Inspired by the success of the Chicago Bears, the majority of teams in the National Football League switched to the T-formation in the 1940s. The lone holdout? The Pittsburgh Steelers.
They stubbornly clung to the antiquated single-wing formation, which had brought them a measure of success in the late ‘40s. However, following a dismal 4-7-1 season in 1951 in which the Steelers managed only a league-low 183 points, the “Chief” Art Rooney, Sr. dismissed coach John Michelosen and hired Joe Bach.
Bach’s first move was to install the T-formation. Predictably, the Steelers’ offense flourished, racking up 300 points in 1952. Quarterback Jim Finks emerged as a star, leading the league with 20 touchdown passes.
A rather long-winded intro to make the following point. It required a coaching change and with it a change in philosophy for the Steelers to catch up to the rest of the league.
I submit that the Penguins are in the same spot as those ’51 Steelers. We’re wedded to an outmoded style while the rest of the league has adjusted and passed us by.
The reason? I’ll point the finger squarely at coach Mike Sullivan.
Before I go on, I want to be clear. It isn’t my intent to bash Sullivan. I think he’s a good coach and an extremely knowledgeable hockey man. He’s intelligent, well-spoken, passionate and a character person to boot.
His quality as both man and coach is evident during post-game interviews, especially following a difficult loss like the Pens’ 4-3 meltdown against the Flyers the other night. Even in the most difficult of circumstances, he’s honest and forthright and does his level best to answer questions without getting snappy or curt like his former mentor John Tortorella. He refuses to rip individual players in public although goodness knows he’s had ample opportunity to do so.
That says a lot about who Sullivan is. Again, just a quality human being through and through.
Yet there’s also a stubbornness if not downright obstinance about him, especially when it comes to his preferred style of play. Sullivan still wants to play the speed game that won us a Stanley Cup in 2016 and greatly contributed to a second Cup the following year.
Understandable to a degree. The problem is, the rest of the league has adjusted. Not only are the top teams fast, but they’ve added a measure of physicality. The last three Cup winners, Tampa Bay, St. Louis and Washington, have all won with a hybrid approach.
Even a speed-oriented team like Toronto has altered its philosophy. After failing repeatedly with a Penguins-style puck possession game under former coach Mike Babcock, the Maple Leafs focused on adding character and grit over the offseason, just as the Lightning had done the previous summer.
The result? The Leafs are the class of the league with a record of 18-5-2 and 38 points. Oh, and they’re 25th in the league in Corsi for at 47.82. When they got bounced from the playoffs in the first round during their last season under Babcock they were eighth.
In short, possessing the puck may not be nearly as important as knowing what to do with it once you get it.
Back to Sullivan. He clings to his speed-oriented game with an almost white-knuckled fervor while virtually ignoring other factors such as size, strength and the ability to win puck battles and shove back when necessary. Indeed, Sully seems to harbor a thinly veiled hockey purist’s contempt for physical play and fighting. Almost as if he’s coaching in the Olympics or the NCAA.
As a result, the Pens have morphed into an undersized, perimeter team that has grave difficulty playing with any degree of consistency and effectiveness in the high danger, high traffic areas. That goes for both ends of the ice.
In particular, our coverage (or lack of) in front of our own net is abominable and has been since the start of the season. Yet we hold stubbornly to our stick-on-puck approach. That has to be coming from the coach.
While former general manager Jim Rutherford certainly had a hand in shaping this team, make no mistake about who was driving those personnel decisions. When JR did try to alter the mix by bringing in players like Ryan Reaves, Jamie Oleksiak and Erik Gudbranson, they invariably found themselves marginalized and shunted to the shadows by their coach. Likewise Sullivan’s near total disdain for Ian Cole, a warrior-type defenseman and a crucial if woefully undervalued member of the Cup teams. Yet a player like Dominik Simon (recently waived by Calgary) seems to have nine lives.
Along those lines, I worry about prospects Nathan Legare and Sam Poulin and how they’ll develop under Sullivan. Neither are cut from his cloth (small and speedy). Same with Radim Zahorna, a hulking 6’6” forward who’s presently second on the Baby Pens in scoring.
All this serves to reinforce the notion that Sullivan only knows how to coach one style. A style that, much like the old single-wing, has become passe.
It’s time to switch to the T-formation. And perhaps a coach who’ll employ it.
Hello Everyone!
I was preaching the Sullivan system as passé two years ago. I haven’t changed my mind. I, too, thought he should have been canned, especially after last year. But, here he is, and here we are, currently in the fourth playoff spot, two points ahead of the Flyers, and playing better hockey, at least sometimes and enough to string together some important wins.
We can wish for and opine about all the things we want this team to do and be. We can roast Sullivan, or toast him. We can parse stats and crunch numbers to wring out every bit of meaning they might give up. But before we do any of those things, let’s pause a moment to look at not so much what this team is or isn’t, but rather where they are at this time. This is considering, too, approaching the halfway point in the season, there’s not yet a ten goal scorer on the roster. They’re 4-2 against the Caps, 4-2 against the Isles, and 5-1 against the Rangers. That’s no small fete. They have losing records to only Philly and Boston. They have yet to play New Jersey and Buffalo. They typically stink against New Jersey, so make of that what you will. They also have been guilty of playing down to their opponent as has been witnessed against Buffalo in the past.
They’re in fourth place because they haven’t had a shot at the bottom teams yet and the other teams ahead of them have (I haven’t looked at all the schedules, and I’m not going to). But, more to my point, they are better than I thought they would be. It matters not to me that many of those wins were come from behind, or in overtime, or that their Corsis were this or that. They were wins, the only stat that matters. Perhaps those kinds of wins don’t bode well for playoff hockey, but if you’re looking to make the post season, they’re better than loses. Just keep doing whatever you have to to win and worry about the playoffs when you get there.
Can they be better? Certainly. They still need to learn to play in the center of the ice and in front of both nets. They need to shoot more. They need to take the body more. And if there are to be changes, or additions, perhaps some size and snarl are in order.
As for the playoffs? This team is built to score goals. That’s their raison d’être. The only way they compete in the playoffs would be to score four or five or more goals a game, while playing decent defense. That means solid goaltending and playing well in the middle of the ice and in front of both nets. If they can do that, sure, they have a shot. It’s a tall order, but not impossible. I don’t think the old cliché that playoff hockey is a different animal applies this year. With the shortened season and all divisional play it’s already playoff hockey and they aren’t doing so bad. So…Onward and upward, eh.
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Also, the shift that resulted in the Kapanen goal tonight was the best offensive shift/forecheck of the season. They had the Rangers dancing with themselves. If you get a chance to see it, in case you couldn’t see the game, do! It was a sight to behold — hockey at its best.
Also part two: I’ve been watching the WBS games and you know what? I don’t think the cupboard is as bare as I thought. There are a few players down there that should earn a look in the bigs. They’ll just need a coach who won’t look at them with scorn, tsk, tsk. They have some size down there, too. And, Legacé has looked good in net.
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Hey Rick,
I’m guessing a large part of the disdain for Sullivan stems from the Penguins position in the standings. Before we go placing all the blame on Sullivan, let’s place a little on the weird times the world is in. The weird schedule that oddly enough has had every team above the Penguins in the standings play the 2 bottom place teams at least 6 times, while the Penguins have not played either of the bottom place teams once.
The Penguins are also learning a new defensive system under Reirden. I’m liking what I see more and more as the games go on,
The Islander game on Sunday a week ago, the Penguins were just completely worn out, 3 games in four nights. The Islanders did the same thing but with all home games no travel and a 4 days off before starting the 3 games.
I’m going to wait and see how it pans out.
Who are you replacing Sullivan with?
Hey Phil,
First off…so good to hear from you and read what you have to say! It’s been a long time…
I’m going to sound like I’m speaking (writing) out of both sides of my mouth. Probably going to go over ground I already covered in the article, so bear with me.
I think Sullivan’s a good coach. Maybe even a very good coach. Extremely knowledgeable hockey man…very intelligent, very sharp. Understands players, what makes them tick. A genuinely good guy and a class act.
My issues are this. He refuses to bend his system to allow for a degree of needed physicality, which I think we all agree we could use. I’m not just talking about the hitting/fighting/push back aspect, although Lord knows we could use some of that.
Yes, we’ve played better lately. But there’ve been instances in the not-too-distant past against the Islanders and Washington when we seemed totally unable to win puck battles at both ends of the ice, not to mention having grave difficulty possessing the puck in the high traffic areas.
The Caps in particular exposed our defense and showed that they’re vulnerable to a hard and heavy forecheck. And I think we can all agree that our coverage in front of our net is woeful, especially on the PK.
Yes, Jim Rutherford put the pieces in place. But you know it was done to meet Sullivan’s speed-first specifications.
Along those lines, his unwillingness to make obvious adjustments is glaring. It’s been plain from the opening faceoff this season that Jason Zucker and Evgeni Malkin were absolute poison for each other. We know Geno has good chemistry with Jake Guentzel and Zucker plays a cycling game that would blend with Crosby.
So why not make the switch? Heck, at least try it for a couple of games.
I’m also not sold on the way Sullivan develops (or doesn’t develop as is mostly the case) younger talent, especially guys who may not be stars but could perhaps contribute in a supporting role. Ironically, I thought he did a good job in this area when he first arrived. Kids like Josh Archibald, Tom Kuhnhackl, Scott Wilson and Conor Sheary filled important roles on the Cups winners. Since then…not so good.
Sam Lafferty has absolutely curdled under Sullivan’s watch, and I thought he showed a lot of promise last season. Adam Johnson comes to mind as well…he can really fly and could’ve perhaps filled a role similar to Carl Hagelin on the fourth line. Anthony Angello and Juuso Riikola, too.
Sullivan seems to have a very short hook with a lot of these kids. I’m sure some of this is attributable to the fact that he feels pressure to win now and maybe can’t afford to allow guys to develop and play through their mistakes. But if you’re an Angello, how in God’s name are you going to develop when you’re seeing maybe five minutes of ice time a night?
Yes, there’s a certain degree of earning your playing time involved. But you’ve got to give guys a chance, too. The chicken or the egg…
I guess my bottom line is this. I’m not sure if the Pens are built to succeed in the playoffs as presently constructed. I think some alterations are required, and that may include adding a degree of physicality.
If that takes place, will Sullivan play these guys or marginalize them as he’s done in the past?
Rick
PS–To answer your question, I don’t know who you’d get to replace him. Honestly, I just wish he’d embrace a more inclusive approach that allows for different elements and types of players. Then it would be a win-win instead of a case of either or.
Hey Rick,
I am not going to rehash my opinion of Sullivan. I am pretty sure everyone here on Penguins Poop knows he would have been gone at least 2 years ago if it were up to me and why I would have dumped him. I don’t like vacillating or fence sitting. I believe in making a decision and going with it.
To back up your discussion of Zucker-Malkin, did you see who is tied for the team lead in scoring over the course of the 7 games Zucker has been injured? That’s right, Evgeni Malkin, the much maligned Evgeni Malkin. He and Kasperi Kapanen have been flying and are tied for the team team lead in scoring. But I would be willing to bet that as soon as Zucker is healthy again, Sullivan will chain Malkin down once again with that anchor.
MIke, I am not saying Zucker stinks, I am saying he has the absolute reverse of Chemistry with Malkin. How many times can a player take his Winger turning left every time he turns right before he gets frustrated and disinterested?
But if I may also jump in here on Phil’s query, “Who do you replace him (Sullivan) with?”
Let’s try anyone, even someone with no track record. If a light burns out, you don’t just sit in the dark. You go and grab a new light bulb from the drawer. Yes, maybe one or more of them are burned out too. Instead of throwing out a burned out light bulb, someone just put it back for recycling, but you know if you don’t change the light bulb, nothing changes – you still sit in the dark.
Forwards will continue to skate the perimeter in the attacking zone, and when one of them tries to go to the paint he will get crushed by a hulking opponents. Defensemen will continue to stick wave rather than put body on body so that Jarry and DeSmith will be sightless and helpless. And the Tom Wilson s of the world will continue to assault and batter Penguins so that they can have an entire floor of their own at UPMC, full of crippled waddling waterfowl.
Rick,
I will go there, Sullivan is not the paragon that you would paint him. He may not have pointed fingers this season, but he has a history of waging war against players in the media to cover HIS culpability. After the 2017-18 post-season he publicly questioned the injury his boss, JR said Kessel was suffering through during the Capital series. I haven’t forgotten that pettiness.
The next season, after being swept by the Islanders, he blamed that series loss on Kessel and Malkin. Malkin led the team in scoring that brief post-season. Two of the only 3 player who really showed up for that series were Malkin and Kessel. Yet Sullivan once again blamed those two.
Sullivan has shown little ability to adapt to his opponents. His go to move used to be change line combinations but not breakouts or zone entries, making the team look slower because the opponents always knew were the black-n-gold was trying to push the puck and beating them there. Now he rarely even changes his top 6 lines, even when lack of line chemistry is painfully obvious.
Since the first playoff run he had with this team, he has shown cowardice when it has come to sitting veterans for bone head plays. And even back then his sitting of Malkin could have simply been out of dislike of Malkin rather than any fair disciplinary action – particularly when Letang has shown an absolute lack of hockey IQ in his own defensive zone but still gets the most TOI of any defensemen, and even during important defensive times. Yet when it has come to rookies and other younger players he benches them or worse banishes them to the press box or the minors for even the most minor of errors.
Those above behaviors exhibited by Sullivan are not qualities but flaws.
I agree that it is way past time to move on from Sullivan and I will say that in the strongest voice possible. I will not ignore his gaping flaws but point them out.
Sorry so angry I couldn’t even type the word the correctly but wrote teh.
I am sick of the parade of Shearys, Simons, and Rodrigues s and other perimeter players.
With Calgary waiving of Simon a couple days back, I would not be surprised to find out Sullivan had gone to Hextall and Burke begging to sign one more pathetic player.
So what you are saying is that we should be followers – Don’t you think we won those cups because we played the speed game – Nobody played the speed game when we were winning cups (Example Washington Capitals). I think to blame it on Sullivan and his approach is misleading.
Anonymous / Rick
Whether anyone wants to admit it or not Sullivan system has run it’s
course. Teams copied the Pens and their speed game after winning
two cups but they also added size & toughness with speed and the
Penguins have yet to adjust.
What’s kept us from having recent success in the playoffs is the lack
of size and toughness on the current roster. You don’t have to look any
further than yesterday’s game to see how Sullivan’s approach to the
lineup is an issue – he replaces Angello with Rodrigues. Angello had 15 hits
in (4) games and stands at 6’5 while Rodrigues had (3) hits in 6 games and
is a whopping 5’11 and hasn’t had more than (33) hits in a season in his eight-year career. Why would Sully make this move?? Rodrigues has been
a minus player his entire career and the Pens roster is crying out for both
size and toughness – this is defiantly a head-scratcher.
I’m not looking to bash Rodriques – my point here is the Pens have a hard
time identifying players that are built for the 4th line. Angello at this stage
of his young career is much better suited for the 4th / checking line.
When the Penguins were winning their back-to-back Cups they were a hybrid team. They had bigger players, gritty players, players like Patric Hornqvist, Chris Kunitz, Ian Cole, Matt Cullen, Eric Fehr, and a young Tom Kuhnhackl and Oskar Sundqvist. They also had players who were not really all that fast – Olli Maatta. They did play an attacking offensive style, going to the blue paint often. They also played tough in their own end blocking shot after shot. By the 2017-2018 season, gone was Kunitz, Cole, Bonino, Cullen, and Fehr were gone.
Ryan Reaves was added to the roster the year after the Cups, but was dismissed before the playoffs. Jamie Oleksiak was added to that first post Cup roster but he was shipped out rapidly pretty much less than a season later.
As I have written many times, the team that won the Cups was built by Bylsma and Johnston. The team that is wallowing in mediocrity is the team built by Sullivan. It is not misleading to blame Sullivan and his aversion to big, tough players. He has stripped the team of any player who has the guts to block shots, knock down opposing forwards blocking his goalies view, or forwards going to the net. He has added a Corps of stick waving defensemen, who stand around and watch their Goalie get assaulted and forwards that skate all around the perimeter taking the low percentage shots that the opponents are more than willing to concede, rather than risk getting themselves knocked down by going to the front of the net.
And even when the occasional player does venture into the slot, opposing defensemen don’t simply wave their sticks around at the empty air but summarily knock the black-n-gold on their wallets because they almost always lack the size to go head-to-head with the much larger opponents.
The Penguins season after season drop off in the standings as Sullivan remolds the team in HIS image stands as a testament against Sullivan as coach.
Anonymous,
I’ll answer your comment by posing a question. Do you think the Pens as presently constructed will win a seven-game playoff series against a heavier, more structured team like the Islanders?
Rick
easy… no..
Penguins currently would not win a 7 game playoff with any team currently in a playoff spot right now, today.
Window has been closed.
Agreed Pens4Ever…
Window has closed. The door has closed as well and the liquidators are about to show up. This is the end game for the Pens this year. Lets hope the NEW GM has the ability to stand up to the owner and tell him the Truth. Your team is about to go thru 5 years of losing money, losing fans and you had better start to rebuild NOW..This process is inevitable.
Cheers
Rick
Not a chance unless they add some size and toughness prior to
the playoffs – I still think the Pens would have a chance to make
a run at it if the right moves are made.