Speculation: Penguins off day talk thread: Yes, Sully is still the coach

[Big Friggin Dummy]

It's hilarious, but like HSL pointed out, all we heard was how hardline FSG was. Results are the only metric. Cold, emotionless, driven by data and not afraid to cut bait with someone if they're not helping produce wins.

Then they immediately fell head over heels in love with Sullivan the loser, handed him an absurd extension before his current deal was even up--following his FOURTH consecutive 1st round exit. The encore to that little embarrassment was fawning over Dubas so hard they immediately abandoned two weeks of interviews and multiple candidates to throw a seven year deal at the dude with a Brinks truck full of money to boot.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Dubas makes a ton of sense for the rebuild. He knows draft and development as well as any other GM, with all his AHL experience. He cares about it more than anyone else, and he's also very young for a GM. He can last the long term.
I still love the hire, because it targets our actual needs.

Even if they hired Tulsky and whoever else was available last summer, they don't win another Cup with Sid. There were too many obstacles with how much damage Hex did.
What matters is what comes next now.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Hex isn't even the real source of the damage. It's Sullivan. Hextall catered more to Sullivan than JR did.

I'm still withholding judgement on Dubas, but I'll confess Kyle Calculations isn't really impressing me very much, outside of the Karlsson trade, his savvy in negotiating a 7 year deal as PoHO, and hiring himself as GM. As a Central European, I'm very impressed by such amazing chutzpah and self-promotion, it's almost Austrian.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

It's all three, imo. Sullivan, JR, and Hextall. None can be brushed off for what they've done to this team. JR's last several years were like if you put someone who had zero knowledge of hockey in charge of GMing. Hextall took the baton JR left in his wake and ran with it. Then Sullivan's been getting more and more stagnant and spitefully stubborn in his ways since 2018.

They're all dogshit and should be raked over coals for the effect they've had on the franchise over the past six years, imo.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Also still lolling at the idea an MBA has to figure out the game of hockey and they could only find one person who understood that game and had an MBA in Boston of all places.

Someone should tell Harvard to get a hockey team or something.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

It's cool that the end of the era has just caused an ever-increasing amount of dislike for the organization. Multiple ownerships, multiple FO regimes, the coaching staff. Just unlikable dorks who love the smell of their own shit too much to realize, let alone accept, that sweeping changes have been needed for years. Nope, just a series of unfortunate events.

 

[Pancakes]

It's cool that the end of the era has just caused an ever-increasing amount of dislike for the organization. Multiple ownerships, multiple FO regimes, the coaching staff. Just unlikable dorks who love the smell of their own shit too much to realize, let alone accept, that sweeping changes have been needed for years. Nope, just a series of unfortunate events.

I agree for the most part but imo the organization did do right by bringing back Geno and Letang. I'll always believe that even knowing what it has lead to.

They should have evicted Sully by now though and certainly I would have made many different FA moves than what they have done the past few years.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

I agree for the most part but imo the organization did do right by bringing back Geno and Letang. I'll always believe that even knowing what it has lead to.

They should have evicted Sully by now though and certainly I would have made many different FA moves than what they have done the past few years.

I'm never gonna be mad about the three being allowed to retire as Penguins (maybe--probably ). To be brutally honest, I haven't really cared enough to get overly emotional one direction or another about this team for years.

When Mario shrugged following the Habs play-in, with JR was multiple years into rudderless slinging shit at the wall GMing and Sully was already showing he wasn't the coaching genius people anointed him as being after the back to backs, I just kinda realized the era was more than likely over and due for a slow, boring death.

Shouldn't have been this boring though. This shit has sucked ass for years, and the reason I genuinely don't think nuking things and going for bottom-feeder rebuild sooner than later would make a difference in the product as a fan. They're already losers after what JR, Hextall and Sully have done.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Responsibility for boring play falls at the feet of the coach IMO. It’s his system.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Responsibility for boring play falls at the feet of the coach IMO. It’s his system.

Agree. But this team's adored it's boring, "swiss army knife" players for years too. The blame for that, I assume, also falls at Sullivan's feet.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Agree. But this team's adored it's boring, "swiss army knife" players for years too. The blame for that, I assume, also falls at Sullivan's feet.

And probably Sid to a degree. Everyone is still trying to find Kunitz Crosby Dupuis 2.0.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

And probably Sid to a degree. Everyone is still trying to find Kunitz Crosby Dupuis 2.0.

Oh definitely. Sid's psychotic when it comes to who "fits" on his line. Hornqvist was tailormade for Sid's game, particularly with a shooter on the other wing, but the dude skated like he was waist deep in peanut butter and couldn't do f*** all with the puck on his stick so it was a nonstarter.

 

[Andy99]

I guess we’re doubling down on stupid
#Sullivan

 

[Invalid cuz QoC]

I guess we’re doubling down on stupid
#Sullivan

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Wonder if they play L2 closer to L3 minutes?

 

[HandshakeLine]

Got my head coaching degree right here, bozos.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Team needs Ongo in the FO. Just nuke the coaching staff and rip right through the roster.

 

[Invalid cuz QoC]

Team needs Ongo in the FO. Just nuke the coaching staff and rip right through the roster.

This is me looking at the lineup choices every night for years.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

This is me looking at the lineup choices every night for years.

Same, bud. Same.

 

[BusinessGoose]

Imagine you DIDN'T know this was the pens, but instead another team coming into town

Would this lineup scare you?

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Sick, this team's got a 1st line, a 3rd line, and two 5th lines.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I'm sure Rakell will do 5M-worth of little things to make that third line great.

And c'mon... ya'll missed GCR! It's practically an institution! You mean other teams don't keep the same line together with little to no changes for like two decades or whatever? Well that's dumb.

 

[Dennis Reynolds]

Say "f*** you, Geno" without actually saying it.

 

[SomeDude]

So, there’s 0 percent chance Sully doesn’t make Dubas claim Bonino, right?

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

So, there’s 0 percent chance Sully doesn’t make Dubas claim Bonino, right?

I can just imagine Sullivan forlornly watching the waiver wire every day before sighing deeply and sadly shuffling back to his desk to work on... uh... whatever it is he's supposed to be working on.

...until today.