If folks have been keeping tabs on the Pittsburgh Penguins for the last year and a half, they very well know that the organization is going through a plethora of change.
The roster is going younger. There has been a shift from laying everything on the line for playoff contention to rebuilding.
But perhaps the most prominent shift was the coaching change made this summer.
Dan Muse was in, and former head coach Mike Sullivan was out. The irony of it all was that Sullivan faced his former team on opening night, as he is now at the helm for the New York Rangers. Muse did, too, as he was formerly an assistant with the Rangers.
And now, just four days later, Sullivan is already back in Pittsburgh for the first time since switching sides, as the Rangers and Penguins square off again Saturday night.
Many among the Penguins’ faithful believed Sullivan was past his shelf life in Pittsburgh by the time he and the team mutually agreed to part ways at the end of April. And, maybe that’s true. But none of that diminishes what Sullivan accomplished during his 10 years in Pittsburgh.
Sullivan was first called upon in Pittsburgh on Dec. 12, 2015, when then-Penguins’ coach Mike Johnston was fired and Sullivan was the head coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (AHL). He helped turn the tide for a struggling Penguins’ team and led them to the franchise’s fourth Stanley Cup championship in 2016, and he coached them right back to another Cup in 2017.
There was so much success so immediately – and Sullivan’s Penguins were such a breath of fresh air in comparison to the Johnston-era Penguins – that there was a sense of inevitability when it came to Sullivan and the Penguins being synonymous for a long time.
Rangers At Penguins Preview: Mike Sullivan Returns To Pittsburgh
The Pittsburgh Penguins will try to improve to 3-0-0 on the season when they host Mike Sullivan and the New York Rangers on Saturday night.
But the COVID-19 pandemic, first-round playoff exits, and – eventually – missed playoff appearances altogether served as reminders that the team and its coach were still human and that nothing is permanent. Fans grew tired of the same old same, and, too, of Sullivan himself.
There are a lot of narratives still swirling about Sullivan and his supposed failure to ice young players, even if the young talent – for the most part – simply wasn’t in the pipeline for most of his tenure. There are narratives about him losing the room, which is something we may never truly know.
However, tonight, none of that matters. All that matters is what Sullivan accomplished as head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins, which includes two Stanley Cup championships and his 409 regular season wins, which is the most by any coach in Penguins’ history.
Saturday, he deserves to be celebrated for that. Not for his shortcomings.
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The Pittsburgh Penguins will get one of their top forwards back for Saturday’s game against the New York Rangers.
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