Penguins parting ways with 2-time Stanley Cup champion head coach Mike Sullivan

Will Graves · The Associated Press

· Posted: Apr 28, 2025 10:45 AM EDT | Last Updated: 4 minutes ago

Mike Sullivan's astir decade-long tenure moving the Pittsburgh Penguins is over.

The squad announced Monday it was parting ways with the two-time Stanley Cup-winning manager conscionable implicit a week aft the Penguins missed retired connected the playoffs for a 3rd consecutive season.

Sullivan, whose 409 wins with Pittsburgh are a franchise record, led the Penguins to back-to-back championships successful 2016 and 2017 and had 2 much years near connected the declaration hold helium signed successful 2022. The 57-year-old had said precocious that helium wanted to stay with the nine arsenic it tries to retool astir aboriginal Hall of Famer Sidney Crosby.

General manager Kyle Dubas was a spot much cautious past week, saying helium and Sullivan planned to conscionable to guarantee their visions of the team's aboriginal remained aligned. Dubas said Monday that the determination to determination connected wasn't 1 the nine took lightly, but 1 it felt was necessary.

"As we proceed to navigate the Penguins done this transitional period, we felt it was the champion people guardant for each involved," Dubas said.

The announcement was rather antithetic from the code Dubas struck past week, erstwhile helium called Sullivan an "elite-level" manager who appeared to bargain into the sizable roster overhaul Dubas is attempting to oversee.

"There's ever the constituent that precise fewer coaches who are successful that realm often privation to spot a squad done this," Dubas said a week ago. "But he's been precise unfastened astir this is what helium wants to bash truthful we'll conscionable proceed to reaffirm that and arsenic agelong arsenic he's connected that broadside of it, we volition rotation with that."

Direct, no-nonsense approach

The Penguins hired Sullivan successful December 2015 to regenerate Mike Johnston successful hunt of a spark. Sullivan brought a direct, no-nonsense attack that, combined with a bid of shrewd moves by then-GM Jim Rutherford, helped Pittsburgh go the archetypal squad successful astir 2 decades to triumph back-to-back titles.

Sullivan besides developed a heavy enslaved with Crosby and chap franchise icons Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, repeatedly praising their enactment during the backmost fractional of a 16-year agelong successful which the Penguins were playoff fixtures.

Yet the occurrence that came truthful easy during the aboriginal days of Sullivan's tenure faded arsenic the halfway grew older and the beforehand bureau — archetypal Rutherford, who near successful aboriginal 2021, past his replacement Ron Hextall, who lasted a small implicit 2 years earlier being fired — was incapable to find the close pieces to capable retired a roster that rapidly became aged and apical heavy.

Pittsburgh narrowly missed the post-season successful 2023. The franchise missed it by a small much successful 2024, and a small much inactive this year, erstwhile it was fundamentally retired of it implicit the last 2 months contempt different sublime twelvemonth by the 37-year-old Crosby, who averaged astatine slightest a constituent a crippled for an NHL-record 20th consecutive season.

The determination came somewhat arsenic a astonishment fixed Sullivan's resume, his narration with Crosby and the information Fenway Sports Group had made it wide since buying the squad successful precocious 2021 however fond it was of the Boston native.

The determination besides could person been retired of courtesy. The timing instantly makes Sullivan possibly the astir charismatic coaching campaigner connected the market. The fig of unfastened jobs includes the New York Rangers, a seasoned squad that whitethorn beryllium person to contention than the Penguins.