The last time the Pittsburgh Penguins skated in a playoff game was on May 15, 2022. Currently, only five head coaches, including Mike Sullivan, are still employed with the same team in 2025.
Those names include Jon Cooper (Tampa Bay Lightning), Jared Bednar (Colorado Avalanche), Rod Brind’Amour (Carolina Hurricanes), and Martin St. Louis (Montreal Canadiens).
Considering the last time the Penguins won a series was on April 22, 2018, only three coaches, including Sullivan, are still running their teams: Cooper and Bednar. In seven seasons since Pittsburgh last won a series, the Lightning have won 12 matchups and the Avalanche eight, with the two clubs combining for three Stanley Cup titles.
Since taking over, Brind’Amour has guided the Hurricanes to seven playoff series wins, while St. Louis has just gotten the Canadiens back to the playoffs since their run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021.
Meanwhile, just two months after their elimination, several competing teams replaced their coaches and have found postseason success.
Bruce Cassidy (June 14, 2022) won the Stanley Cup with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023, Peter DeBoer (June 21, 2022) has led the Dallas Stars to back-to-back Western Conference Final appearances, while Paul Maurice (June 22, 2022) finally won the Stanley Cup on the second of back-to-back Final appearances with the Florida Panthers in 2024.
Thus far, since the 2024-25 season ended, the NHL head coaching vacancies are starting to pile up.
First, the Anaheim Ducks fired Greg Cronin, despite a 21-point improvement from their 2023-24 season. Next, the New York Rangers fired Peter Laviolette, almost one year to the day the team celebrated its Presidents’ Trophy win. Finally, the Seattle Kraken fired former Penguins bench boss Dan Bylsma, who was 35-41-6 in his only season in the Pacific Northwest.
Since their last playoff win, the Penguins have compiled a 112-99-35 record for 259 points, which ranks 21st in the NHL, all under the guidance of Sullivan.
Interestingly, when we examine the teams with worse records, the number of coaching changes is quite fascinating. Never mind, when we look at the NHL in general, here’s a look at the head coaches and the franchise records since the end of the 2021-22 season.
- Dallas (149-68-29) 327 points (1 – Pete DeBoer)
- Carolina (151-74-21) 323 points (1 – Rod Brind’Amour)
- Toronto (148-73-25) 321 points (2 – Sheldon Keefe, Craig Berube)
- Winnipeg (154-79-13) 321 points (2 – Rick Bowness, Scott Arniel)
- Boston (145-71-30) 320 points (2 – Jim Montgomery, Joe Sacco)
- Vegas (146-73-27) 319 points (1 – Bruce Cassidy)
- Colorado (150-78-18) 318 points (1 – Jared Bednar)
- Edmonton (147-79-20) 308 points (2 – Jay Woodcroft, Kris Knoblauch)
- Los Angeles (139-77-30) 308 points (2 – Todd McLellan, Jim Hiller)
- New York Rangers (141-81-24) 306 points (2 – Gerard Gallant, Peter Laviolette)
- Florida (141-87-18) 300 points (1 – Paul Maurice)
- Tampa Bay (138-86-22) 298 points (1 – Jon Cooper)
- Minnesota (130-89-27) 287 points (2 – Dean Evason, John Hynes)
- New Jersey (132-94-20) 284 points (3 – Lindy Ruff, Travis Green, Sheldon Keefe)
- Vancouver (126-90-30) 282 points (2 – Bruce Boudreau, Rick Tocchet)
- Washington (126-90-30) 282 points (2 – Peter Laviolette, Spencer Carbery)
- Calgary (117-93-36) 270 points (2 – Darryl Sutter, Ryan Huska)
- St. Louis (124-101-21) 269 points (3 – Craig Berube, Drew Bannister, Jim Montgomery)
- New York Islanders (116-93-37) 269 points (2 – Lane Lambert, Patrick Roy)
- Ottawa (121-106-19) 261 points (3 – D.J. Smith, Jacques Martin, Travis Green)
- Pittsburgh (112-99-35) 259 points (1 – Mike Sullivan)
- Nashville (119-106-21) 259 points (2 – John Hynes, Andrew Brunette)
- Detroit (115-104-27) 257 points (2 – Derek Lalonde, Todd McLellan)
- Seattle (115-104-27) 257 points (2 – Dave Hakstol, Dan Bylsma)
- Buffalo (117-109-20) 254 points (2 – Don Granato, Lindy Ruff)
- Philadelphia (102-110-34) 238 points (2 – John Tortorella, Brad Shaw)
- Utah/Arizona (102-111-32) 236 points (1 – Andre Tourigny)
- Montreal (101-112-33) 235 points (1 – Martin St. Louis)
- Columbus (92-124-30) 197 points (3 – Brad Larsen, Pascal Vincent, Dean Evason)
- Anaheim (85-134-27) 197 points (2 – Dallas Eakins, Greg Cronin)
- Chicago (74-148-37) 172 points (2 – Luke Richardson, Anders Sorensen)
- San Jose (61-148-37) 159 points (2 – David Quinn, Ryan Warsofsky)
Except for the Canadiens and Utah Hockey Club (formerly the Arizona Coyotes), every franchise below the Penguins in the standings has switched coaches at least once. In Montreal’s case, they finally clinched a playoff spot in 2025, increasing from 68 points to 76 and now 91, a 23-point rise in the standings.
Utah had a winning record, 38-31-13 (89 points) in their first season, while registering 70 and 77 point seasons in the desert under Tourigny.
In Pittsburgh, under Sullivan’s guidance for the past three seasons, the Penguins have only continued to drop in the standings. In 2022-23, they finished 11 games over .500, with a record of 40-31-11 for 91 points. Last year, they were only six games over .500 at 38-32-12 for 88 points, while finishing two games under .500 this season at 34-36-12 for 80 points, an 11-point drop from three seasons ago.
If we go back even further to 2021-22, when the Penguins lost to the Rangers in Game 7, that year’s club had 103 points, meaning this year’s club finished 23 points below their most recent best season.
While the NHL coaching carousel continues to spin across North America, it has thus far bypassed Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, big-name head coaches are winning the Jack Adams Award, something Sullivan has never achieved, and have since been fired, as seen with Cassidy (2019), Sutter (2022), and Montgomery (2023).
Outside of Sutter’s absence from the game, both Cassidy and Montgomery have found successes with their new clubs, while their former club, the Bruins, plummeted to the bottom of the Eastern Conference.
Meanwhile, the Penguins remain content with Sullivan behind the bench, with his most recent successes quickly fading into the rearview mirror.
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