There was no shortage of friction in Pittsburgh, where as we reported, coach Mike Sullivan was vehemently opposed to making changes to his staff.
Now that GM Kyle Dubas has fired assistant coach Todd Reirden, is that the tipping point on Sullivan's tenure?
We shall see.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) May 3, 2024
—
JimmyPineapple_
25 Comments
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If Sullivan is seriously defending the job Reirden did last year and was trying to protect him from getting fired, the dude is an idiot and should be fired as well.
The Penguins powerplay last year had Crosby, Malkin, Letang, Guentzel and Karlsson and finished 3rd worst in the NHL. Reirden was in charge of that powerplay. How can any reasonable person be trying to fight for that guy to keep his role?
Seravalli lives for drama. I don’t take anything he reports seriously.
Sullivan is still here because he’s loyal to the core guys and they like him. Even the loyalty to Reirden makes sense when you think back. The Wilkes guys were his guys, he coached them and made them into the NHL’ers they became. That loyalty is a great quality in a human and a friend, but not great when it’s a business where only winning matters.
I sound like a broken record but Sully should get a ring of honor mention as the best Pens coach ever. He should also probably be let go. Hell he’s the best Pittsburgh coach period in my 32 years. Won as much as Tomlin and Cowher combined. Even still, sometimes change is needed. Thanks to Sully, but it’s about winning. Not sentimentality.
No
This guy STINKS
Dubas putting his dick on the table.
If there was actually a power struggle going on, that isn’t what he signed up for when coming to Pittsburgh.
This aged well!
Just fucking leave, Mike, holy shit. Everything he says about bringing your best and blah blah rings so hollow when your friendship with the guy outweighs the job performance. The literal worst power play in the league and one of the worst for the penguins in two decades and he’s vehemently opposed to making changes
If that’s what it takes to get rid of Reirden, I’ll pay that price
What the actual fuck is there to defend? What value did he provide?
Reirden’s two tenures were just chalk full of disappointment.
2010-14 and 2020-24
I don’t know how anyone could look at those two sets of years and think « sure, he met expectations ».
Just sign Daniel Sprong in free agency and Sully will just quit outright
This is indefensible. I don’t care how good of a guy Todd is, coaches are not kept for any reason other than results. You can’t have a Powerplay that bad and keep your job, sorry.
The fact the GM had to step in and fire an assistant coach on a dismal power play because the head coach (who has missed the playoffs the past two years and hasn’t won a playoff series in quite some time) didn’t want to get rid of him is troubling.
Reirden needed to go but there’s more than enough blame to go around on that power play and it should start with the veteran stars who after a decade plus in the league still can’t run and efficient power play
It’s about damn time Dubas flexed some muscle.
This team is being run backwards. The players are telling the coaches what to do and then the coaches are telling the GMs what to do.
I get these guys have loyalty for each other, but it’s a GMs job to make the hard decisions to keep the team playing at a high level and thus far the players have called the shots.
Downvote the hell out of me, but Trochek should have been slotted into the 2C position. Malkin was a ghost for over half this season. When he wants to play, he can still play at a high level. But he didn’t choose to play. The coaching staff has to deal with a HoF player going out there every night logging meaningless ice time.
If Malkin played the way he did coming down the stretch for an extra week or two in the season, they make the playoffs. If he plays to his ability all year, that team is probably fighting NY for the top seed.
And maybe that’s on the coaches. I can’t tell you what was going through his head. But it happened nonetheless. Something needs to be shaken up in that locker room because Sid is the only one that seems to give a fuck and it’s sad to watch.
Bye 👋
Bye 👋
If he wanted Rierdon to stay then Sully should be gone. End of discussion
Please please please please
Three different reporters (Kingerski, Yohe on Mark Madden’s show and Kovacevic) have said that PP practice was totally run by the players, neither Reirden or Sullivan was involved.
Now that the potential scapegoat is gone it will be interesting to see if it improves or practice changes.
Big dick Dubas lol
Seriously though Sully always has these ridiculous loyalty’s to people that don’t deserve it, Janson Harkins come’s to mind
I doubt that there’s any real friction. They may not have agreed on the parting of ways but they seem to have a good working relationship.
Reirden is not a threat to sully. Sully liked him because he knew they’d never fire sully and give the keys to Todd. Sully is scared because they’ll hire someone who can take his job and hold him accountable. If sully hates one thing it’s accountability