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The Rise And Fall Of Mike Sullivan...

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benfranklin said:
Sounds like Sabres fans blaming coaches over and over. Eventually you blame the GMs who assembled the team, poorly.
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Except Buffalo has been on about 5 or 6 head coaches since Sullivan was hired by Pittsburgh. Sullivan is the same head coach that was there when they last won the cup.

I assume you're a Vegas fan, Pittsburgh has had the same head coach since before Vegas was even a team and Marc-Andre Fleury was still a goalie there. Vegas has had 3 head coaches since then and has missed the playoffs only one year and reaches at least the conference finals every other year.

If not for those back to back cups he would have been fired after last season. Some GM's may have even fired him after 2022-2023 on the first playoff miss, just because they had zero playoff success in the 3 seasons they made it before that miss. They even embarrassingly got swept (I think it was a sweep?) out of the playoffs by Montreal in the play-in round in the bubble.

I agree they're old, bad and the GM is a worthless clown who only gets jobs because of how young he was when he broke in. But at this point they should have at least mercy fired Sullivan. He'll get a job immediately after this and the Pens likely won't have to pay a penny of his salary. The Rangers will fire Lavi and hire him this offseason. Unless the Pens hold him hostage another year.
 
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"You can't expect Sullivan to win with that dogshit roster he has!"

If he wins, he's a genius; if he loses, it's somebody else's fault.

Mike Sullivan, just like that other un-fireable head coaching moron in Pittsburgh sports, has tremendous say in the composition of his roster.

Kyle Dubas may be an overrated stooge, but he did not ALL BY HIMSELF decide to load up this roster with the likes of Matt Nieto, Noel Acciari, Ryan Graves, Cody Glass, Kevin Hayes and our top-2 LDs (how sad is that) Matt Gryzelyk and the immortal Pierre-Olivier Joseph (combined totals: 1 goal, -29 in 83 games though at least Gryz can QB a power play and get some assists).

What I want for Christmas this year is what Mike Sullivan has: a Get Out Of Jail Free card that is good forever, based on some success that my employees had 8 years ago.
 
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benfranklin said:
Sounds like Sabres fans blaming coaches over and over. Eventually you blame the GMs who assembled the team, poorly.
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You realize Sullivan has been here for 3 GM’s, several roster turnovers, and 3 or 4 of his entire coaching staff getting replaced.

But yea, he’s not part of the problem. It takes a brilliant tactician to play Kevin Hayes on PP1 above Malkin.
 
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dalewood12 said:
Two things can be true:

Sully has lost the room and it's time for him to go.

He will be top of the list of coaches if/when he becomes available.
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The roster is atrocious for sure, but he's not doing them any favors. Literally nobody benefits from him staying, not him, not the team and definitely not the future of the organization. Unless he is a literal tank commander, as in his coaching has gotten so bad the Pens believe he gives them the best chance to lose/tank.
 
randywoodsghost said:
Wow, I can’t believe the Pens brass hasn’t figured it out yet that it is Sullivan that is holding back that juggernaut of a roster.
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I saw them play against the Leafs today, and yes, they suck.

But I also don't understand what they're trying to do. People have said they're rebuilding without officially stating they are, but then shouldn't they be playing young guys and developing for the future and getting rid of useless plugs?

It seems they thought they could make the playoffs this year and that was the goal. When you hear players like Crosby talk, they seem to talk like they're serious about trying to make the playoffs.

But then you look at the results and the reality of the situation and it seems like the organization is in denial and not willing to do what is needed to make the team better going forward.

I'm sure they'll sell some pieces this week. After that, they'll either retool on the fly or have no real direction or finally prioritize giving young players ice time. I think they may keep Sullivan if they do a retool. If they go with a youth movement, they really should can him since he's not very good with young players.
 
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I know the Pens have been meh for a few years, but they really look like a Dubas team. No identity that I can tell, some super stars up front but no depth, questionable defense and trash goaltending. Basically every single iteration of the Leafs he built was like that.

Treliving has established an identity with the Leafs and made goaltending the teams biggest strength in 1 season as GM. Dubas is an incredible salesman but not a hockey genius.
 
Bleedred said:
Except Buffalo has been on about 5 or 6 head coaches since Sullivan was hired by Pittsburgh. Sullivan is the same head coach that was there when they last won the cup.

I assume you're a Vegas fan, Pittsburgh has had the same head coach since before Vegas was even a team and Marc-Andre Fleury was still a goalie there. Vegas has had 3 head coaches since then and has missed the playoffs only one year and reaches at least the conference finals every other year.

If not for those back to back cups he would have been fired after last season. Some GM's may have even fired him after 2022-2023 on the first playoff miss, just because they had zero playoff success in the 3 seasons they made it before that miss. They even embarrassingly got swept (I think it was a sweep?) out of the playoffs by Montreal in the play-in round in the bubble.

I agree they're old, bad and the GM is a worthless clown who only gets jobs because of how young he was when he broke in. But at this point they should have at least mercy fired Sullivan. He'll get a job immediately after this and the Pens likely won't have to pay a penny of his salary. The Rangers will fire Lavi and hire him this offseason. Unless the Pens hold him hostage another year.
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I’m sure the Bruins would be all over him if he became available
 
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I also suspect the Kraken to look for a new coach next year. The Bylsma experience is not working so why not another pens recycle.
 
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