I won't lie to yinz, I like Mike Sullivan. We're similar. We're a couple of devilishly handsome Irishmen who love hockey and enjoy a pint of Guinness on our back patio.
The Penguins franchise has won five Stanley Cup Championships, and he's the only bench boss that's been around for two.
He's had the best coaching career in Penguins history. Unfortunately, coaches in the NHL are as disposable as the diapers I put on my 9-month-old baby.
Every great coach has an expiration date. Dan Bylsma was a Stanley Cup Champion, a Jack Adam's award winner, and owned a .670 regular season winning percentage. Eventually, though, his head was on the chopping block.
This year we saw Mike Babcock and Gerard Gallant get canned. Peter Laviolette won the Cup with the Canes in 2006 and was fired two years later.
Three-time Stanley Cup champion Joel Quenneville was fired last year by the Chicago Blackhawks.
Coaches. Are. Disposable.
In fact, in four of the five Penguins championship seasons, the coach behind the bench was in his first year with the club.
I hate to say it (truly), but maybe the time is up for Mike Sullivan. After all, his team is down 2-1 in a playoff series against a team that isn't really a playoff team. This after not winning a playoff game last year against an inferior opponent.
He’s playing the goalie that many believe to be the worse of the two he’s got.
Jack Johnson is on scholarship because Juuso Riikola…Did what exactly?
I would be utterly shocked if Jack Johnson doesn’t play on Friday.
The Penguins were down 4-3 in the third period and with about five minutes left in the game Jack Johnson and Sam Lafferty were both on the ice.
The third line has been an abomination, and they were out there in a one score, must-win game. Yikes.
When the Penguins needed the extra attacker, it wasn't Bryan Rust or Jason Zucker who hopped over the boards. It was Justin Schultz.
Sully talked about needed to get to the dirty areas after Saturday’s game, and well, he didn’t put Patrick Hornqvist on the top power play in game one.
How can you call for a little more net-front presence, and yet leave that guy on the bench on the top power play unit?
Here's what needs to happen: Give Juuso Riikola and Chad Ruhwedel a shot on the third pair. Give the net to Tristan Jarry. The Pens need a spark, but really, they just need a save. Give the speedy Evan Rodriques a chance to center the terrible third-line.
Mike Sullivan is a great coach, and if they win another Cup, he’ll be a Hall of Fame coach.
He got the petulant Penguins to “just play.”
Sullivan is the most accomplished coach in the Penguins history. He won two rings! He will always hold a special place in my Penguins' fan heart.
Hey, maybe he will make the changes. I hope he does for his sake and for the sake of the team.
If he doesn’t, this will have been a loss to the worst playoff team of all time. After getting swept by the Islanders last year. The Penguins didn’t win a playoff game in 2019. They’re down 2-1 to a Montreal team that sold at the deadline.
He needs to make necessary changes, or he’s going to go down with the ship.