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

[SomeDude]

I think if they got rid of Sully they'd be able to lure someone decent in. There's still a lot of coaches who would love to coach Sidney Crosby I'm sure.

I thought that idea died when Willie Effing Desjardins turned down the Pens for the Canucks.

 

[pistolpete11]

Shea kinda sucks so I don't care if he gets claimed (and he probably won't get claimed).

He's Ruhwedel, but he hasn't been around long enough for people to start hating him yet.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Shea is a good #7/AHL depth D but the Penguins have too many defensemen on the NHL roster. The bottom pair should be POJ-Ludvig and I think Ruhwedel as the #7 makes more sense based on him being a righty and a natural RD.

I like it all except for one problem. Sullivan signed a 3 year extension, which kicks in next season for $5.5MM a year. The owners need to be willing to eat $16.5MM or pray that someone would be willing to sign him to a contract right away.

I'd be shocked if Sullivan didn't get a job within 6 months of being fired here.

 

[DesertedPenguin]

Shea kinda sucks so I don't care if he gets claimed (and he probably won't get claimed).


I think if they got rid of Sully they'd be able to lure someone decent in. There's still a lot of coaches who would love to coach Sidney Crosby I'm sure.

But since Sully is here forever who cares I guess

Jeff Halpern or Marco Sturm. I'm going to keep beating the drum for them until Dubas hires one of them this spring.

 

[Empoleon8771]

He's Ruhwedel, but he hasn't been around long enough for people to start hating him yet.

I feel like most people wouldn't hate Ruhwedel as much if he wasn't playing as much as he has in recent years.

I think both Ruhwedel and Shea are nice pieces to have as the #7D, the issue is they shouldn't be playing everyday but they are.

 

[DesertedPenguin]

I'd be shocked if Sullivan didn't get a job within 6 DAYS of being fired here.

Fixed.

Here's what's going to happen. A few days after the season ends, Dubas will hold a press conference and say the Pens have parted ways with Sullivan and the staff. "I truly respect Sully as a coach and person. I still believe he's a good coach and wish him well. But after careful consideration, I believe this team needs a different voice and perspective behind the bench."

Sullivan licks his wounds for a few days, then someone offers him a boatload of cash. Maybe New Jersey, after it fires Lindy Ruff.

Unless he chooses to take a break for personal reasons, Sullivan will be behind an NHL bench at the start of next season.

Dubas, meanwhile, gets to hire a new coach and staff with some fresh ideas.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

Shea on waivers.

Actually shocked by this.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

I can see Tomlin because from what I have read is the Steelers owners are being cheap skates. I can't understand with us the Penguins though.

Tomlin earns 11M per year. Believe that's in the top 5 of head coaches

 

[Pancakes]

He's Ruhwedel, but he hasn't been around long enough for people to start hating him yet.

I think he's worse than Ruh. I can't think of him doing anything positive and I feel like Ruh at least on occasion will have a solid third pair style game. Or in the past Ruh did. He kinda sucks now too because as with everything else the Pens have held onto him way past the point of him being good.

 

[DesertedPenguin]

I bet Ruhwedel is in tonight and Ludvig is on the left side with POJ scratched.

They're unhappy with the PK, which has struggled with all of the injuries. Ruhwedel PKs. POJ doesn't (at least, not well).

If he's used primarily on the PK and limited at 5-on-5, Ruhwedel is fine. When his minutes increase, he gets exposed.

 

[SomeDude]

All 3 coaches from the b2b Cups are now currently NHL head coaches. Somehow I feel like we’re holding the short end of the stick.

 

[SEALBound]

99% of this team's problems could be avoided by being realistic about the lineup and tailoring the system to their actual abilities.

I'm not being argumentative, by any means, but what does this mean really? What are the abilities that we "have" and what system should be put in place to help that? We ran a super aggressive forecheck but turns out...we don't have the young legs or ability. So they went more NZ trappish and it seemed to work. Now, sure EK is an offensive dynamo but it's not like that NZ support system was stifling him one bit. The biggest impact he could have anyway is on the PP and he's...not doing that.

For the mere sake of discussion, expand if you could.

You missed the joke. Also, we signed Rodrigues the summer we signed McGinn...

To be fair...imagine having McCann, ERod, and Tanev on the roster right now over Carter, Acciari, Nieto, even Eller .

One interesting thing that we could be doing right now is running Malkin at 1RW and using ERod or McCann as the 2C.

Jake-Sid-Malkin
Rakell-McCann-Rust

I've long said we need to be grooming the future 2C of this team and let Malkin run his twilight years on Sid's wing.

 

[molon labe]

I like it all except for one problem. Sullivan signed a 3 year extension, which kicks in next season for $5.5MM a year. The owners need to be willing to eat $16.5MM or pray that someone would be willing to sign him to a contract right away.

The owners have already ate that - and are on track to eat exponentially more with the trajectory of this dumpster fire under coach Sullivan.

16M is pennies in the long run. In the short run - that's our first round of the playoffs we aren't sniffing. Really, we're competing with Columbus' and Chicago's of the NHL at the moment for how bad we are.

 

[SEALBound]

Fixed.

Here's what's going to happen. A few days after the season ends, Dubas will hold a press conference and say the Pens have parted ways with Sullivan and the staff. "I truly respect Sully as a coach and person. I still believe he's a good coach and wish him well. But after careful consideration, I believe this team needs a different voice and perspective behind the bench."

Sullivan licks his wounds for a few days, then someone offers him a boatload of cash. Maybe New Jersey, after it fires Lindy Ruff.

Unless he chooses to take a break for personal reasons, Sullivan will be behind an NHL bench at the start of next season.

Dubas, meanwhile, gets to hire a new coach and staff with some fresh ideas.

I don't worry about Sullivan if we let him go. There will be way too much interest for him to just hang out.

That said, I HOPE that Dubas takes the direction of searching for someone new. My biggest fear is that they let Sullivan go and give the reigns to Reirden believing that will magically change something. They need a complete coaching overhaul. Even if that means bringing up Forrest temporarily.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I'd be shocked if Sullivan didn't get a job within 6 months of being fired here.

I hope so, so that everyone will finally see he's not this fantastic coach people make him out to be.

Looking forward to Bylsma 2.0 getting canned from his next gig after about a year and a half of underachieving.

 

[DesertedPenguin]

I don't worry about Sullivan if we let him go. There will be way too much interest for him to just hang out.

That said, I HOPE that Dubas takes the direction of searching for someone new. My biggest fear is that they let Sullivan go and give the reigns to Reirden believing that will magically change something. They need a complete coaching overhaul. Even if that means bringing up Forrest temporarily.

That is why I have been such a strong advocate for not making a midseason change. I don't want anyone in the organization taking over if they fire Sullivan. Reirden, Vellucci and Forrest all suck.

 

[SEALBound]

That is why I have been such a strong advocate for not making a midseason change. I don't want anyone in the organization taking over if they fire Sullivan. Reirden, Vellucci and Forrest all suck.

If push comes to shove, I would be okay canning Sullivan, promoting Forrest, and demoting one (or both) of Reirden and Vellucci to WBS to replace Forrest. Then ideally, you can snag an available assistant.

More and more, I want them to see some assets and retool a bit as a last attempt. I think you have to get the rental value from Jake and intend on signing him July 1st. I would offer Carter the out as well. Then who knows who might need what and who wants to do some good ol fashion horse trading with a guy like POJ.

We are #20 in the league. It's literally the worst overall outcome to end there while keeping everyone.

 

[Dennis Reynolds]

Wild fire their coach. Sens fire their coach. Blues fire their coach. Oilers fire their coach.

We suck too! When is it our turn?

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Wild fire their coach. Sens fire their coach. Blues fire their coach. Oilers fire their coach.

We suck too! When is it our turn?

Give it another five or so years, I'm guessing.

 

[Sorry]

Jeff Halpern or Marco Sturm. I'm going to keep beating the drum for them until Dubas hires one of them this spring.

That would be great. I hated him on the Caps because he was just such a solid player.

 

[SomeDude]

Wild fire their coach. Sens fire their coach. Blues fire their coach. Oilers fire their coach.

We suck too! When is it our turn?

Gotta admire the sticktoitiveness in holding onto a coach so passed his expiration that the health department should be condemning PPG Paints.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

They can't clean house this year because the interims would suck and there just aren't any good candidates.

They can't clean house next year because the interims would suck and there just aren't any good candidates.

They can't clean house the year after THAT because the interims would suck and there just aren't any good candidates.

And they CERTAINLY can't clean house the year after that because...

 

[SomeDude]

They can't clean house this year because the interims would suck and there just aren't any good candidates.

They can't clean house next year because the interims would suck and there just aren't any good candidates.

They can't clean house the year after THAT because the interims would suck and there just aren't any good candidates.

And they CERTAINLY can't clean house the year after that because...

Mike Sullivan is holding the seat while he trains his replacement Chad Ruhwedel to take over in 2037.

 

[The Old Master]

I've long said we need to be grooming the future 2C of this team and let Malkin run his twilight years on Sid's wing.

love the thought, but sid with geno is not the best match-up. i think we need to keep them separate. and we might have a guy that would be a great fit for geno comming up if he can add some strength
edit; i may be looking at this wrong. it might be better for yager to just become a better skater so what they can't catch they can't hit.

 

[DesertedPenguin]

That would be great. I hated him on the Caps because he was just such a solid player.

He's in charge of Tampa's power play, which is routinely one of the best in the league. Yes, he's had great talent to work with, but that'd be the case here. Tampa's power play is at 30.1% right now and it is probably keeping them afloat considering how much they've been bleeding goals against this year.

Sturm is rumored to be sort of a coach-in-waiting to replace McLellan in LA. But I love the fact that he coached Germany to the silver medal in the Olympics, has been part of LA's rebuild, and he's done well with their AHL squad.