The Pittsburgh Penguins have a new head coach. Let’s take a look at what he inherits, for better or worse.
When Pittsburgh Penguins General Manager Jim Rutherford called over to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton a few days ago, a week ago, or whenever it was he made up his mind about Mike Johnston, how do you think Mike Sullivan received the call?
The Positives
You would figure it was with glee.
He is joining an organization housing two of the greatest hockey players in the world. An organization that has won three Stanley Cups. An organization that’s not that far removed from winning their last title.
Puck Prose
Mike Sullivan is taking over behind the bench of a team whose best players are going through a twenty eight game dry spell.
He acknowledged as much when he said “I don’t think it’s any secret the Pittsburgh Penguins are built around speed and skill. So, that has to be an element of our identity as far as how we’re going to play.”
Common sense dictates that the dam was already prime to burst and the goals were going to come regardless of who was coaching. If his system emphasizes offense even twenty percent more than Johnston’s, odds are he’s going to look like he solved that problem.
There’s also the fact that he doesn’t have to ride the bus in the AHL anymore. That alone would make most coaches happy to see an incoming call from Jim Rutherford.
The Negatives
I do wonder if Mike Sullivan might have received that phone call with some trepidation, however.
As more than a few fans and media outlets have noted since Johnston’s firing, Sidney Crosby is now on his fourth head coach.
It wasn’t that long ago people were falling all over themselves to talk about Alex Ovechkin being a coach-killer when Adam Oates was replaced by Barry Trotz. Trotz is only Ovi’s fifth head coach. Those same accusations are now being levied at Crosby, though the discourse is far more muted. Ironically Evgeni Malkin has also had four head coaches, but he’s never mentioned.
Steve Simmons noted – and was blasted down for it – that this is Phil Kessel‘s seventh coach in his ten NHL seasons.
That’s a lot of coaches. Does Mike Sullivan buy into those narratives?
I doubt it. With that said, it will take a man of a certain ego to bully around the best player in the world, along with another player who is top five in the same category. An ego that either doesn’t realize or does not care that Malkin’s contract specifies six more years and Crosby’s specifies nine more years, while the coach’s own contract is only good for three years total.
That is exactly what Sullivan will need to do if Crosby doesn’t break out in the near future. If Sid continues to salt away at a 0.68 points per game pace (his career average is 1.33 PPG), the new head coach will have to consider making some real noise with Crosby.
If he lets a continued lack of production go unpunished and provides no motivation for the captain (or for any of the other players on the team, for that matter), he will risk ending up in the unemployment line with Johnston sooner rather than later.
For his part, Sullivan said yesterday that “the only way I know how to do it is through an honest and candid assessment of where we’re at and where we can go. I hope that resonates with the players.”
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He was so forthright, in fact, that Beau Bennett “described his first impression of Sullivan as “deliberate” compared to Johnston’s more “soft-spoken” demeanor” when speaking to the media after practice.
A stern voice is something the Pittsburgh Penguins have lacked for years. It feels necessary at this point.
Another interesting aspect of that phone call, though, is how does Sullivan feel when Rutherford offers him the job but with the caveat that his assistant coaches are Rick Tocchet and Jacques Martin?
Did it sound something like this? “We want you to be the Pittsburgh Penguins head coach, Mike. We just don’t trust you enough to let you bring your own guys.”
Jim Rutherford is apparently not a fan of head coaches picking their own assistants.
Rick Tocchet was not Johnston’s man either. What is Rutherford’s obsession with Tocchet and why is he still here when the Pittsburgh Penguins power play (27th in the league at 15.6%) has been abysmal?
Rob Rossi suggested that despite his failings, “Tocchet’s advantage for keeping his job is obvious: He’s a “Friend of Mario.”
I don’t know who Sullivan’s guys might be, but surely he’d prefer his own choice over an assistant who was failing under the previous regime.
Next: Have Years Of Hits Taken Their Toll on Sidney Crosby?
Conclusion
With the Pittsburgh Penguins, Mike Sullivan is inheriting a team that has saw it’s general manager focus so blindly on scoring goals that the defensive corps is a patchwork shamble so thin it has featured twenty five games of Rob Scuderi.
A general manager who still took that approach a year after hiring a coach who emphasized a system where defense creates offense.
While Sullivan shows some promise as a more up-tempo coach who appears to value clean zone entries and exits to generate that offense, his efforts in that regard will still be hamstrung by the same anemic defense corps that has plagued the Pens offense all season. There are few names on the blueline who have shown they can contribute to the rush in the manner Penguins fans would like to see.
Johnston did coach this defensive group to 7th in the league in goals allowed per game (2.32), though the Pens are actually 28th in the league in shots allowed per game at 31.8. The only difference between the Pittsburgh Penguins and a lottery team at this moment is the stellar play of Marc-Andre Fleury.
All of that bad news aside, Mike Sullivan is now captain of a ship which features Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
There are much worse places to be. Like on the bus to Syracuse or Hartford in the middle of winter.