The Rise And Fall Of Mike Sullivan...

[DitchMarner]

Years ago (circa 2016, 2017), he was viewed as one of the better coaches in the NHL. He was praised and brought up in Coach of the Year conversations...

Now he's seen as a relic and possible politician. Many Penguins fans want him to be relieved of his duties.

I think it's quite obvious that his expiry date has passed... but what happened exactly?

Did his message become stale over time? Perhaps he couldn't adapt to a faster, higher scoring League? That would be ironic since he was credited with spearheading Pittsburgh's turnaround in the playoffs by having the team play a fast style that other teams had trouble against in the mid to late 2010s.

Maybe he simply isn't good enough to coach an aging and declining team to success. Are there that many coaches who would do better in his position?

Click to read more...

 

[PeE eL DuBoiS]

He rose and he fell. All glory is fleeting.

 

[LevelingSolo]

Every coach has a shelf life unless your Jon Cooper

 

[centipede2233]

Every coach has a shelf life unless your Jon Cooper

Agreed. In coopers defence, Tampa lost a lot of good depth players recently which has led to back to back 1st rd exits.

 

[BertCorbeau]

You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain

 

[Michael Farkas]

he was viewed as one of the better coaches in the NHL

He still is.

 

[crab]

The Penguins roster is awful. Its much easier to blame the coach then numerous players.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

He’s a good coach, Pens roster is kind of trash outside of a couple of geezers

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

He hasn’t fallen yet as he’s still (moronically) behind the bench.

I doubt FSG gives a shit though.

 

[BillyOcean]

Hes already past the "Krusty, why now? Why not 20 years ago?"

 

[Honour Over Glory]

He was great for two years when Tocchet was there to challenge things. The moment he was left to his own voice and no personality strong enough to question him, the Penguins downfall was pretty evident the year after the second cup. It's when all of the issues that we're seeing now, started.

2017-18 to now is entirely Sullivan and his system.
2015-2017 was a carry over of a tiny bit of Bylsma and Mike and then a lot of co-coaching with Tocchet. In 2017-18 is when he started to implement more of his system with Recchi as his Assistant and Gonchar.

That's when the bizarre usage, the biases, the petty behavior towards players and other shit started and hasn't stopped and the two cups have basically given him all the clout needed to get the benefit of the doubt and heaps of praise because he is great at formulating "complete sentences" or whatever these players think.

Sure the Penguins were somewhat competitive after the two cups but it wasn't long and the issues were mounting and his awful usage, arguments with certain players, etc caused a lot of bad trades and then trades for players he wanted or signed and used poorly only to have the GM give up more assets to move after his idea of how they should be used, tanked them.

2017-now is more of what Sullivan is as a coach.
2015-17 - is more Sullivan/Tocchet as a duo and using a lot of the previous 2 coach's combined changes.

He hasn’t fallen yet as he’s still (moronically) behind the bench.

I doubt FSG gives a shit though.

His elite ability to speak in complete sentences has them hypnotized.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

His elite ability to speak in complete sentences has them hypnotized.

I’m not surprised.

We’re run by a bunch of trust fund twats.

I bet the only “on ice adversity” they’ve ever faced is when their convertibles get too cold to drive in the winter.

Stupid wankers.

 

[Breakers]

Hearing some penguins fan talk about him

He sounds like the most stubborn coach in history

I’d still that title to that idiot Travis green, but he sounds like he is in the conversation.

 

[LPHabsFan]

This thread should be merged with the other one about the Penguins act getting old.

I feel like every year for the past 4 - 6 years we hear Pens fans complain about Sullivan and how he should get fired right up until Christmas/New Years and then we don't hear anything the rest of the way.

That's why it should be merged because it's the same thing. Team sucks and fans want coach out and then part way through the year things turn around.

Until they don't.

 

[The Hockey Tonk Man]

If he gets fired, he’d have a job the next day

Gotta think shelf life has long expired

 

[SimpleJack]

I put much more blame on their front office for the current state/quality of the team.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

This thread should be merged with the other one about the Penguins act getting old.

I feel like every year for the past 4 - 6 years we hear Pens fans complain about Sullivan and how he should get fired right up until Christmas/New Years and then we don't hear anything the rest of the way.

That's why it should be merged because it's the same thing. Team sucks and fans want coach out and then part way through the year things turn around.

Until they don't.

Yeah that's just incorrect. If you don't want to talk about the topic then don't.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I put much more blame on their front office for the current state/quality of the team.

FSG loves Sullivan and Sullivan actually went over the Gm's head to get his extension with them. So it's less so a problem with head office like say Dubas, than it actually is with the ownership more than likely telling them to figure out a different way without firing Sullivan.

With that said, FSG is like every other owner in sports, greedy. The Pens dropping in attendance for another year and being awful is too hard to ignore and losing money isn't something they like Sullivan enough to ignore.

 

[NVious]

He's just getting started, he has only had a bit of time with this group, they need more experience. Sid, Geno, Tanger and EK at 50 should hit their prime, so after a decade+ the Pens should be able to decide how good of a coach he is (still a small sample size so far).