Mike Sullivan of the Pittsburgh Penguins
In an article published Tuesday, Josh Yohe of The Athletic suggested that Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan was never close to leaving the team to join the New Jersey Devils this offseason.
“I don’t doubt the Devils would’ve liked to speak to him,” Yohe said about Sullivan. “But there’s no reason to believe Sullivan was interested. Say what you want about whether the Penguins should still employ him. Many fans are through with him, and I get it—2017 was a long time ago. But I wouldn’t question his loyalty to the Penguins. I think he’s obsessed with winning here again. I don’t see him wanting out.”
Sullivan, who led the Penguins to Stanley Cup titles in 2016 and 2017, was linked to the Devils earlier this spring. However, Penguins president of hockey operations and general manager Kyle Dubas made it clear in April that “no requests and no permissions were granted” regarding the Devils potentially speaking with Sullivan. New Jersey introduced Sheldon Keefe as its new head coach on Tuesday.
According to Tim Benz of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, NHL insider Frank Seravalli reported on “The Daily Faceoff Live” on April 30 that he understood there was “a bit of a power struggle ongoing between Kyle Dubas and Mike Sullivan.” Seravalli noted that “Dubas would like to make changes to the coaching staff in the assistants, and Mike Sullivan has been resistant to that.”
Yohe indicated on Tuesday that “there was absolutely nothing to” Seravalli’s claim. The Penguins confirmed on May 3 that they had parted ways with associate coach Todd Reirden.
Under Sullivan, the Penguins had maintained the longest active playoff streak in North American sports until last spring. Pittsburgh missed the postseason for the second straight season this year.
Yohe was understandably asked in his latest mailbag why the Penguins didn’t fire Sullivan, considering that key players like captain Sidney Crosby, center Evgeni Malkin, defenseman Kris Letang, and fellow defenseman Erik Karlsson aren’t getting any younger.
“Ownership likes him,” Yohe said about Sullivan. “Dubas likes him. The stars like him. He has two rings.”
