At the 28th game of the season in 2015-2016 the Penguins were 15-10-3 and in second place with 33 points. Mike Johnston was the coach of that team and found himself out of a job. The Penguins are 12-10-6 this year and have slipped back out of play-off contention to 5th place in the Metropolitan Division after 28 games. Game 28 this year was played against the Ottawa Senators who were 12-14-3 before the game, but were without 2 of their top performers, Matt Duchene and Bobby Ryan, both of whom were placed on the Injured Reserve (IR) list.
Had the Penguins won the game, they would have crawled to within 2 points of second place with 32 points. Instead they find themselves in 5th place with only 30 points. 3 points below were Mike Johnston was when he was given the Pink Slip and 2 places below were the Penguins were when GM Jim Rutherford chose to replace ineffective coach Mike Johnston with Mike Sullivan.
Am I suggesting that Rutherford replace Sullivan? Well, actually….Yes, he should be considering just that. I am suggesting Rutherford treat Sullivan the same way he treated many of his players, bench him.
To lose to a team with a worse record than you isn’t the worst thing in the world; on any given night any team can win. However, when that team is missing 2 key players like Duchene and Ryan, now things start getting a bit problematic. I concede that the Penguins were missing Patric Hornqvist, but he is player, Ottawa was down 2 players, and both of their players went on IR. However, Guy Boucher found a way to adjust his team following those loses, Sullivan didn’t.
Going into last night’s game, Ottawa had given up 119 goals on 1,106 shots, in 29 games; that translates into 4.10 goals per game on 38.14 shots for a Save Percentage Sv% of 0.892%. Not only was Ottawa giving up 1,106 shots on goal (38.14 per game) but their defense was blocking an additional 520 shots (17.93 per game). Teams were having their way with the Senators, offensively.
Last night the Penguins only managed 1 goal on 36 shots. Scoring only 1 goal put the Penguins over 3 below what the rest of the league could do against Ottawa goalies. The 1 goal on 36 shots gave the Senators Goaltender a 0.972 Sv% for the night, well above their season total. Penguin shooters were almost invisible. In fact the only goal our Penguins did manage was an unassisted goal from returnee Jean-Sebastien Dea.
Whether or not Boucher prepared his team’s strategies better, or whether he prepared their psyche better, he did a much better job of preparing his team for the game. A very important game coming on the heels of back-to-back wins for a team desperately in need of finding traction, that team fell flat. Some people will still try and defend Sullivan saying that the players play the game not the coach, but it is the coach’s job to see that the team is put in a position to win. Whether it was because Ottawa came into the game with a better strategy to shut down the Penguin shooters, or they just were up higher than the Penguins and were better prepared to sacrifice whatever it took to win the game, they did their job. Sullivan failed to get his team ready for the fight. In Business or in the Military the person in charge of both training the personnel and developing the strategy is accountable for outcome. This is only logical. Sullivan is in charge of seeing that his team is properly trained to compete as well as giving final approval for over strategies and tactics. This loss, like all loses are his and only his. He has forced Rutherford to dump all the players he doesn’t like rather than finding a way to get them all; players and coaches, to play together for the good of the team.
After 3 years this team is now Sullivan’s. It is far enough removed from Johnston and Dan Bylsma that their influences are gone. This team that is now Sullivan’s and Sullivan’s alone is in 5th place in the division and out of play-off contention. Yes, I still believe that this team can and should still make the play-offs, but it is foundering. Any team with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin on it can find a way to sneak into the play-offs based off of their shear will. However, going deep into the play-offs is a matter of coaching. If the Penguins don’t change their coach or change their coach, they will fail this year. That is to say, if Sullivan can’t get over his ego or Rutherford doesn’t get rid of Sullivan, be assured that our Penguins will once again have early tee times.
Hi TOR!
Some players are really not playing well and they still have decent ice time. The first that comes to mind is Bryan Rust. He only has one goal in 28 games for a total of 7 points. He tries really hard but has lost his confidence. Brassard is another one who struggles. Ok, he was injured but he only has 8 points in 19 games.
It is sad to say but Brassard is not a good fit for the Pens. I get the impression that he has never been comfortable with the Pens system. Derrick plays rather by instinct, which is in contraction with Sullivan’s beliefs. He played three years for the Rangers and those were his best seasons. Brass was getting along very well with Alain Vigneault, who was the coach at the time. Vigneault is known for his offensive-oriented strategies, which leave enough room for players to be creative. Brassard was very comfortable in that environment. If my memory serves me right, he was playing with Anthony Duclair and Rick Nash and they were a constant threat.
I can go on and on with the problems encountered by the bottom six. The common denominator is certainly Mike Sullivan. I was recently watching old epidodes of In the Room (2015 to 2017) and he was strongly emphasizing on the importance of playing OUR game, which was based on high tempo and quick transition. But guess what, most of the NHL teams is playing THIS game! Sullivan stubbornly applies the same formula. He didn’t adjust to the other teams’ systems.
I am not saying that he is a bad coach but when he was hired in December 2015, he had a pretty good team in front of him. When your first two centermen are Crosby and Malkin, you certainly got it made! By applying the same system again and again, he is basically squeezing the lemon. But some players don’t have gas in the tank anymore.
I hope that GM Jim Rutherford will seriously analyze the performance of his coaching staff. They are responsible for this roller-coaster type of season the team has so far. They must find a way to distinguish themselves from other teams. The Pens’ exciting play that earned them two Stanley Cups was the established standard of the league. It was the ideal to strive for!
It is up to the coaching staff to turn things around but I have serious doubts about their capacity to do so.
Spot on assessment Jorenz
Hello TOR,
Absolutely!!!!
Maybe it’s just me. Jack Johnson is getting more ice time with Penguins top lines, lately. I have seen it in a every game lately. Rig and Määttä are not. They are getting burn from coaching tactics and strategies. I feel sorry for Määttä and Oleksiak they seem to regress under more Mike Sullivan. He doesn’t want them to be better and to have Oleksiak to bring that force against teams.
Johnson Whiffs to much on the puck on the blue line. Missed wide open net to score. Great pass from Sid to score a goal. he didn’t . Bad shots to net. I know I can’t be that mad because Sullivan and Rutherford chose to sign him. Very nauseating. He doesn’t add nothing to playing with top lines..
I didn’t want Dea up here. Because I thought he was a center .. Johnson and Angello could do more damage. Plus I knew Mike Sullivan will not give him solid playing time. He scored the lone goal and only play 6 minutes. That’s bad and outrageous. What’s the point of bring him up here? To play 6 mins. Use him . Promote him. He help you tied the game. 4-6 more mins won’t hurt him.
Sullivan doesn’t know what he doing . Point Blank Period. Give him some playing time to help you.
Derick Brassard isn’t doing anything to help this team. He’s a black hole. Rust too.
Brassard only seem to have fierce competitiveness when he get to play with Sid&Jake
Mike Sullivan needs to be fired. I get it. Officiating was bad and out of control. But you supposed tell you team to keep themselves poised and more fierce to win a game. (Letang)9 out 10 when you fight with bad refs and thy let opponents do embellishments. You will not win the game.
Tell them to Be more calm and shoot the puck more. He had a chance to load his lines, again. To stay out of OT. He should know Senators will be more physical due to they they running around with a chip on their shoulder to beat them and get the up hand from losing two years ago..
He didn’t. There are times when Penguins needs Line shuffling or load up on stars to win games. He doesn’t do that. Very strange and ridiculous.
Kris Letang was out of control, imo. He played rough and brutal. He wasn’t a leader on the ice. Always. There’s never no leadership and consistency with him.
He reminds time and time again Mike Sullivan doesn’t have tight accountability over him. Letang runs the show. He get mad with other players And bench them. I don’t see it with Letang.
Malkin has regressed and completely zone out. He’s in a funk. He carrying something on his shoulders. To much weight. His line is weak. Penguins had 4 on4 be doesn’t want to load Malkin and Kessel. He went with Guentzel and Malkin. He intentionally wants keep Kessel away from Malkin.
Quite frankly, I think it has do with Mike Sullivan and his wingers .
I stated several times on here.. Mike Sullivan , Letang, Brassard needs to go.. Agreement with The Other Rick..
Penguins are winning 1-2 great games .. giving you impression they can turn and around .. then go on to lose more critical games..I thought the Penguins would be rolling to get every point they needed .. they are not doing it
Rutherford has a chance to shakeup this team. It starts with Mike Sullivan and Mark Reechi.
Every game Penguins are not playing prepared fun hockey. Opponents seemed to be ready and prepared to shut them down. Penguins seem to win games when the opponents are lifeless and not fighting to win against them.
Crosby and Guentzel are put this team on there back every game. Every time they don’t score and dig the Penguins out their hole Penguins are losing the game.
Penguins are not communicating to much on the bench . They look lifeless at times.
I hope Mario Lemieux has a talk with Rutherford about Mike Sullivan..
Something gotta give . Mike Sullivan is this team biggest flaw that will hurt them. Time to move on. Most NHL coaches have short shelf lives.
Mike Sullivan and his passengers are too comfortable and haunting this team.
I would get Coach Q or WB/S coach to coach the Penguins.
Really good points Dee,
Why was Dea brought up if they just wanted to sit him on the Bench. One of the arguments the Mike Sullivan fan club tries to use to justify Sullies maltreatment of Sprong was that Sprong wasn’t earning TOI. What a joke!!!! Not only hasn’t Sheahan, Rust, or Simon really earned any ice time, Dea last night, with a supreme herculean effort scored the only goal the Pens could manage against the Sens, yet he still found himself getting TOI thru an eye dropper.
Also, You are right Letang was his petulant out of control self, yet he got himself 26 minutes TOI. As usual ice time was not given out on merit.
I hadn’t thought about it but again yet, but again I have to agree, Guentzel has chemistry with Crosby but was skating with Malkin while Kessel may be able to work with either, since Guentzel works better with Crosby, Kessel should have been out with Malkin.
This team could still make the play-offs, but it is not going any deeper than round 1. In years past, you could count on them beating divisional opponents, but they are even finding that difficult now .