Penguins part ways with coach Mike Sullivan

Ten days earlier, Mike Sullivan stood at the lectern in the cramped media room at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry and offered a terse but direct response when asked about his future.

“My intentions are to be the head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins,” Sullivan said April 18, a day after the 2024-25 season concluded.

On Monday, Sullivan and the Penguins agreed to part ways, ending the most successful tenure of any coach in the franchise’s 57-year history. Sullivan, a midseason hire during the 2015-16 season, leaves as the Penguins’ winningest coach and leader of consecutive Stanley Cup championships.

Kyle Dubas, the team’s president of hockey operations, stood at that same lectern and outlined — with limited specifics — what changed over the past week and a half.

“He and I met last Tuesday about where we’re at, where we’re going, the road that we see to get there, the challenges that lie ahead,” Dubas said during an afternoon news conference. “In my mind, I left there — and there’ve been a few times throughout the year where I felt this, as well, after certain stretches or games — where I started to feel that maybe it was just time.

“Someone can be a great coach, and it might be time for them to go elsewhere and reapply that.”

Dubas said he met with the Massachusetts-born Sullivan on Sunday in the Boston area.

“After my conversation with Mike on Tuesday about his feelings on where we’re at, where we need to go, I just sat and contemplated for the week and then made the decision to go yesterday,” Dubas said. “Had a conversation with him just essentially saying that I think it’s just time.”

Sullivan did not return a phone call seeking comment. Teddy Werner, senior vice president of strategic operations at Fenway Sports Group, the entity that owns the Penguins, was present for Dubas’ news conference but did not field questions.

Sullivan was hired by the Penguins on June 18, 2015, to serve as head coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League.

When the Pittsburgh Penguins struggled at the start of the 2015-16 season, previous head coach Mike Johnston was fired and replaced by Sullivan on Dec. 12.

Buoyed by Sullivan’s guidance and a handful of roster augmentations, they were Stanley Cup champions six months later. And a year after that, they were repeat champions.

But since then, the team has struggled to get within radar range of that level of achievement. There have been no playoff series victories since 2018 and, worst yet, no playoffs at all since 2022.

Sullivan has two years remaining on a three-year contract extension he signed in 2022 under former general manager Ron Hextall.

Dubas took over after Hextall was fired following the 2023 season.

“My full intention coming into the job was I thought it was a great opportunity to work with one of (the), if not the, best head coaches in the league to continue to give the team a chance to contend, then transition back to contention,” Dubas said. “What I’ve learned in the two years is that there’s a reason why it’s essentially impossible.

“It has not been done where a coach has led a team to winning and being in contention, then through a transition all the way back. There’s a number of factors at play on the relationship side — with the players and the staff — that make it very difficult.”

The contracts of assistant coaches Ty Hennes and Mike Vellucci as well as goaltending coach Andy Chiodo expired, Dubas said. They are free to seek employment elsewhere, Dubas said, but have been given the opportunity to interview with the Penguins after a new coach is hired.

Assistant coach David Quinn, a close friend of Sullivan’s, remains on staff.

Dubas said he would like to have Sullivan’s replacement hired by early June.

“We will begin a very thorough and methodical search,” Dubas said. “I see that being virtual interviews here over the next month, followed by in-person interviews at the end of May into early June. Then likely naming a head coach in early June that will lead the team forward. That may be delayed because some of the people — just very quickly we’ve started to put together a list of the top folks — some of those people are employed either by top AHL teams or they’re on NHL staffs as we speak right now. That would be the only delay in it.”

The nature of the Penguins’ vacancy is unique. Whoever assumes the role will have the task of overseeing veterans in their late 30s — luminaries such as Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin — while guiding something of a youth movement spearheaded by promising 20-something prospects including forwards Ville Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty.

“They don’t have to continue on what’s been built on the coaching side,” Dubas said. “We want to protect the core ideology of the team while continuing to stimulate. … The other side of it is that there’s a lot of great things about the Pittsburgh Penguins, and we want to preserve those while continuing to move the team ahead and move the team forward.

“We’ll cast a wide net on a search. Longtime head coaches, coaches from Europe, coaches from junior, college, etc. We’ll turn every page to find the best person for the job.”

The Penguins have a long history of promoting from within the organization for its head coaches, but Dubas indicated Wilkes-Barre/Scranton head coach Kirk MacDonald will not be a candidate. MacDonald just completed his first season with the minor league team.

Sullivan, who is scheduled to serve as the United States’ coach in the 2026 Olympics, will presumably have no shortage of suitors.

The Anaheim Ducks, New York Rangers and Seattle Kraken have head coaching vacancies. Meanwhile, the Boston Bruins (Joe Sacco), Chicago Blackhawks (Anders Sorensen) and Philadelphia Flyers (Brad Shaw) are all staffed on an interim basis.

Additionally, the New York Islanders might move on from Patrick Roy after dismissing general manager Lou Lamoriello. Elsewhere, the Vancouver Canucks, led by former Penguins executives Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin, declined to exercise an option on the contract of Rick Tocchet in hopes of negotiating a new deal with the former Penguins forward/assistant coach, a maneuver that could potentially allow Tocchet to join a new team.

Dubas indicated that teams would need to formally ask for permission to interview Sullivan and there “will be no issue at all” on that front.

“Someone can be a head coach and then they’ll move on to become a great head coach on their next head stop,” Dubas said. “And it can also be time for change here. That was the conclusion that I had come to.”

In addition to being the only coach in franchise history to claim back-to-back championships, Sullivan had the most career wins behind the Penguins’ bench with a record of 409-255-89.

Sullivan’s impact resonated with those he guided.

“He did an amazing job over the last 10 years here with his preparation and commitment to winning,” Crosby said via e-mail. “Personally, he pushed me to be better everyday, and I learned a lot from him. We shared some great memories together, and I am grateful for his time here and everything he did for us.”

Despite slumping results and the generally tenuous nature of his vocation, Sullivan indicated he harbored no concerns over his job security during an interview with TribLive in September.

“I understand what I signed up for,” he said. “I understand what pro sports is all about. It’s a result-oriented business. I’m going to do my job to the very best of my ability. I love what I do. I get excited about coming to work every single day. It’s an incredible privilege to coach the Pittsburgh Penguins. That’s the way I look at it. I don’t take one day of it for granted.”

On Monday, the Penguins began looking for his replacement.

“It was just, in general, the feeling that the demands of this and what we’re asking is just, to me, time for him to go elsewhere to apply it and for us to move on as well,” Dubas said. “In this position, we have to make those decisions. And they’re hard, but that’s the job.”