Anyone who follows hockey knows the past few seasons haven’t been especially kind to Penguins coach Mike Sullivan. For starters, the black-and-gold has missed the playoffs two seasons running and are a good bet to fall short again.
A numbers of folks, including yours truly, have called for Sully to be replaced. Citing, among other issues, a perceived unwillingness to adjust his system to fit the admittedly modest talent on hand and a reluctance to play kids and aggressive players alike.
Frankly, I thought his message had grown stale and after nearly a decade at the Pens’ helm he’d exceeded his shelf life.
Well, I’m happy to say he’s proving me wrong. And on a big stage, to boot.
One of my sharpest criticisms of Sully is his reluctance, again perceived, to embrace physical players. Scanning Team USA’s roster prior to the tournament, I joked to PP colleagues Other Rick and Caleb DiNatale that the Tkachuk brothers would probably be stapled to the bench while averaging five minutes of ice time.
Uh…that would be a big, fat NO.
Not only did Sully smartly shift the bash brothers to the same line during Thursday night’s clubbing of Finland, resulting in a five-goal onslaught, he opened last night’s epic square-off with Canada with the Tkachuks and equally abrasive J.T. Miller on the ice for the opening faceoff.
The result?
Three fights in nine seconds in as intense an opening sequence to an international game as has ever been witnessed. Talk about passions and tempers flaring! It was a full-on Götterdämmerung.
The fact that Sully didn’t immediately yank the combatants-to-be off the ice following the initial go between Matthew Tkachuk and Canada’s Brandon Hagel? It gives me a whole new appreciation for what he’s willing to tolerate and even embrace in terms of physical play.
As for the rest of the high-stakes contest? It was pretty much dictated by Sully’s signature smothering forecheck and a surprisingly stout defense, backed by the brick wall goaltending of Connor Hellebuyck.
After coaching mostly mediocre teams the past few seasons, this has to be a much-needed gulp of fresh air for our skipper. Nice to see him getting his groove back or rediscovering his coaching mojo, whichever you prefer.
Steel City Connection
Through the first four games of the 4 Nations Face-Off, players with connections to the Penguins past and present have had a strong impact.
Last night Jake Guentzel scored two huge goals to pace the United States’ epic win over Canada. That gives him three goals for the tournament. Mikael Granlund scored the overtime winner in Finland’s 4-3 toppling of Sweden yesterday afternoon, in the process countering an earlier go-ahead goal by Erik Karlsson.
Suomi teammate Olli Määttä assisted on Aleksander Barkov’s game-tying goal in the third period, his second helper of the tourney.
Of course, Sidney Crosby turned in a three-assist performance for the ages in Canada’s OT victory over the Swedes Wednesday night.
Alas, the fates weren’t nearly as kind to Sid during last night’s loss, which saw his personal 26-0 streak in international play bite the dust. Sid contributed a costly giveaway, which led directly to Dylan Larkin’s go-ahead goal. He finished a team-worst minus-2 with no shots on goal. Our captain was also on the receiving end of a couple of big hits from Charlie McAvoy, as was Connor McDavid.
Hey, even legends can have a rough night once in a while.
It was no better for Team Sweden goalie and former Pens draft pick Filip Gustavsson, who exited the contest with Finland due to illness after allowing two goals on four shots.
Sorry Rick,
Once again you ignore the fact that whether or not you are talking about Hanafin, Slavin, or Macavoy or Fox or Werenski you are talking about top tier defensemen. The US roster is made up of what proports to be the best of the best US players and they are all highly motivated to win for their country. More importantly, Sullivan has had limited time to butt his enormous ego against his players.
Furthermore, you haven’t addressed the fact that Team Sully may have CORSI ed Canada but was on the short end of the Shots, Scoring Chances, High Danger Chances, and expected Goals, if Sully’s system or the D-men Sully employed were defense, grind oriented, not throw the puck at the net types.
My biases aren’t showing not showing. I am simply looking at the whole picture. However, your tendency to mercurial fickleness. jumping on streaks are on full display. After just two games, you are ready to erect a statue to the head coach while ignoring the players whole are actually fighting through their opponents.
Question, what will you say when regular season play resumes and Smelly is bereft of elite talent and he resumes his status quo coaching?
Hey Other Rick,
Not sure I suggest erecting a stature to Sullivan anywhere in my article. Those are your words, not mine. I’m merely suggesting that this has been a good experience for him and that he’s getting to enjoy coaching a really good team in some high stakes hockey after two-plus seasons of struggling with a mediocre at-best Pens team, and that he’s doing a good job.
In terms of being mercurial, things like opinions and performances aren’t set in concrete and are subject to change. I’ve stated this on more than one occasion and I’ll state it again. Win, lose, or draw, I think Sully’s done a better job of adjusting and adapting than at any time during the past several seasons.
Does that make him a perfect coach? No. Is he growing and stretching? In my opinion…yes.
I know you don’t like Sully and that’s your narrative and that’s fine. We can agree to disagree.
Rick
Rick,
I am not a fan of any single player or Coach, I am only a fan of the team.
And, I am sorry my friend, you do change opinions with the wind. You were beaming over Sullivan and crediting him with significant influences on the USA teams 2 Ws when the team is absolutely stacked. And affectively you were trying to erect a statue to Sullivan with your praise.
Well, if it makes you feel any better you have company.
Caleb just chimed in via text with, “Nah he (Sullivan) just has a stacked team…lol”
Rick
Great minds think alike
Well, at least Mark Madden agrees with me…lol. From the Trib…
“I thought Sullivan coached a great game. Canada, with (Jon) Cooper, was panicky,” Madden said. “They started switching lines radically throughout the game. I think when you have as many good players as they do, you trust your first instinct.”
Rick
Canada lost because they really do not have the Goaltending. The US was ridiculously inefficient in their offense, getting lots of Shot Attempts but few shots to the net and even fewer real scoring chances – typical Sullivan coaching. The difference in the game was Hellebuyck. The US has Hellebuyck and Ottenger while Canada has Binnington and Hill, serious differences there. In a game that really was a 1 Goal game, it always comes down to who has the better Goalie.
Rick
I think Sullivan is in a tough spot here. Just imagine the backlash from the fans and media
if he benched the Tkachuk brothers—”OH MY GOD!” Sully may have a big ego, but he’s not stupid.
I’m not trying to attack Sullivan, but I believe the credit for instilling grit and toughness in the USA
team should go to Minnesota’s GM Billy Guerin. I’m also guessing Sully didn’t have much say in
the team selections. I hope I’m mistaken, but the real assessment of MSHC will come this off-season
when Dubas and his staff make changes to the current roster. GO PENS
Agreed Mike
Hey Mike,
Excellent thoughts and I certainly won’t disagree. This team is definitely structured in Guerin’s image and we don’t know how much input Sully had into the player selection process.
Having said that, I credit him for not only playing the Tkachuks, but giving them a prominent role, and also riding his defensive horses in a tight, hard-fought game. Again, playing to his team’s strengths when the temptation might be there to do otherwise.
As for the future, it will be interesting to see if Sully can switch from a win-now mindset to more of a developmental posture. I think he’s probably at his best when coaching a competitive team that has the horses to execute his system (like this one).
I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
Rick
Hey all,
Just to provide a little perspective, there have been 398 head coaches in the history of the NHL according to Hockey Reference. Of that number, 57 (or 14.3 percent) have won at least one Stanley Cup, including former Pens skippers Bob Johnson and Dan Bylsma.
Drilling down further, 19 coaches (or 4.8 percent), including Sullivan and Scotty Bowman, have won two or more Cups. Sully’s tied with six others for 13th place on the all-time list, again out of a total of 398.
Yes, he may have been blessed with extraordinary talent. And Jim Rutherford did near perfect work during those two seasons. But ultimately, it was up to Sully to push the right buttons and get the team to perform. In his own words, to get the team to buy into what he was selling.
This is just opinion, but I think the 2011-12 team was actually the best and most talented of the Cup era (Geno’s MVP season) and we got humiliated by the Flyers in the first round, with Bylsma getting badly outcoached by Peter Laviolette. Whom Sullivan, in turn, bested in 2017.
Rick
The Answer to your question Rick is a big fat NO!!!! Sully has no groove – like in 2016 his has been given the keys to a Ferrari.
Sullivan’s strategies are doomed to failure if he isn’t given overwhelming talent. Even though Smelly’s USA team out CORSI ed the Canadiens 72.73% in the first Period, 52.63% in the 2nd and 53.33% overall, the Canadiens tied the US in Shots in the 1st and 2nd periods and out shot Sullivan’s team in the 3rd. The Canadiens also out chanced and out high danger chanced the US in the 1st and 2nd periods and over all. The Canadiens also out xGF ed the US in every period and overall.
The difference in the game wasn’t Smelly, it was Hellebuyck – just like the difference in the Cup defense against the Caps was Fleury.
When you only look at the surface, you condemn yourself to ramming the iceberg!!!
Hey Other Rick,
Sullivan was also smart enough to realize what his strengths were (Hellebuyck, strong forecheck, stout defense) and to play to them.
Someone on another site pointed out that in a tough, grinding game Sully elected to ride defensive stalwarts like McAvoy, Noah Hanifin and Jaccob Slavin over puck movers like Adam Fox and Zach Werenski. In a way, contrary to the typical Sully narrative, but one that demonstrates his willingness to adapt to the situation. Ditto his starting lineup.
I’ll never say Sully’s the perfect coach. He makes his mistakes for sure, but he gets far more right than you’re willing to concede.
It’s you, my friend, who keeps ramming (headlong) into the iceberg of his own bias.
Rick