Penguins coach Mike Sullivan stresses a common vision with new president Kyle Dubas

Mike Sullivan has some experience in helping an underachieving franchise make a course correction that leads to success.

He did just that in December 2015 when he took over as coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins and led them to a Stanley Cup title a little more than six months later.

That accomplishment came while working with former general manager Jim Rutherford, a man with whom he largely shared a common vision regarding how the team had to play.

Seven years later, as the Penguins try to get back on track after missing the playoffs, Sullivan professes a similar congruence with new president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas, who was officially hired Thursday.

“Kyle and I had a couple of conversations just around the identity of the Penguins, how the Penguins have had success, trying to set the team up to play to their strengths,” Sullivan said via video conference on Friday. “And I’ve always looked at our core group of players in trying to play a style of play that lends to their strengths. I think Kyle is very much aligned with the identity of the Penguins and how the Penguins have had success.”

Sullivan and Dubas had a handful of discussions a week prior as the Penguins were courting Dubas.

“My initial impression is that I think we share a lot of similar ideas and philosophies on just the evolution of the game and the evolution of the NHL and where it’s going and which teams are having success and why,” Sullivan said. “But also, in particular, just the Penguins and looking at our group and the personnel that we have and how do we set our group up for success? And how do we surround our core with what it needs to have success? I’m sure we’ll have a lot more discussions moving forward now that Kyle is officially on board and part of our organization.”

The bulk of those chats in the short term likely will involve roster composition. The next handful of weeks are highly intense throughout the NHL in terms of player movement as the league’s draft (June 28-29) as well as the first day of free agency (July 1) approach.

“We’ve had some preliminary discussions but nothing in detail to this point,” Sullivan said. “But I’m sure that will change here in the near future.”

One thing that doesn’t appear to be bound to change is the Penguins’ adherence to crafting a roster based on one predominant trait.

“Speed has always been an important element,” Sullivan said. “Speed is part of the evolution of the game. When you look at the teams that are having success in the league, none of them are slow. That’s an aspect that I think we can improve and get better. There are lots of other areas that I think we’ve looked at. We could talk for a long time on this subject. But if I were to point to one aspect, I think that’s an area that we could look to improve. And I also think it’s feasible.

“We have an opportunity in this offseason to try to surround our group with what it needs to have success, and we’ll look to have those conversations with Kyle here over the next little while.”

During his introductory news conference Thursday, Dubas cited his conversations with Sullivan as a factor in his decision to join the Penguins.

Sullivan largely downplayed his importance in that development but stressed an aligned vision for the franchise moving forward.

“It was evident to me that we shared a lot of the same thoughts and ideas on where our team is at and how we can improve and get better and what the challenges are,” Sullivan said. “Certainly I’m excited about those challenges moving forward, and I think Kyle was as well.”

Note: The Penguins quietly parted ways with three members of the front office on Thursday as director of hockey operations Alec Schall, director of professional scouting Kerry Huffman and senior vice president, integrated performance were fired. All three were hired by previous general manager Ron Hextall.