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Changes have already started within the Pittsburgh Penguins organization as the hunt for a new front office staff hits closes in on its first week.
There will obviously be a new general manager in charge of the Penguins in the near future, and lineup changes are imminent, but what other adjustments could be on the horizon?
What about the men in suits behind the bench? Are head coach Mike Sullivan and his staff on their way out the door?
In short, Sullivan’s job will be safe. Everyone around him, however, might be sitting in a warm chair.
Following the firing of Ron Hextall, Brian Burke, and Chris Pryor, Fenway Sports Group (FSG) reiterated their faith in Sullivan.
David Beeston of FSG stated that decisions with the Penguins’ coaching staff will be made by new management, but the ownership has a great amount of respect for Sullivan and his staff.
“We think Mike Sullivan is one of the best coaches in the NHL,” Beeston said. “Once we bring in a new hockey operations leader, he or she will be responsible for evaluating the coaching staff. We think Mike is terrific and his whole staff is terrific.”
So, decisions with the coaching staff will be made by new management, but the new management decision will be made by FSG.
Sure, the new management group might evaluate the staff, but FSG isn’t going to hire anyone who sees Sullivan as a liability.
Sullivan signed a contract extension last off season that doesn’t even start until the 2024-25 season and ends in 2027.
FSG put their faith in Sullivan and likely won’t hire anyone who thinks differently, but what about guys like Todd Reirden and Mike Vellucci?
Both Reirden and Vellucci also signed extensions last offseason, but they didn’t have great years in their respective roles in 2022-23.
Reirden’s contract extension also came with a promotion to associate coach and he has been the mind behind the Penguins’ power play since his arrival.
Well, the Penguins’ power play came up empty on too many occasions finishing the season with a 21.72% rating.
Sullivan had a fierce defense of the power play and brought up their placement among the rest of the NHL, but that doesn’t change the fact that 21.72% was barely above league average and there were a number of games where they failed to record a goal despite having numerous man advantage opportunities.
The shortcomings of the power play don’t fall on Sullivan completely, as that was Reirden’s domain.
Much like the power play belonging to Reirden, the penalty kill fell under Vellucci.
The Penguins penalty kill finish with a 79.09% success rate, again barely over league average (78.69%).
On both sides of the special teams coin, the Penguins didn’t perform well enough; too many games were won and lost thanks to those areas of the game.
Either the power play failed to score in big opportunities, or the penalty kill couldn’t keep the puck out of their own net.
Sullivan’s job might be safe under FSG and their new hires, but the case could be made that he needs a new staff around him.
More must-reads:
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