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Penguins fire Mike Johnston, Mike Sullivan named new head coach

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Kimota said:
Congrats to the Pens on losing Johnston. The guy looked so confused out there. Like he was too old for this era. That JR did not see this when he hired him show how out-of-touch he was.

A 3-year deal for Sullivan? Feels like JR will go down with the ship with Sullivan.
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JR will be gone before that if the ship does indeed go down because his contract will expire and well you know... he's old.
 
MtlPenFan said:
This needs repeating over and over again:

Crosby and Malkin are the two reasons why the Pens haven't been a lotto team for a while now. They extended Bylsma and Shero's shelf life by at least 2 years if not more.
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Couldn't agree more. They should have been doing the old pump and dump, trading everyone who had been carried by Crosby and Malkin. Instead they hung onto them, guys like Kunitz and Dupuis, and signed them to $4M long term deals, while also trading away draft picks for short term playoff rentals when they weren't actually a legit contender. Brutal asset management.
 
Serious Question:

If Crosby and Malkin score in the shootout to win the game, is Johnston still fired?
 
If I was Burkle and Lemieux, I'd fire Rutherford the second he muttered firing the coach.

A) I can't believe Rutherford got another job after running the Canes into the ground after a lucky Cup run.

B) Instead of adding defense, a weakness, Rutherford added Fat Phil.

What a **** show in Pittsburgh. It has nothing to do with Johnston. It's just a poorly constructed roster -- 15-10-4 is about where they should be.
 
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The entire organization is a **** show right now. The new coach will be no different from the last, the GM sucks and his days in Carolina should have shown how out of touch he is with the current state of the game, and ownership is a bunch of hypocrites that whine to the league when things don't go their way.

The forwards are top-heavy (there wouldn't be "depth" if not for the amount of ELC or cheap 4th line contracts) the defense is non-existent, and the regular season stat machine goalie turns into a space cadet in the post season.

While Johnston clearly was not ready to be an NHL head coach (there wasn't a Penguins game that I watched and didn't say to myself "that guy looks overwhelmed"), I just don't envision things getting tremendously better over the next few years. This offseason in particular looks to be extra spicy, especially if the cap doesn't rise by much.
 
LetsGoIslanders said:
B) Instead of adding defense, a weakness, Rutherford added Fat Phil..
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In a cap world, no one is going to have a perfect roster. The Pens failed miserably in the playoffs with crap top-6 wingers but a very good defense in 13-14, so JR decided to focus on upgrading the top-6 wing group at the expense of D. Was it the right move? I wish he would have kept Niskanen, but there haven't been any moves that sacrificed D for F that he has made that I'd complain about. Trading for Kessel basically just swapped their weakness on wing to a weakness in D.

Bringing in Kessel wasn't the problem, acting like it was a problem is hilarious. The problem is JR is currently stuck with a couple bad contracts from the last regime and the Pens have very few tradeable assets to improve the D. Choosing to trade for Kessel instead of re-signing Martin is a complete non-issue. Now, signing Ehrhoff and letting Niskanen walk and trading Despres for Lovejoy, that's something you can argue were bad decisions with the defense.

DJENTLEMAN said:
the regular season stat machine goalie turns into a space cadet in the post season.
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2013 called, it wants its meme back.

Seriously, are people just this clueless or are they trying to get a rise out of people? Calling Fleury a playoff choke is about 3 years outdated.
 
Semantics said:
When was the last time Pens fans DID like a coach? They hated Therrien, they hated Bylsma, and they hated Johnston. I'm sure in a month we'll be hearing all about Sullivan's failings.
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Pretty true. I'm figuring, like you, in a month there will be a "Fire Sullivan" thread on the Pens board.
 
5th head coach for Kessel in 2015. Only Babcock was smart enough to lobby to trade him before he stepped on the ice.
 
That was a long time coming. I have no idea who the new coach is. I don't think he could do much worse of a job... so there's that. :dunno:
 
Good for Pens seems like the fans here were saying he was the problem so maybe this will help them

On a side note why all the hate for kessel ?? Kessel was not the one who orchestrated the deal with Boston or made Toronto Front Office accpetted it nor did he make Nonis and co give him his new deal.

While the Trade to the pens was meh looking from Toronto perspective although i liked the deal for leafs because the leafs were finally making a real attempt at a real rebuild, Kessel DID NOT GIVE HIMSELF A NO TRADE CLAUSE (LIMITED) OR THAT CAP HIT
 
When your GM questions your line-up changes in the media, it's only a matter of time and thank god it happened. Mike Johnston was advertised as a guy that was going to usher in an era where the Pens were fun to watch again, instead he took what Bylsma did and made up his own messed up version of it and then totally stunted the Penguins offense which boasts some serious offensive weapons. It takes an epic tool to do that, thanks for nothing Mike, enjoy the WHL once again.

I just hope Mike Sullivan isn't saying the right things because he's thrilled to be back in the NHL as a head coach. But the stuff he's done in WBS...I mean, I was pretty pumped to see that go down, the Baby Pens were not only a stifling team to play against, they also were able to score and boasted 3 guys in the top 15 for scoring in the AHL (one of them being a rookie as well).

I just hope now players will be used correctly. Maybe Plotnikov and Bennett really thrive under him, I hope Pouliot is called up as well and maybe this is finally the end of Scuderi as a regular.
 
i repeat - lol, sullivan.

don't understand the upgrade here. obviously johnston wasn't a good coach, but i don't think sullivan's an upgrade. yes, he's demanding and hard on players, but do you really want a torts understudy in this day and age?
 
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McPeen said:
i repeat - lol, sullivan.

don't understand the upgrade here. obviously johnston wasn't a good coach, but i don't think sullivan's an upgrade. yes, he's demanding and hard on players, but do you really want a torts understudy in this day and age?
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It all starts and ends with Rutherford. He should have been sent packing too.
 
LetsGoIslanders said:
If I was Burkle and Lemieux, I'd fire Rutherford the second he muttered firing the coach.

A) I can't believe Rutherford got another job after running the Canes into the ground after a lucky Cup run.

B) Instead of adding defense, a weakness, Rutherford added Fat Phil.

What a **** show in Pittsburgh. It has nothing to do with Johnston. It's just a poorly constructed roster -- 15-10-4 is about where they should be.
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Never figured out why the pens hired old JR... And not for nothing but every pens fan was on here after the kessel trade braging about what a great aquasition they just made... Hell I remember one poster saying that with Sid and kessel on the same line they wouldn't even need the other winger.... The pens fell in to the Sid and Geno trap, and forgot a supporting cast......
 
MtlPenFan said:
Ah yes. The easy way out. I appreciate my point being made for me. Much obliged.
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No you're actually proving the point of everyone who says any criticism of Crosby is met with excuses like "yeah but (x player)" when you divert to Ovechkin, Stamkos, Clark, or whoever. This topic has nothing at all to do with those players.

If you don't think Crosby is a "coach killer" (and I never said he was) then address that point with logic rather than pointing a finger in some diversionary direction, or attacking fans of other teams by searching their history for some player who's had a lot of coaches. If raw number of coaches proves nothing, then what are you proving with those deflections? That's right. Nothing.
 
LetsGoIslanders said:
If I was Burkle and Lemieux, I'd fire Rutherford the second he muttered firing the coach.

A) I can't believe Rutherford got another job after running the Canes into the ground after a lucky Cup run.

B) Instead of adding defense, a weakness, Rutherford added Fat Phil.

What a **** show in Pittsburgh. It has nothing to do with Johnston. It's just a poorly constructed roster -- 15-10-4 is about where they should be.
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To be fair he brought them to the finals in 2002, then sucked for two seasons before coming back to the finals. But I wouldn't call it "lucky" the Canes were a well-built an oiled machine that year.

As for the OP, i think Desjardins would've made a big difference on the Pens but they wanted to force his hand and wouldn't let him hire his own staff so they missed out big time.
 
Shawked said:
To be fair he brought them to the finals in 2002, then sucked for two seasons before coming back to the finals. But I wouldn't call it "lucky" the Canes were a well-built an oiled machine that year.

As for the OP, i think Desjardins would've made a big difference on the Pens but they wanted to force his hand and wouldn't let him hire his own staff so they missed out big time.
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The same Desjardins that Canucks fans want fired?
 
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