The Rise And Fall Of Mike Sullivan...

[HockeyVirus]

What happens first, the Leafs win the cup or Sullivan gets fired by the Penguins?

 

[TooManyHumans]

What happens first, the Leafs win the cup or Sullivan gets fired by the Penguins?

Trick question. Neither happens as first comes the heat death of the universe.

 

[ColbyChaos]

What happens first, the Leafs win the cup or Sullivan gets fired by the Penguins?

Easy Sullivan. The guy has to die of old age at some point

 

[PaulD]

Sullivan is the same coach who won two cups. The club’s core is old and stale. They needed to rebuild two years ago. Sullivan isn’t the problem in Pittsburgh; the GM (certainly directed by ownership) is the problem. They are in a very bad situation. And it’s not Sullivan’s fault.

They weren't old 7 years ago when Sullivan's won his last play off round.
They have sucked for a long time. Since 2018 Sullivan gets fresh new forwards and D from around the league every summer. He gets the same shitty results. Out in first round 19,20,21,22, miss play offs 23, 24, 25. Play the same way no matter who the GM is and no matter who these GMs acquire for him.
Players come in and have their worst seasons. Karlsson, Rielly Smith, Petry, Rackel, Grandlund, Eller, Etc. Players leave and flourish McCann, Matheson, Tanev, Rodriguez etc.
Last time Sullivan won a round Sid was 30. Letang same. Malkin 31. Rust and Guentzal mid 20s. Sullivan was losing long before the core got old.
He was a fortuitous assenger on the two cup winning teams. The longer he stayed, the worse the team played.
If they had a trophy for best hockey politician....Sullivan and Shanahan would own the hardware by now.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Easy Sullivan. The guy has to die of old age at some point

They'll probably just prop him up behind the bench anyway

 

[surixon]

To me it looks like he's lost the room. I see a team no longer playing for him. Weather you believe they have the roster to compete or not once you mo longer have the room the coach needs to go.

 

[Fatass]

Thet weren't too old 7 years ago when Sullivan's won his last play off round.
They have sucked for a long time. Since 2018 Sullivan gets fresh new forwards and D from around the league every summer. He gets the same shitty results. Out in first round 19,20,21,22, miss play offs 23, 24, 25. Play the same way no matter who the GM is and no matter who these GMs acquire for him.
Players come in and have their worst seasons. Karlsson, Rielly Smith, Petry, Rackel, Grandlund, Eller, Etc. Players leave and flourish McCann, Matheson, Tanev, Rodriguez etc.
Last time Sullivan won a round Sid was 30. Letang same. Malkin 31. Rust and Guentzal mid 20s. Sullivan was losing long before the core got old.
He was a fortuitous assenger on the two cup winning teams. The longer he stayed, the worse the team played.
If they had a trophy for best hockey politician....Sullivan and Shanahan would own the hardware by now.

Sullivan coached two Cup winners. Not too sure what Shanahan has won in management to be spoken in the same breath with Sullivan.
The Pens are old, and stale. Dubas should have told the owners the club needed to rebuild during his job interview. Now they’re in for a lot of painful years.

 

[PaulD]

Sullivan coached two Cup winners. Not too sure what Shanahan has won in management to be spoken in the same breath with Sullivan.
The Pens are old, and stale. Dubas should have told the owners the club needed to rebuild during his job interview. Now they’re in for a lot of painful years.

The comparison was they are both good hockey politicians.

 

[Fatass]

The comparison was they are both good hockey politicians.

Sullivan has two Cups, so he’s actually proven he can win. Shanahan has done nothing as a manager.

 

[Bowski]

Watch him get fired then get hired by the Bruins and they make the playoffs again.

That roster SUCKS like give the dude some credit he got them to the playoffs last year lol.

In your NHL 24 career campaign or something?

No playoffs for two years and running. He hasn't got them anywhere significant since 2018.

 

[BallardEra]

Time to have that hard talk about the woeful Penguins and Sidney Crosby's future

Things were looking grim in Steeltown even before the weekend, when the Pens lost two home games by a combined score of 10-1. Pittsburgh has now lost a league-high nine games by three-plus goals and its minus-34 goal differential is the worst in the league by seven goals.

www.sportsnet.ca

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Time to have that hard talk about the woeful Penguins and Sidney Crosby's future

Things were looking grim in Steeltown even before the weekend, when the Pens lost two home games by a combined score of 10-1. Pittsburgh has now lost a league-high nine games by three-plus goals and its minus-34 goal differential is the worst in the league by seven goals.

www.sportsnet.ca

Lol Sportsnet “journalism” offering nothing of value as per usual…

 

[SEALBound]

Lol Sportsnet “journalism” offering nothing of value as per usual…

It wasn't that bad. It posed an interesting question - the Penguins go full-on into the gutter and get the 1ov pick and get Hagen, is that enough to turn things around for Sid's last two years. And the answer is no. Hagens isn't THAT good. To be "back on their feet" requires a revamp of their defense as well. They MIGHT be able to pull off a decent forward group and they likely have the goalies but at the end of the day, Sid and Geno are old as are their other primary complementary pieces like Rakell and Rust. More over, Sullivan is the single biggest roadblock to any future success.

MAYBE if they get Hagen and fire Sullivan, it might be possible to sneak into the playoffs if they get the right coach. What they really need is to suck the next year too and get McKenna. Hagen+McKenna as your new 1-2C could make Sid's last year fun.

 

[Toby91ca]

Easy Sullivan. The guy has to die of old age at some point

Yes....he'd have to stop coaching because he's no longer alive to do so.....but did he get "fired"?

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

It wasn't that bad. It posed an interesting question - the Penguins go full-on into the gutter and get the 1ov pick and get Hagen, is that enough to turn things around for Sid's last two years. And the answer is no. Hagens isn't THAT good. To be "back on their feet" requires a revamp of their defense as well. They MIGHT be able to pull off a decent forward group and they likely have the goalies but at the end of the day, Sid and Geno are old as are their other primary complementary pieces like Rakell and Rust. More over, Sullivan is the single biggest roadblock to any future success.

MAYBE if they get Hagen and fire Sullivan, it might be possible to sneak into the playoffs if they get the right coach. What they really need is to suck the next year too and get McKenna. Hagen+McKenna as your new 1-2C could make Sid's last year fun.

I doubt we’ll actually pick 1st overall twice in a row.

If we even luck out and pick 1st overall once to begin with…

*shrug*

 

[Stephen]

Has anyone in Penguins land considered the possibility that scapegoating Mike Sullivan may prolong his employment as coach? If the fanbase is laser focused on Sullivan as the cause of most or all of the Pens problems, it takes the heat off Dubas and by extension Fenway. Firing remains an imminent possibility. Everybody is safe.

 

[molon labe]

Has anyone in Penguins land considered the possibility that scapegoating Mike Sullivan may prolong his employment as coach? If the fanbase is laser focused on Sullivan as the cause of most or all of the Pens problems, it takes the heat off Dubas and by extension Fenway. Firing remains an imminent possibility. Everybody is safe.

I don't think this ownership group gives a flying F about what fans think or feel. I think the Penguins are so low on their portfolio that it would take negative press or something for them to stick an intern on the team for more than an hour.

Goalies have provided excuses for Sullivan just as has Sullivan provided excuses for Dubas. In the end - the entire organization has sucked for a while now. Running back the same product under several GMs all while the old stale coach remains because he's best friends with Sid or the owners or somethin.

 

[Stephen]

I don't think this ownership group gives a flying F about what fans think or feel. I think the Penguins are so low on their portfolio that it would take negative press or something for them to stick an intern on the team for more than an hour.

Goalies have provided excuses for Sullivan just as has Sullivan provided excuses for Dubas. In the end - the entire organization has sucked for a while now. Running back the same product under several GMs all while the old stale coach remains because he's best friends with Sid or the owners or somethin.

My take on the big picture and what’s likely to happen to Pittsburgh is their 20-25 year cycle of feast and famine and feast will play out once again. The Crosby-Dubas-Sullivan era is going to take its natural course, the team will regenerate through the draft and in a handful of years you won’t have the Crosby legacy, the Dubas president, GM thing and Sullivan will be long gone too.

 

[molon labe]

My take on the big picture and what’s likely to happen to Pittsburgh is their 20-25 year cycle of feast and famine and feast will play out once again. The Crosby-Dubas-Sullivan era is going to take its natural course, the team will regenerate through the draft and in a handful of years you won’t have the Crosby legacy, the Dubas president, GM thing and Sullivan will be long gone too.

That's very likely. Sullivan has steadily run this team into no mans land with his roster obsessions. So we're likely, maybe guaranteed, to miss the playoffs again this year - and Sid isn't miraculously getting better with age. His consistency (and Geno's, for that matter) is not enough to carry the team- so it doesn't matter at this point if he plays to 45 - we're going to continue missing the playoffs under a Sullivan-led coalition which should mean a bunch of high first round picks.

What that ends up meaning is anyone's guess. Plenty of duds come out of the first round. We've also not been the prime target of free agents. Is what it is. Just tough to watch suicide by bizarre, bad decisions unfold rather than genuine efforts towards positivity.

 

[PAZ]

Anyone know if Crosby advocates for Sullivan? Because that's the only plausible explanation at this point.

 

[Pancakes]

It wasn't that bad. It posed an interesting question - the Penguins go full-on into the gutter and get the 1ov pick and get Hagen, is that enough to turn things around for Sid's last two years. And the answer is no. Hagens isn't THAT good. To be "back on their feet" requires a revamp of their defense as well. They MIGHT be able to pull off a decent forward group and they likely have the goalies but at the end of the day, Sid and Geno are old as are their other primary complementary pieces like Rakell and Rust. More over, Sullivan is the single biggest roadblock to any future success.

MAYBE if they get Hagen and fire Sullivan, it might be possible to sneak into the playoffs if they get the right coach. What they really need is to suck the next year too and get McKenna. Hagen+McKenna as your new 1-2C could make Sid's last year fun.

Maybe if they got Hagens or Martone and those players had an immediate impact next year *and* Dubas landed a big fish in fa like Marner or something. And made a few other decent moves to address the d.

So....possible? Yeah. 99 percent unlikely? Also yeah

 

[BallardEra]

Anyone know if Crosby advocates for Sullivan? Because that's the only plausible explanation at this point.

Word was that Sid and the gang (Malkin and Letang) wanted Sullivan back for one last dance if they were to sign and stay like they did a couple of years ago.

 

[SEALBound]

Maybe if they got Hagens or Martone and those players had an immediate impact next year *and* Dubas landed a big fish in fa like Marner or something. And made a few other decent moves to address the d.

So....possible? Yeah. 99 percent unlikely? Also yeah

100% which is why I want to respond to guys like Dixon at Sportsnet and we like "hey man, the party is over for Sid in terms of Cups. He's working on legacy milestones now and prepping the next gen of Pens".

 

[Stephen]

That's very likely. Sullivan has steadily run this team into no mans land with his roster obsessions. So we're likely, maybe guaranteed, to miss the playoffs again this year - and Sid isn't miraculously getting better with age. His consistency (and Geno's, for that matter) is not enough to carry the team- so it doesn't matter at this point if he plays to 45 - we're going to continue missing the playoffs under a Sullivan-led coalition which should mean a bunch of high first round picks.

What that ends up meaning is anyone's guess. Plenty of duds come out of the first round. We've also not been the prime target of free agents. Is what it is. Just tough to watch suicide by bizarre, bad decisions unfold rather than genuine efforts towards positivity.

Championship teams take a long time to decay. Pittsburgh is kind of where late stage Ken Holland was in Detroit.

 

[Ignatius]

I don't think this ownership group gives a flying F about what fans think or feel. I think the Penguins are so low on their portfolio that it would take negative press or something for them to stick an intern on the team for more than an hour.

Goalies have provided excuses for Sullivan just as has Sullivan provided excuses for Dubas. In the end - the entire organization has sucked for a while now. Running back the same product under several GMs all while the old stale coach remains because he's best friends with Sid or the owners or somethin.

During the post-Cup Bylsma years Pittsburgh fans ate a lot of slop, that they feasted on nonetheless. The secret is...
...just keep feeding it to them. They will keep eating it and buying tickets, and merch, and remembering the good old days. If they start complaining, here's another disgusting helping of slop that you're going to chow down on boys and girls!