Earlier in the month Todd Rierdan and Mike Vellucci got contract extensions. Their boss got one of his own today. Mike Sullivan received a three-year contract extension.
IN SULLY WE TRUST! ðŸ‘
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) August 30, 2022
We are proud to announce the three-year contract extension for Coach Sullivan.
The extension will kick in at the conclusion of the 2023.24 campaign, and run through the 2026.27 season. https://t.co/A9EnSXrUj3
If you're asking yourself "I didn't think his contract was up" you'd be right. This extension will not kick in until the 2024-25 and run until 2027. The new owners and the front office clearly believe in him. I think 2027 is about that time where we might not have Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang on the team anymore. The core has their coach.
Mike Sullivan's been a good coach for the Penguins during his tenure. There is a lot more good than bad. I think injuries and goaltending have played a bigger role in the failed playoff series since the 2017 Stanley Cup. However, that isn't to say he can't make some changes to further help the team. My main criticisms are pretty simple fixes. He needs to play Crosby and Malkin more often at 5v5, especially in the playoffs when the team is trailing. Another thing adjacent to this is he needs to load up his lines later in games when they are chasing goals. You can't keep rolling four lines when your season is on the line. Unfortunately, he might fix this issue by default because the bottom six is so underwhelming. The team will probably be loaded up in the top six as the norm. This complaint of mine is directed more at when they had a deeper forward lineup.
Mike Sullivan's hardest work lies ahead given where the team is and where they are headed. I think he has a better chance than the majority of the coaches in the league to navigate it as reasonable as can be expected. He can't work magic on an aging team with poor forward depth. The front office is going to have to help him out. If you give him good ingredients I think he'll make a good meal.
Thanks for reading!