Can the Penguins Win Playing Mike Sullivan Hockey?

Once upon a time, in an NHL far removed from today, Mike Sullivan guided our Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cups. In the process revolutionizing the way the game was played.

Speed, and lots of it, was suddenly of the essence, along with a kamikaze forecheck and stingy puck possession. Teams that relied too heavily on brawn were simply skated into the ice.

“It’s reading and reacting and understanding that the faster you can be, the faster you can do things, it puts your teammates in a better situation when they get the puck,” explained then-Pens forward Chris Kunitz. “Gives them more time to make the next play, catch someone else out of position.”

“Organized chaos,” Matt Larkin of The Hockey News described it.

Fast forward six years. The organized part seems to have vanished. Only the chaos remains.

It’s almost painful to watch the Pens try to play Sullivan’s favored brand of hockey these days. Our forwards bounce around the offensive zone like so many ping-pong balls trapped inside a lottery machine, only occasionally finding their way up the winning tube…or more appropriately…to the net.

Yet we keep trying at our coach’s instance. Indeed, Sullivan went to great lengths earlier this summer to explain our (or rather his) need to play to our identity while making a very public plea for more speed.

He even has his new boss drinking the Kool-Aid. Kyle Dubas spent the better part of the summer bolstering the lineup with Sully-type players. Vinnie Hinostroza, Andreas Johnsson, Rem Pitlick, Matt Nieto, Austin Wagner, Colin White and now recent waiver pickup Jansen Harkins.

During a recent interview with Dave Molinari of Pittsburgh Hockey Now, Sullivan provided an impromptu checklist of the qualities he seeks.

“We’re looking for guys who can bring us conscientious play. Who can make sure they make good decisions with the puck. Who can be strong on the (boards). Who make us hard to play against. Who can be good on the forecheck. They’re strong in the puck-pursuit game and they’re hard on our opponent’s defensemen.”

All good stuff. Except there seems to be a disconnect between the type of player our coach says he wants and the type of player he actually employs. Due, at least in part, to the limits he places on roster construction.

No big personalities. No one who would compete with his voice or detract from his message in the locker room.

As Tupac once rapped, “All Eyez on Me.”

And for goodness sake, no players who employ an overtly physical style.

No wonder the team displays zero intensity. There’s no one to light a fire or provide a spark, like the departed Jason Zucker did last season. Who, for the record, was replaced by the more sedate Reilly Smith.

Frankly, I’m shocked by how sluggish and uninspired our A-team has looked through two preseason games. Especially when you consider how many guys are fighting for jobs. You’d think the competition alone would stoke our competitive fires. Yet nothing seems to be further from the truth. Most the newcomers seem to be skating on eggshells. Or more appropriately, thin ice.

Part of the problem? We’re an aging team trying to play a young man’s style. Perhaps Evgeni Malkin said it best following our season-ending loss to the Blue Jackets last spring.

“I think we tried so hard. We tried everything. I try to play hard every game, you know. But the league is young. They play so hard. It’s a new generation. It’s coming.”

In the meantime, the rest of the league has long since adapted to the innovations Sullivan wrought and have added new wrinkles, most notably blending a degree of gristle and aggression with skill and speed. Yet Sully stubbornly sticks to his old ways. Trying to get his charges to embrace a style they’re no longer capable of playing. At least not effectively. 

A more controlled, structured style might be a better fit for the talent on hand, especially with so many stars approaching the twilight of their respective careers. But Sully, who otherwise has many fine qualities as a coach, won’t adjust.

It’ll be his downfall. Ours too.

Back in the Saddle

The Penguins reversed engines and recalled four players from the Baby Pens yesterday, including three who were only recently waived. Among those granted a reprieve? Forwards Avery Hayes and the aforementioned Pitlick, along with defensemen Xavier Ouellet and Ty Smith.

Pierre-Olivier Joseph is out day-to-day with an injury sustained against the Senators.

In the good news department, Jake Guentzel was a full participant in yesterday’s practice. Fueling hopes that he might be ready for action sooner than anticipated. Our struggling offense, not to mention our ailing power play, could sure use the help.