Penguins Update: Reflecting on Sully

I was reading an article on the Tribune Review yesterday when I came across a profound thought. Tim Benz wrote something to the effect that the key to coach Mike Sullivan’s early success was that he treated stars Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Phil Kessel the same way he treated the rest of the players. He held them to the same standards and got them to play the same way. The right way.

“It’s the biggest challenge—getting your top players to buy into whatever you’re selling,” Sullivan said at the time. “If you get them on board, then you have a chance to win.”

It’s part of what has made him so unique and special as a coach—his ability to handle divergent talents and personalities and blend them into a team. He seemed to walk that very fine line of holding guys accountable without being a martinet, while at the same time providing encouragement and motivation without being a rah-rah type.

I’d always wished the Pens could find a coach who combined the best qualities of Michel Therrien and Dan Bylsma. Sullivan appeared to be that guy. The perfect blend of disciplinarian and players’ coach.

A rare bird indeed.

I remember how listless and robotic the Penguins were in the final days under his predecessor Mike Johnston. Everyone looked lost. Never in a million years did I ever dream we’d win another Stanley Cup. Then Sullivan arrived fresh from a hot start at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in December 2015.

Immediately his passion and intensity began to rub off. Soon, the Pens were skating as if shot from a cannon. Six months later we were hoisting the Cup. The following June we did it again.

Somewhere along the line, things began to unravel. Messages began to fall on deaf ears. Players slipped back into old habits and comfort zones. Crosby and Malkin are competing for the same preferred patch of real estate on the power play. Letang freelances at will, often at the expense of sound decision-making. Geno still draws those undisciplined penalties and turns the puck over with drop passes at the other team’s blue line. Sid dictates who plays on his line. (Dominik Simon over Patric Hornqvist? Really?)

The inmates seem to be running the prison.

Interesting that of all the issues GM Jim Rutherford wants to address, the team’s core isn’t among them. It’s like trying to solve a problem without acknowledging that it exists.

Any changes JR makes otherwise, including dismissing assistant coaches Sergei Gonchar, Jacques Martin and Mark Recchi, will largely be cosmetic. Like putting lipstick on a pig. But I digress.

NHL head coaches have a shelf life and Sullivan appears to be no exception. The Pens have fallen well short of the mark the past couple of postseasons and he appeared to have been outcoached in the process. Nor does he seem to have any solid answers for why his team didn’t put forth a more determined effort. Could be that he’s nearing his expiration date…at least with this group of athletes.

Perhaps it’s time for a new voice.

That doesn’t diminish what Sullivan’s accomplished here. He has the third-most regular season wins of any coach in franchise history behind only Bylsma and Eddie Johnston and the second-highest points percentage. Through the force of his personality he pulled a fragmented and demoralized group together and got them to believe again.

Just play.

You better believe it.

And those two Stanley Cups. Nobody can take them away from him.