Any time a team falls short of expectations, you’re bound to hear rumblings about a coaching change. It’s no different for our Penguins.
For a third-straight postseason we’ve gone out in the opening round. We’ve lost our last four playoff series and 15 of our last 20 postseason games.
This season’s shortfall was especially disappointing because it felt like the team had more to give. Which begs the question.
Is it time for a coaching change?
To digress, Mike Sullivan is almost universally regarded as an excellent coach. Not only did he do a marvelous job of keeping an injury-plagued team afloat (over 300 man-games lost) but he led us to a division title in arguably the toughest and most competitive division in the league. I honestly feel he merits Jack Adams consideration as coach of the year.
And yet those nagging postseason exits just won’t go away.
Former Pens coach Dan Bylsma had a similar string of failure after leading us to a Cup in 2009. Despite being the fastest coach in NHL history to win 250 games, he was fired during the summer of 2014 following a fifth-straight early playoff exit at hands of a lower seed.
For the record, Bylsma’s regular-season points percentage with the black and gold was .668; his playoff points percentage .551. Sullivan’s, .641 and .547.
Eerily similar.
Back to Sullivan. It isn’t so much that we didn’t win a Cup this season as his stubborn instance on playing a certain style and a perceived reluctance to alter that style for the good of the team. Ironically, Bylsma was derisively labelled “One Plan Dan” for his inability to adapt to the rigors of postseason play.
Could the same be said of “Sully?”
I pose the question because there’s an opportunity for the Pens to make a coaching change if they chose to do so. Following four seasons in the desert, former Pens assistant Rick Tocchet cut ties with Arizona. During his three years behind the bench here he was extremely well-liked and respected by the players. Tocchet was largely credited with getting the most out of mercurial winger Phil Kessel. Having played an integral part in our back-to-back Cups, he knows what it takes to win.
The window to hire Tocchet isn’t likely to be open for long. He’s already interviewing for the vacant Columbus job. The Rangers and expansion Seattle Kraken have unfilled openings as well. If the Pens opt to make a change they’ll need to do so quickly, which goes against GM Ron Hextall’s MO.
Incidentally, Tocchet and Hextall were teammates on the Flyers for four-plus seasons back in the day, so there is a connection.
That’s all well and good, Buker, but is a coaching change really necessary?
That depends on your perspective. Will the Pens have a better shot at winning a Cup with Tocchet at the helm instead of Sullivan? That’s hard to say, especially given our aging core and the perception, true or not, that our window for chasing more Cups has pretty much closed.
Then why make a change?
The driving factor could well be management’s stated desire to play a heavier game…“long pants” hockey as Brian Burke described it. With Sullivan, no lover of tough guys or overly physical play, there’s liable to be resistance, subtle or otherwise. With Tocchet, the ultimate warrior winger during his playing career, not so much.
In the end it largely depends on whether or not Hextall and Burke feel the players need a new voice to guide them and a fresh organizational direction.
In a way it reminds me of 1993. Following an upset loss to the Islanders, the Pens abruptly steered away from Hall-of-Fame coach Scotty Bowman and hired former skipper and GM Eddie Johnston, a popular choice among the players. While the Pens did well under “EJ,” reaching the conference finals in 1996, we didn’t win another Cup. Bowman went on to win three more Cups with Detroit and cement his legacy as the greatest coach of all-time.
Hi Rick, GTSY,,,
This team needs a lot more than just a Coach or just one more defense man, or even 2 more forwards. This team needs a major rebuild and it should have started 2 years ago….but owners who refuse to believe the NHL is a tough man’s league and refuse to address the real problem. To their credit the Pens have been to the Cup playoffs a record 15 years in a row.That is an impressive feat…But that should not be the measuring stick for success.
This team is at a cross roads and will the owners have the brains and the guts to make the bold moves to start the rebuild that MUST take place or will they resign Geno, Letang and a few other high priced oldies and let us all die waiting for another Cup..We got what we deserved Rick…sorry to say..
No first round pick. Goes to Minnesota .. No elite level players in our farm system..( depleted from years of mismanagement), No Defense, No Goal tending, and aging Star forwards who can not carry the team to the Cup anymore and no future young super stars to pass the torch to.
5 on 5 hockey we suck…We can only win with our Power play..
Next year there had better be major changes or the same will happen.
Final point , please do not delude ourselves into thinking this team is a Division winner because we are not. It was just the schedule as OTR said..
Lets go Pens !! 2022
Jim
Hello Jim,
Always so good to hear from you and read what you have to say.
I hear ya’ about the rebuild and perhaps parting with Malkin and Letang over the past couple of years to try and restock the team with an infusion of young talent. And, no, our big three is no longer capable of carrying us in the playoffs, although truth be told it was our depth (HBK Line, etc.) that helped us win those back-to-back Cups. A depth that, for the most part, we were able to restore this year.
I guess I’m not as down on this group as you, although Lord knows I’m not predicating a Cup next year. I think we have lots of capable players who can fill in behind our core guys, and I think some of the kids (Legare, Zohorna, Angello and, hopefully, Poulin) can assimilate into bottom six or even second-line roles.
I think we need to address, in no particular order, goaltending (perhaps bring in someone to split duties with Jarry), defense (would like to add a physical presence and defense-first guy) and just an overall tightening of our “system” to encourage fewer breakdowns.
I do agree that it’s liable to get ugly after this coming season when Malkin and Letang become UFAs. You’re right…we don’t have any top-end talent in the system to replace them and at that stage it may take a while for us to reload.
Anyway…hope you are well, my friend.
Rick
Hey Jim and Rick,
I understand both your points of view.
Offensively, I tend to view the team as you Rick; there are players in the system. Legare and Poulin are both heavily contributing to Val-D’Ors QMJHL President’s Cup run. Legare actually was on the best Penguin’s line in the 2019-2020 preseason but was passed over when the season started.
Both of these kids look like future top 6 players, whether or not it will be with the Pens or not.
Zohorna may actually have a skill set to put him in at least a middle 6 role while I still don’t understand Sullivan’s aversion to Angello, especially during Jankowski’s and Sceviour’s protracted goal scoring droughts and even Rodriguez’s horrible start.
I also think that Bjorkqvist has a strong enough upside as a bottom 6 maybe even a middle 6 in him. And even though he is small and built more for the likes of Sullivan than me, I must admit that I have some interest in seeing what Puustenin can do. He does find a way to score over there in Liiga.
Where I differ is mostly on Defense. I fear the cupboard is really bare in the defense department and all the side-show trickery of constant pinching to disguise a lack of defensive acumen may be passable in the regular season but against playoff disciplined teams will only result in what we have had over the last 3 post seasons – early tee times.
2-seasons ago, everyone was ready to build a statue to Pettersson, last season was Marino’s turn to be hailed as the second coming, leaving the team with $8 million tied up on their 3rd pairing.
Ceci was able to cover up a lot of Matheson’s warts this past regular season but not quite as much in the post-season and Ceci will be UFA with no money to really try and resign him – the team is $1.1 over the Cap for next season already. They really need to shed a bigger salary.
Even the normally reliable had a bad playoff. Maybe he is too long in the tooth to cover for Letang?
You can’t really change out the whole group but I wouldn’t shed a tear over any of them leaving and nothing home grown in our garden. The Pens need a complete overhaul here.
In Goal, I am not as down on Jarry as many. I blame Buckley for most of his ills (The stupid pass attempt is all on him though). However, I do fear that Pens fans will not allow him to recover here in Pittsburgh. I also don’t really think DeSmith is all that strong mentally after his pathetic 2019-2020 season in the AHL due to JRs poor financial planning forcing the team to sneak DeSmith down to WBS to get Cap compliant. And Blomqvsist and Clang are still a couple years away. This team needs Goalies.
I wonder if they could get Gustavsson back?
In the end although I am with you Rick over the Pens forwards, I split when I look at the D and G. There are big problems here, both in personnel and in tactics.
The only good news is that I am not sure New Jersey, Buffalo, Philadelphia, or Washington will making an great improvements either, so there will still be a playoff chance next season, depending on how the off-season shakes out.
Hey all,
Although it’s not anything official, hockey insider Elliotte Friedman fully expects Sullivan to be back next season.
Sully doesn’t always get a whole lot of love on our blog. But in the interest of being fair and balanced, here are quotes from Brandon Tanev and Kasperi Kapanen singing his praises.
“He does a great job for this group, has for many years,” Tanev said. “I was thankful enough to come to Pittsburgh last year and be with him and see the work he puts in every day… He’s a great individual, an even better coach. We’re lucky to have him in Pittsburgh.”
“I think he’s a great coach. I think he’s done a tremendous job with everybody here,” Kapanen said. “It’s an unbelievable organization…I’m just lucky to be here. I think this is a very good team. So I think the future for us is very bright.”
Rick
Are you Serious Rick?
Jack Adams?
I will give you that the East may be fairly Competitive in that most of the teams are evenly match. However, they are evenly matched not because they are good, but because they stink.
You have the Pens and the Caps – 2 teams on the down swing.
You have the Devils, the Sabres, and the Flyers, each trying to out do each other in ineptitude.
And you have all 5 of the aforementioned teams struggling to find competent NHL calibre goaltending – with Samsanov and Jarry trying to one up each other, or in this case one down each other to win the stupidest play of the playoffs by a Goalie category.
Then you have the Rangers, a team who I won’t argue could be an up and comer, but whose kids needed more seasoning (maybe they did get it) and needed their elite winger Panarin to play more.
Next you have the islanders, a team really well coached but with little in the way of real elite talent, benefitting from getting to play the Sullivan and his flea circus in the playoffs. Don’t forget that the team that beat us barely made the playoffs as they only won 3 of their last 10 regular season games and almost got caught by the Rangers.
The only team that really can be called an NHL team is the Bruins. They may have struggled at points in the season but addressed their short-comings at the dead line.
The only reason the Pens won the division was that they got to play several games against a Panarinless Ranger squad, several games against an Ovieless Caps squad and all 16 of their Sabre/Devil games down the stretch run, after those teams sold at the dead line.
They struggled 5 on 5 against all but the Sabres and the Devils all season.
The East may be competitive but only because most of the teams are swimming in the same swill.
Hey Rick,
I know we spoke earlier, so here goes.
No, I won’t argue with the idea of firing Sullivan. I started calling for that some time ago.
I began to lose faith in him when he pushed Cole out of town. Then after the loss to the Caps that year and after his GM, Rutherford, stated that Kessel had been playing hurt in that series – Sully whined to the media that he didn’t believe Kessel was playing hurt, disputing his GM’s pronouncement for all who would listen.
Right then and there I would have slapped him down if I were the GM.
Then he hypocritically complained to the media about Kessel for airing locker room talk the following December, when Dupuis leaked out the chasm (not even rift that was growing in the Pens locker room. Kessel didn’t run to the media like he did, it was Dupuis that leaked it out.
It was then and there that I shifted from questioning Sullivan to wanting him fired. But people called me all kind on names for my dislike of Sully. Well, Penguins fans, friends of mine who follow other teams and live in different cities would respond, “It took you long enough to realize”
Then Sully got swept by the Isles and blamed Kessel and Malkin for the loss. Kessel and Malkin were among the only 4 forwards to score goals in that series, led the team in Points for the series and all though no one really had good +/-s that series they had some of the least problematic +/-s. But Sully blamed them. And again a large portion of the Penguins fan base called me names for suggesting the Pens move on from him.
Last year when the team managed only 1 win in the Qualifying Round (Not even the first Round of the Playoffs) to the 24th seed in the league, still many Penguins fans clung to the Sullivan Banner.
Now, this season, again with the team right up against the Cap, with management saying that it needs to get to the 3rd round during a regular 82 game full crowd capacity season to financially break even, the team bows out in a whimper, in the first round, only managing 3 home games in the playoffs, never even getting close to capacity crowds, and there still are some tenaciously defending Sullivan.
How long are we supposed to wait?
How many more chances do you give him?
Until the team repeats the 1983-84 season and loses 58 games?
Maybe until the team goes into bankruptcy and folds?
Why is this even a question? Fire him, fire him now!!!!
Rick
I think Sullivan is a very good Coach but to borrow a favorite expression
from my Father “he bites off his nose to spite his face”
That’s a little over the top (Lol) but in layman’s terms Sully’s stubbornness
not only hurts him in his refusal to acknowledge size/toughness but also his unwillingness to make a game adjustment for the good of the team.
I made the statement going into our 1st round match-up with the Islanders
that I hoped Sullivan and the Penguins learned their lesson the last time we
played the Isles in the Playoffs. I said it would be important for us to play
a patient game and restrain from pinching our “D”Man for 60 minutes. I know
the Other Rick commented on this in a recent post.
Sully’s “ego” would not allow himself to back off the way we play. During my
early Coaching days I was hard-headed when it came to playing Man to Man or
Zone. I was hell-bent on playing Man and despised anyone that coached their
teams to play zone. Then I met a HOF Coach while having a round table type of
Coaches clinic and I voiced my opinion on Man vs Zone. He gave me that Father/Son look when you’re giving your kid advice and said if by playing Man to
Man over Zone and Zone allows you a better opportunity to win the game you’re a fool. I never forgot those words. I do think Sully believes in his system but
against different teams who have different strengths and weaknesses, you have
to make adjustments.
Sorry to ramble – hope I didn’t bore everyone with my coaching story!! I just
thought it was a relatable analogy with what transpired with Sully and the Pen’s
in the Islander series.
As always I look forward to your feedback.
Hey Mike,
Sorry I’m late in responding. But your comments about Sullivan are just excellent, and I think you really hit the nail on the head when it comes to describing the conundrum he poses.
Quality guy, excellent coach…but…that intractability. Ay yi yi.
Something I failed to mention but bears pointing out. Everyone is making a big deal about the fact the Pens dominated the Islanders in terms of possession time and scoring chances. Our team Corsi was off the charts (58.92), better even than Colorado’s. (FYI: We led the postseason in Corsi in 2019 when we were swept by the Islanders.)
We dominated everywhere except where it matters most…in wins and losses. Especially during the last two games, we were like sharks at a feeding frenzy in the offensive zone. But it cost us structurally in our own zone. Again, the Isles just waited until we made our inevitable mistakes and…BANG…the puck’s in our net.
Yes, Jarry’s goaltending left a lot to be desired. But I think it’s telling that the more we played to our (Sullivan’s) “identity,” the more porous we became. As Other Rick is so fond of saying, the “19 forwards” approach.
Anyway…I’m rambling. Thank you, so much, for sharing your personal experiences about your coaching days (didn’t know you coached!) and your fervent philosophical battle over playing man-to-man versus zone. You literally sound like you lived in Sully’s shoes, right down to the stubbornness aspect.
I just wish, like you did, he’d learn to adapt and adjust. Then we’d have our cake and eat it too, instead of a case of either or.
Rick
PS–For the record, I was a huge hoops fans as a kid. Dad and I would watch the NBA Game of the Week, then go out in our driveway where we had a hoop and play our own games. I was a huge Celtics fan and loved Bill Russell. Their battles with the 76ers and Wilt Chamberlain were legendary. Just so many great names and players…Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Jerry Lucas, Willis Reed, Dave Bing…I could go on and on.
On a personal level, I was a sixth grade all-star for Ben Franklin grade school. Only because they had to pick three kids from each school. I was a shooting guard who couldn’t really shoot, and I could only dribble with my right hand.
Needless to say, my hoops career flamed out early…lol
Rick
Don’t worry about “Stratton” – he just sounds like an unhappy
individual that likes a little conflict. It’s all good. i thought
you handled it very professionally.
Regarding my Coaching experience. I Coached Div 1 Men’s
Basketball for 14 years before taking a job in the NBA which
I’ve been doing now for the last 16.
I was very hard-headed as a young coach but quickly learned from
my peers that it would wise to do a self-evaluation and always do
what’s best for the team/organization.
From the little piece written by Dave Molinari it sounded promising that
Sullivan may be open to the Penguins adding size. That’s a start.
Rick, as always I enjoy talking Hockey with everyone on the blog. it’s
nice to see other’s perspective on the Pens. I look forward to your
articles.
Wow, Mike.
You mentioned that you work for an NBA team, but I had no idea you were a Division I coach, too! No wonder you have an insider’s perspective when it comes to the inner workings of a pro sports team…you’ve lived it.
Thank you for sharing your background and experiences with us. It’s always nice to learn more about the people in our “PP community”… 🙂
I, too, hope Sullivan can be a little more open-minded in terms of personnel while perhaps moving away from the “one size fits all approach.” I think it would benefit us come the postseason.
I’m not advocating adding beef for the sake of adding beef. But we have guys…Legare, Zohorna, Angello and Poulin who could add some functional muscle without detracting from the mix skill-wise.
I would like to add at least one guy who can handle his dukes. (Maybe we bring Gary Roberts out of retirement … lol.)
Anyway…thanks again for sharing.
Rick
Rick
I would love to see Gary Roberts back in the Black &
Gold. He’s exactly the type of player we need to add
this off-season.
Like every other Pens fan, I love Mario but it troubles
me that he doesn’t convey to his GM/Coach that under
no uncertain terms will Crosby and Malkin be left to
defend themselves.
This conversation has to happen. Either Mario with
Hextall and Burke or Hextall and Burke with Sullivan.
I always appreciate your blog. Great place to vent and
give an honest opinion.
GO PENS
I find it odd that so many people are so high on Tocchet, a man with a track record of failing out of the playoffs 2 years out of 3. (3 out of 4 if you want to include the year he was fired.) He’s a loser right. Oh wait! The Pens won because he was here. Specifically he got the most out of Kessel. Oh wait! Kessel is gone. So what possible rationale is there to hire a loser?
Oh waIt! It’s because he would accept tough guys while Sullivan won’t? OK, but there are other coaches out there with better vita than Tocchet who would also accept tough guys. So why hire him? Oh wait! he knows Hextall. That automatically makes him a good coach?
Now here’s what’s really going on. The real reason is that when people fantasize about the kind of big tough player that they want on the Pens, in their mind’s eye they see Tocchet. He’s the embodiment of their fantasies. Unfortunately, this says nothing about his ability as a coach.
The only thing I see as certain coachwise is that they must get rid of Velluci who turned a perennial to pk unit into one of the league’s worst. How he managed to avoid being a focal point of criticism is amazing to.
Stratton,
Don’t agree or disagree but I think Tocchet’s prior connection with the
organization as an Assistant Coach, his familiarity with Hextall, his friendship with Lemieux, and knowing his preference on the style of play makes him a very intriguing candidate. We know that Burke and Hextall want to play a heavier
game. I don’t think it would take a lot of prodding to get Tocchet on board.
As for Vellucci like any sport he’s only as good as his Head Coach. Whatever
schemes, rotations, or personnel that was implemented into the PK was given
a final stamp of approval by the Head Coach (Sullivan).
Also, having Crosby on your team doesn’t hurt your ability to Coach. It pretty
much guarantees the playoffs. Put Crosby on Arizona and now Tocchet all of
a sudden becomes a good Coach.
Their tons of new Head Coaches that struggled early in their careers before
turning it around. It’s a learning experience. That doesn’t make him a bad
Coach. Is he the right fit for the Pen’s – that’s a decision Hextall and Burke
will have to make.
“As for Vellucci like any sport he’s only as good as his Head Coach. Whatever schemes, rotations, or personnel that was implemented into the PK was given a final stamp of approval by the Head Coach (Sullivan).”
By this logic, the choice of assistant coaches has no effect on the team. How do you explain the poor pp under Recchi and the good pp under Reirden?
“Also, having Crosby on your team doesn’t hurt your ability to Coach. It pretty much guarantees the playoffs.”
Really? The Pens missed when Crosby was a rookie and in his prime scoring 102 points. And I have to laugh about the notion that they are guaranteed to make the playoffs since the the consensus opinion was that they wouldn’t this year since. It is far from a sure thing.
You sound like The Other Rick: everything bad that happens is because of Sullivan and every good thing happens is in spite of him. C’mon man. One of those is more than enough. It’s one thing to complain about Sullivan being dogmatic today, but quite another to rewrite history to attack him. It shows that you aren’t interested in facts. You are only interested in the making an argument.
First off I never dogged Sullivan. You sure you’re reading
my post?? I said he’s a very good coach but you have to be
open to change as the league changes. He’s hasn’t been
receptive to that and it’s hurt us.
Good PP under Reirden “Lol” We have some of the most
skilled players in the league and the best player in the
world – There PP should be one of the best in the NHL.
Recci was with the Pen’s as an Assistant for (3) years
2017-18 – Power Play was 1st in the league – 26.15%
2018-19 – Power Play was 5th in the league – 24.56%
2019-20 – Power Play was 16th in the league-19.91%
2020-21 – Power Play was 4th in the league – 23.68%
Reirden’s is really a small sample in a shortened season.
So in Recci’s 1st two seasons, the PP produced a better
percentage than this year’s team.
I can tell you’ve never been involved in Pro Sports – The
Head Coach allows the Assistants to recommend, suggest
and make changes to personnel but the Head Coach makes
the final decision. “Always”
Also, with Crosby on the team, we’ve made the playoffs for
15 straight seasons. I’m not sure where you get your info
but I don’t know anyone that didn’t feel like the Pens should
make the playoffs.
Also, I’m not complaining about Sullivan and have never called
for him to be fired but his ego and unwillingness to make
adjustments both in-game and with our personnel are effecting
any chance we have to contend.
“Also, with Crosby on the team, we’ve made the playoffs for
15 straight seasons. I’m not sure where you get your info
but I don’t know anyone that didn’t feel like the Pens should
make the playoffs.”
Now you are changing your tune. You said that the Pens were sure to make the playoffs with Crosby and I already proved you wrong by documenting a year when they didn’t.
Either you are being disingenuous or you can’t read. Almost every source had the Flyers making the playoffs and the Pens at most a marginal prospect.
“Good PP under Reirden “Lol” We have some of the most
skilled players in the league and the best player in the
world – There PP should be one of the best in the NHL.”
But it wasn’t in 19-20. This kills your point.
I also note that you made no mention of the way the pk suddenly faltered under Velluci. The reason is obvious. It refutes your argument that assistant coaches don’t matter
Spot on, Mike.
Especially your final comment about Sullivan’s ego/unwillingness to make adjustments to his preferred style of play (and player) creating a drag on our chances for postseason success.
Rick
Hey Stratton,
For the very last time I’m going to caution you about name-calling and responding in a way that’s meant to belittle or put down others for expressing their opinion. (“This is utter nonsense.”)
The only reason I allowed this comment to stand was because Mike responded so eloquently.
You are certainly entitled to your opinions and you have some good thoughts and raise some interesting issues that contribute to a healthy back-and-forth. However, I don’t know why you feel the need to have a personal edge to your responses, but it’s got to stop.
For the final time, please refrain from putting down others in your comments or I will block/delete them in the future.
Rick
“You are certainly entitled to your opinions and you have some good thoughts and raise some interesting issues that contribute to a healthy back-and-forth. However, I don’t know why you feel the need to have a personal edge to your responses, but it’s got to stop.”
Are you really saying that the nasty comments posted by that sick, angry man called “the other rick” contribute to a healthy back-and-forth? You can’t have a healthy back and forth with an unhealthy person.
What I’m saying is that the personal shots and sharpness have to stop. To be blunt, nobody was doing that until you came along.
If Other Rick or others, myself included, respond in kind, it’s because we feel a need to defend ourselves on a personal level, and that shouldn’t be. It’s not what this blog was intended for.
Again, find a way to comment without adding the sharp edge or personal digs (“This is utter nonsense.”) or, in Other Rick’s case, the name calling.
That’s it. I’m done addressing this issue with you.
Rick