.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I must be the only one not at all worried about having to face a Sullivan coached team.

This guy hasn't even tweaked his system in like a decade and has gone out of his way to make the worst lineups possible with what he has available to him every year for years straight. His entire strategy is to not care that the other team knows exactly what he's gonna do so that he can go ahead and just do it anyway. Yeah... I'll REALLY be shaking in my boots when he runs the same exact set play off the faceoff for the five bajillionth time that same game or when he tries shoving the puck up the wall for 60 minutes straight. That's gonna be a real conundrum.

 

[HandshakeLine]

He's going to get hired instantly and for more money than what his current deal is with the Penguins.

I'm not so sure, he's reportedly the second-most highly paid coach in the league.

 

[Jacob]

I don’t see what demands a coach can even make besides letting him pick his assistants which he’s already done. Sounds like BS.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Now we see what's possible with someone else behind the bench.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I don’t see what demands a coach can even make besides letting him pick his assistants which he’s already done. Sounds like BS.

If true, I assume it meant roster decisions. Don't really care any way but I think it would be funny if he came in hot demanding to go out and get some grinder or something.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Okay Jesse is backing up what Crowley said, not necessarily "I heard the same" but vouching for Crowley.

I figure the "demands" Sullivan made were things like "make moves to be better in the short term", while Dubas is content with just sucking next year and tanking for McKenna.

 

[ColePens]

Nobody likes to hear this for some reason and obviously it's a bit reductive but Mike Sullivan has had a pretty shit career outside of two seasons.

It's just that... those two season were QUITE the doozy lol

Yeah i find it VERY difficult to rate situations like this or even Matt Murray. They had 2-3 years of undeniable success and then their success was equally matched with double portion of TERRIBLE. If you asked me at the beginning of Sid's career would I take 3 Cups.. i'd scream YESSS and run away.

But it's so difficult to "rate" these scenarios. They are truly interesting to debate.

 

[Lustaf]

Election day here in Canada, my childhood best friends birthday and what possibly might be even bigger news to me? They let Sully go!!

It doesn't matter if they get worse, it's that there is hope again.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Yeah i find it VERY difficult to rate situations like this or even Matt Murray. They had 2-3 years of undeniable success and then their success was equally matched with double portion of TERRIBLE. If you asked me at the beginning of Sid's career would I take 3 Cups.. i'd scream YESSS and run away.

But it's so difficult to "rate" these scenarios. They are truly interesting to debate.

I mean I totally get why people would roll their eyes with the way I'm framing it... back to back Cups are back to back Cups after all... I don't really care HOW it happened it did.

But like... I'm not wrong?

 

[HandshakeLine]

I mean I totally get why people would roll their eyes with the way I'm framing it... back to back Cups are back to back Cups after all... I don't really care HOW it happened it did.

But like... I'm not wrong?

I think it's hard for people to wrap their heads around the fact that a coach can both be very successful and not a good coach, because coaches are framed as these sort of master tacticians directly responsible for their teams' successes. When in reality, I think, it's less about the coach and more about the team the GM has assembled.

Like Murray was a great goalie here not because he was a great goalie in isolation, but because he was in a system that supported him and that was fantastic while it lasted. When he went elsewhere where he didn't get that support, he was not so great.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

Everything is possible now! If they really want to go for McKenna, you can do so far more easily with everybody on the same page. If you want to reset and try for the playoffs, you can go for it far more easily now. And if Dubas wants to continue doing his improbable rebuild on the fly with a playoff appearance for the core, he can be a little more successful at that too!

My list of preferred coaching candidates:

Chris Lazary
Jay McKee
Jay Woodcroft
Jeff Halpern
Patrick Roy
Pascal Vincent


- I think Dubas should go to his OHL roots. Lazary has been described as an offensive innovator in Saginaw. Rough end to this season but he won a Memorial Cup playing that way. McKee is a very good junior coach and he actually played with our core back in the day.

- Woodcroft deserves another shot. And, he has experience coaching superstars.

- Halpern deserves a shot more than any other assistant coach in the league, imo. He oversees the league's best PP, imo.

- Roy may or may not return to the Isles. His resume with young players speaks for itself. Our roster is probably going to be more to his liking than the Islanders for the next few seasons.

- Vincent had a bad ending in CBJ, but he has quickly turned his career around by leading Laval to the AHL's best record.

 

[Son Goku]

CHRISTMAS EARLY

 

[Jag68Sid87]

I think it's hard for people to wrap their heads around the fact that a coach can both be very successful and not a good coach, because coaches are framed as these sort of master tacticians directly responsible for their teams' successes. When in reality, I think, it's less about the coach and more about the team the GM has assembled.

Like Murray was a great goalie here not because he was a great goalie in isolation, but because he was in a system that supported him and that was fantastic while it lasted. When he went elsewhere where he didn't get that support, he was not so great.

Right place, right time. The story of Mike Sullivan and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I hope this means an overhaul of WBS too. I know winning isn't a priority and all for the AHL but I'd like to see a complete reworking there too, if for nothing else than keeping things all on the same page.

 

[SEALBound]

Okay Jesse is backing up what Crowley said, not necessarily "I heard the same" but vouching for Crowley.

I figure the "demands" Sullivan made were things like "make moves to be better in the short term", while Dubas is content with just sucking next year and tanking for McKenna.

It's very believable because Mike Sullivan literally did the exact same thing last year when he demanded that his assistant coaches not be fired.

This is a guy who probably outgrew his britches in Pittsburgh. It was just time.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Right place, right time. The story of Mike Sullivan and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Yeah, and it's not really a bad thing-- those B2Bs are still B2Bs. But until I see a body of work with Sullivan that shows him exceeding expectations constantly, I'm going to stay firmly on my "not a great coach" take.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I think it's hard for people to wrap their heads around the fact that a coach can both be very successful and not a good coach, because coaches are framed as these sort of master tacticians directly responsible for their teams' successes. When in reality, I think, it's less about the coach and more about the team the GM has assembled.

Like Murray was a great goalie here not because he was a great goalie in isolation, but because he was in a system that supported him and that was fantastic while it lasted. When he went elsewhere where he didn't get that support, he was not so great.

I think that this team is doubly lucky to have the core they did. Not just because it won them everything multiple times over but were SO good that they were able to overcome years of what I see as mismanagement and... well I'll be gracious and just say "uneven" coaching. I'm not saying they could win with any old guy (nothing evidently can overcome the incompetence of Mike Johnston) but like... lets really get to the core of what has been winning stuff, here. Pun intended.

 

[Ugene Magic]

I think it's hard for people to wrap their heads around the fact that a coach can both be very successful and not a good coach, because coaches are framed as these sort of master tacticians directly responsible for their teams' successes. When in reality, I think, it's less about the coach and more about the team the GM has assembled.

Like Murray was a great goalie here not because he was a great goalie in isolation, but because he was in a system that supported him and that was fantastic while it lasted. When he went elsewhere where he didn't get that support, he was not so great.

This exactly, and as soon as 2017 went by things changed as fast as they built things.

 

[SEALBound]

I hope this means an overhaul of WBS too. I know winning isn't a priority and all for the AHL but I'd like to see a complete reworking there too, if for nothing else than keeping things all on the same page.

To be fair, WBS had one of their better years in recent history, no?

In WBS, it's personnel. We just haven't been able to provide them with much. I don't view the situations in Pit and WBS as the same.