Assessing Mike Sullivan’s Departure from Penguins
The biggest news development for Pittsburgh sports this year occurred on Monday.
Multiple outlets reporting that the Pittsburgh Penguins and head coach Mike Sullivan have agreed to mutually part ways.
Sullivan spent 10 seasons behind the Penguins’ bench, and certainly achieved success - by and large. He led the franchise to back-to-back Stanley Cup victories in 2016 and 2017. The 57-year-old Sullivan became the winningest coach in Penguins’ history with 409 wins, and also has the most playoff wins with 44.
For all the great accomplishments Sullivan was able to garner in Pittsburgh, the last several years have been underwhelming, to say the least.
The Penguins haven’t won a playoff series since 2018. In addition, they’ve missed the playoffs in each of the last three seasons, with this year being their first losing season since 2005-06 (Sidney Crosby’s rookie campaign).
During his Penguins’ tenure, Sullivan seemingly preferred veteran players over youth. Meanwhile, president of hockey operations, Kyle Dubas, is making a conscious effort, to put forth a younger team, and to rebuild on the fly, so it appeared Sullivan and Dubas weren’t getting on the same page.
Mike Sullivan will have a legacy in Pittsburgh sports, and you can certainly appreciate the accolades he achieved, especially the two Stanley Cup championships. However, at the end of the day, the Penguins have been stuck in the middle for awhile, with no real semblance of a strong, Cup contender. Not that it’s an indictment on Sullivan specifically, but things get stale, so this was the right time, for both parties to move on, and for the Penguins to start fresh in a new direction.