The Pittsburgh Penguins are going home. Mike Sullivan is the biggest reason why. He is not a “bad” coach, but he is also not a great one either. Great coaches don’t blunder their way through obvious decisions and deployment like he did the last two years. The Penguins are 1-9 in their last ten playoff games.
He completely whiffs on obvious personnel choices and his in game management leaves a lot to be desired. Up until the very end of the third period Jack Johnson had played more 5v5 than the birthday boy, Sidney Crosby. With the season on the line he has the fourth line out there with two minutes left. A fourth line, while good defensively, is just as inept offensively. Patrick Marleau kept getting ice time. Justin Schultz kept getting top power play minutes. Crosby and Malkin never play together at 5v5 regardless of the game situation. He never came close to figuring out a way to move forward without Phil Kessel running the power play. None of these things are complicated or not easy to see/understand. Yet, the wrong decisions keep getting made. Many of the things Dan Bylsma got crushed for when he was fired apply here.
In Game 4 the Penguins played tentatively and for the large majority of the game it looked like it was intentional and a tactical choice by the coaching staff. It shows such a lack of understanding of the kind of team they are and the kind of way they should play. They ran over Montreal for two and a half games. The process was fine outside of some obvious lineup gaffes. There was no push forward. They were content trying to win a 1-0 game against a team way better setup in both ability and mentality. Barry Trotz handed Mike Sullivan his lunch two years in a row and Claude Julien did today.
The shine has worn off Sullivan and I wonder if it wouldn’t have happened sooner if the Penguins didn’t PDO their way to the second Stanley Cup. Regardless, I think the shine has come off now. It is hard to ignore. His stubbornness to change obvious errors got the Penguins the result they deserved today and the last two years. He has to own these shortcomings and I don’t think it would be unacceptable if he owned it with losing his job as Penguins head coach.
I’m looking at both Bruce Boudreau and Gerard Gallant without current jobs and I like the idea of both of them right now than Sullivan. Gallant’s firing in Vegas was strange. Vegas was a great team under him and they pushed play with high success. Bruce Boudreau’s teams are some of the very best of the salary cap era. He has done amazing work with Washington, Anaheim, and the lesser talented Minnesota teams. He just gets screwed by goaltending. Boudreau would be my preference. I think very highly of him. It would also bring some entertaining hockey. That is the reason we all watch at the end of the day.
I don’t know how you can return to the Mike Sullivan status quo. The 1-9 run the Penguins are on in the playoffs speaks for itself. This is a Cup or Bust team and they have completely busted. Mike Sullivan did great things with the Penguins. Nothing can take that away from him. Fans will remember him fondly for his work in 2015-16 and 2016-17. He’s the only coach in franchise history to win the Cup multiple times.
All coaches have a shelf life in this league. I believe Mike Sullivan’s has expired. Hiring Bruce Boudreau would give this team the shot in the arm they need.
Thanks for reading!
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