Penguins Update: Time for a New Voice?

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.