When the news hit around 9 a.m. Monday that the Pittsburgh Penguins and Mike Sullivan were parting ways after a decade, the first thought was this:
Will the Rangers make an announcement at 9:01?
Chris Drury has been the Rangers’ president and general manager for just shy of four years, and he’s wanted Sullivan to coach the Rangers for, oh, let’s say just shy of four years. One of Drury’s first moves as GM was firing David Quinn as Rangers coach. His next move, hiring Gerard Gallant, came 33 days later, after some behind-the-scenes work to see if Sullivan (and then the Carolina Hurricanes’ Rod Brind’Amour) was interested in a move.
It didn’t happen then, nor did it happen two years ago when Drury dumped Gallant. Sullivan was entrenched in a long extension by the summer of 2023, so Drury went with another Stanley Cup-winning New Englander in Peter Laviolette. That worked until it didn’t — this season, when nothing worked for the Rangers.
Which is the main reason Sullivan is a must now. There will be plenty of competition for Sullivan, who leaves a job where he was making $5.5 million per year and will surely command more. The Boston Bruins are lurking — and feature Sullivan’s son-in-law, Charlie McAvoy, who could become their next captain. So are Chicago and the Philadelphia Flyers.
And if Sullivan gives this a few more days, there could be a couple of jobs with even more appeal, namely the Dallas Stars, Edmonton Oilers and/or Vegas Golden Knights, three teams that go for broke every year and are more than willing to shake up their coaching situation even after a successful regular season. If one, two or all three of those teams lose in the first round, you can bet at least one of those coaching jobs will be open soon after.
It’s a good time to be Sullivan. It’s a bad time to be a Ranger, coming off a collapse of a season that featured a shuffled roster, one of the worst months in recent franchise history and zero goodwill between management, coaches and players. It’s not exactly a welcoming environment right now, given that Drury traded his captain four months ago, then two under-25 mainstays, and is now likely going to move the franchise’s third all-time leading goal scorer.
Stability is what this team needs in the worst way. It’s what Sullivan can offer. It’s not just about the two Cup rings, because those are gathering a little dust at this point from 2016 and 2017. This is more about the presence that Sullivan brings. He’s the best coach out there, and if the Rangers can convince him to join this adrift group, it would galvanize not just an angry fan base but a fractured locker room.
When it comes to the actual coaching, there could be a little concern. The Penguins’ roster is far more broken down than the Rangers’, given that Pittsburgh is working on a three-year lottery streak despite having Sidney Crosby still playing at a high level. Sullivan has been trying to keep that wheezing horse running for a few years now, and it’s not working.
Of course, if he comes to the Rangers, Sullivan will be facing a similar challenge: a top-heavy team that stubbornly refuses to defend. In Clear Sight Hockey’s rankings of high-danger chances allowed per game, the Rangers were tied for 30th this past season, allowing 6.28 such chances a night. The Penguins were 32nd at 6.77. The Rangers do have Igor Shesterkin, where the Penguins never solved their goalie issues after Marc-Andre Fleury and Matt Murray departed, but it’s on the Rangers’ next coach to get this team to commit to defending.
And then there’s the price tag. Only Jon Cooper in Tampa makes more than Sullivan. All the potential suitors will drive Sullivan’s price well over $6 million per year, maybe even to $7 million. Are the Rangers willing to make that kind of bet when the roster is still in transition?
Sullivan is the one who’d be gambling the most if he comes here. A source close to the coach said he has no interest in a rebuild, which seemingly takes the Hawks off the table. Maybe the Bruins and Flyers, too. Of the teams in need of a coach right now, that leaves the Rangers and the Ducks, though it’s believed Anaheim is already moving toward a new coach.
If Sullivan isn’t interested in waiting for a more established team to falter in the first round, the Rangers may make the most sense, despite the terrible season. Shesterkin is still elite. So is Adam Fox. There are still a few good young players here. Even Chris Kreider, who joined the Rangers as a rookie out of college when Sullivan was an assistant to John Tortorella, might be rejuvenated by Sullivan’s arrival. Maybe a Sullivan hire means Drury doesn’t have to keep dismantling this team and only needs some targeted moves to return the Rangers to competitiveness.
Even if Drury’s goal is to keep making major roster changes, Sullivan could help attract free agents too — seeing the connection Sullivan forged with Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, the Penguins’ big three, there would be plenty of pending unrestricted free agents who would want to see what Sullivan is about.
There are a lot of ways this search could go wrong for Drury. He got a multiyear extension from Dolan last week to send the message to the team and prospective coaches that Drury is still firmly in charge, but a bad hire here and another bad season would make that extension worthless. Getting the coach Drury has long coveted would allow the Rangers to focus on fixing their problems, not hoping yet another coach will step in and solve everything.
A person who was there shared a story from an offseason organizational gathering during Sullivan’s time as a Tortorella assistant. Those meetings happened in California, and coaches were not always invited, so Sullivan wasn’t there. Dolan wanted to know where he was and asked a group of Rangers execs: “Where’s Kennedy?” No one corrected Dolan, and “Where’s Kennedy?” became part of the Sullivan lore at the Rangers.
Dolan knows Sullivan’s name now, that’s for sure. This is the best available coach in the league as of Monday at 9 a.m. The Rangers have to get this right, and the way to do that is to bring Sullivan to New York.
Mike Sullivan career coaching record
(Top photo: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)
