Sidney Crosby will have a new coach next season after Mike Sullivan was let go by the Pittsburgh … More Penguins on Monday. (Photo by Bill Wippert/NHLI via Getty Images)
NHLI via Getty Images
Mike Sullivan, one of the longest-tenured coaches in the NHL, is out of a job.
On Monday, the Pittsburgh Penguins announced that they’d agreed to part ways with the 57-year-old Cup winner after 10 seasons.
Elevated from his position as coach of the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins after Mike Johnston was fired on Dec. 12, 2015, Sullivan had instant success in his new role as he guided the Penguins to Stanley Cup wins in 2016 and 2017.
After that, though, post-season success became harder to come by. Even though the team continued its ‘win now’ approach, the Penguins were bounced in the second round of the 2018 playoffs, then lost in the first round for the next four years before missing the playoffs entirely in each of the last three seasons.
All told, Sullivan departs with a record of 409-255-87 for a .605 points percentage in the regular season, and a playoff record of 44-38 over 82 games, for .537. He had two seasons remaining on a three-year contract extension that he signed under previous GM Ron Hextall in August of 2022, and was one of the highest-paid coaches in the league.
Despite his recent results, Sullivan is highly regarded in the NHL community. He coached Team USA at February’s 4 Nations Face-Off and will also be behind the U.S. bench for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy next year. Prior to Pittsburgh, he served as the Boston Bruins’ head coach for two seasons from 2003-2006, and as an assistant with the Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks — working under John Tortorella in all three of those positions.
Mike Sullivan and John Tortorella have coached together in the past. Could it happen again? (Photo … More by Dave Reginek/NHLI via Getty Images)
NHLI via Getty Images
Tortorella, of course, was let go by the Philadelphia Flyers last month. Could the band get back together in a new market?
In addition to Pittsburgh, coaching vacancies currently exist with the Anaheim Ducks, New York Rangers and Seattle Kraken. Last week, the Kraken parted ways with Dan Bylsma — who won a Cup with the Penguins in 2009 – after one season. The Ducks and Rangers fired Greg Cronin and Peter Laviolette, respectively, on Apr. 19.
Three other teams appointed interim coaches after in-season changes, and could look for fresh blood this summer — the Flyers, Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins.
As for the Penguins, their road ahead is intriguing. They haven’t made the playoffs since Fenway Sports Group took over as majority owner in December of 2021 despite having one of the greatest players in the game, Sidney Crosby, on their roster. At 37, Crosby is showing no signs of slowing down, finishing the year with his third-straight 90-plus point season and leading Canada to victory at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
In 2024-25, Crosby also became the first player in NHL history to log 20 consecutive point-per-game seasons — every year of his career to date.
Even though Crosby carries a below-market-value cap hit of $8.7 million per season and signed an extension last September that will keep him in Pittsburgh at that number for two additional years, the Penguins have had difficulty maintaining an effective supporting cast around him. Jim Rutherford served as GM during their Cup-winning years, but left the team in January of 2021. He was succeed by Hextall, who lasted through the 2022-23 season. Kyle Dubas has held the reins for the last two years as the team’s president and GM of hockey operations.
With the NHL’s salary cap rising to $95.5 million next season, the Penguins currently have about $23 million in cap space to work with, according to PuckPedia. They have 20 roster players signed for next season, so meaningful moves would probably need to happen via the trade route. As trade-deadline sellers, Pittsburgh also holds up to 11 picks in the 2025 draft, including a potential first-rounder that will depend on the outcome of the draft lottery. The pick originally belonged to the New York Rangers, who finished with the 11th-worst record in the league. If the pick ends up landing in the top 13, which is likely, it will slide to 2026 — perceived to be a better draft, and with no protections.
A native of Marshfield, Mass., Mike Sullivan was drafted by the Rangers in the fourth round of the 1987 draft. As a defensive-oriented center, he put up 54 goals and 82 assists for 136 points in 709 NHL games.
