For all of their illustrious history, essentially employing the NHL’s best player since Mario Lemieux’s rookie year, the Penguins have had just one Jack Adams Award winner — Dan Bylsma in 2010-11. Shoot, during many of those years, the man behind their bench was probably more familiar with Jack Daniel’s than Jack Adams given the run-and-gun style that’s inherent to this particular franchise.
But as the league’s coaching carousel has spun out of control this season — seven changes, with two guys already re-hired by other teams — it’s time to (once again) acknowledge and appreciate what we have here in Mike Sullivan.
Is there anyone better right now? From this seat, definitely not. It’s hard to call the 2019-20 season “his best work” since Sullivan did win the Stanley Cup twice, but it’s not far off.
I thought about that several times while watching Sunday’s 4-3 win over the Boston Bruins, not only because of Sullivan’s move sticking with Matt Murray when seemingly everyone else — including this idiot — thought he should’ve turned to Tristan Jarry. But also the ridiculous buy-in that Sullivan has from his entire team.
It wasn’t long ago that many around here worried whether Sullivan had lost his fastball, the dressing room or both. Turns out he’s just fine.
2. Seriously, who would you rank ahead of Sullivan right now?
If you look at the NHL’s top 10 teams in terms of points, their coaches are as follows: Todd Reirden (Washington), Craig Berube (St. Louis), Bruce Cassidy (Boston), Sullivan, Jon Cooper (Tampa Bay), Barry Trotz (New York Islanders), Jared Bednar (Colorado), John Tortorella (Columbus), Rod Brind’Amour (Carolina) and Rick Bowness (Dallas).
Only Trotz has won more playoff series (10-9), but he has hoisted the Stanley Cup once compared to twice for Sullivan. Reirden’s Capitals have an NHL-high 71 points ... with a terrific roster that’s been mostly healthy. He’s also not yet won a playoff series. Berube turned out to be exactly what the Blues needed last season, but it was one year. Tortorella has dealt with injuries and significant change; however, the Blue Jackets are technically a fourth-place club. Neither Cooper nor Cassidy, despite having really good teams, have won Cups.
You get the point. Again, in my opinion, it’s hard to put anyone ahead of Sullivan among the current group of NHL head coaches.
3. Three of the Penguins’ four goals Sunday — all except Jack Johnson’s short-handed marker — should be downright scary for the rest of the league.
When Dominik Simon, Teddy Blueger and Bryan Rust scored, the Penguins had their franchise centers, either Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, doing the dirty work behind the net to create a scoring chance.
That stuff has become routine around here.
A year after the Penguins were out-classed by the Islanders in the postseason, Sullivan has adjusted how the Penguins play. He continues to coax the best out of his stars, and he’s also instilled a sense of responsibility mixed with urgency in the entire group.
It’s also incredible how Sullivan can identify a specific direction and coach his team to play that way. A couple years ago it was speed. Now, the Penguins are in your face; they pressure you, out-compete you and have become the hardest working team in hockey, per Panthers coach Joel Quenneville.
“The worker bees are getting the job done,” NBC analyst Keith Jones said on Sunday. “And the stars are picking up the points.”
4. Equally as important as Xs and Os is Sullivan’s feel for his team and its players, providing exactly what they need in specific situations.
Raise your hand if you thought Sullivan was going to pull, or should have pulled, Murray in the first period Sunday after a rocky start and three goals allowed in the first 15:07, two in the first 2:02.
Mine’s up. I was wrong. Bet many of you were, too.
5. By sticking with Murray, Sullivan took a significant gamble. If Murray allowed a fourth goal, the Penguins were probably cooked. Sullivan would have been skewered for sticking with a struggling goaltender too long, his emotional ties to Murray questioned.
But it’s obviously not the first time he read the play perfectly when it came to one of his netminders. I’ll never forget that afternoon at the Penguins’ team hotel in Ottawa, when Sullivan announced that Murray would start Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final.
It was obviously the right move. The Penguins rode Murray the rest of the way to their fifth Stanley Cup. The decision wasn’t popular with fans, but it will forever be attached to Sullivan’s tenure here — in a very good way.
6. The injuries the Penguins have had to endure this season have been nothing short of crazy. It’s amazing they’ve continually and consistently won games, and Sullivan routinely deflects praise for that. It’s always about the players, he’ll say.
This season, it’s pretty much the only topic on which Sullivan has been wrong.
7. Moving on … “Do you ever miss covering the Penguins?”
That’s a question I get a lot, usually from someone who thinks I’ve lost my mind for switching over to baseball last summer.
Yeah, if we’re being honest here, sometimes.
But it’s not that simple. There’s a lot that went into that decision — probably entirely too much if you ask my wife — and it’s something that I still think about a lot, which is why I thought I’d address some of it here.
8. I made the move, as I said, for a fairly simple reason: I love baseball. Played it my entire life. It’s long been my favorite sport. I understand it more than the others, and I’ve always fantasized about spending a summer doing nothing but going to baseball games.
I’ve also always been fascinated about being on a baseball beat, that whole grind, and specifically the writing that comes out of it.
But this isn’t so much about the move as it is what I think is a rather interesting question in this business: If beat reporters are supposed to be impartial, which we are, why should it matter the quality of the team we cover?
9. Clearly there are differences between the Pirates and Penguins. Even the Pirates would tell you that’s the case, whether we’re talking about fan interest, competitiveness, whatever.
But something most don’t realize about a beat reporter’s job is this: We’re not fans. It’s actually hard to do because whatever team you cover, that becomes work. There are inconveniences, little stuff that drives you nuts, and you realize you have the same responsibilities and salary whether they win or lose.
I’d also be lying if I said it was that easy. You miss the fan engagement. You miss the high-stakes games. You miss the way Jim Rutherford always wanted to make the next move and his accessibility with local reporters.
10. At the same time, baseball has its perks, too. Absolutely tremendous access, the best. So many sources to develop and people to know. A much better relationship with numbers, which, as a former math major, I appreciate.
I’m also pumped for spring training in a way that I haven’t been about a journalism assignment in years, the same way I felt in college whenever our Westminster team would travel south for a week. (I have another upcoming project I’m geeked to do, something that would never, ever be possible with hockey.)
I actually started thinking about this stuff while watching Jay Caufield on AT&T SportsNet the other night.
As Jay broke down Crosby’s goal 24 seconds into Thursday’s loss, it hit me: I could likely tell you why something in baseball was done or come pretty close to analyzing a particular play without hearing an analyst utter a single syllable, the result of having played the game from ages 3 to 30.
I couldn’t and can’t do that with hockey. Could follow once people described it to me. Knew plenty of details, too. But writing about something that I understand so intimately has always intrigued me.
Yet there are nights …
11. Like when the Penguins are in Montreal or Toronto, two of my favorite road cities. Or sneaky-good ones like Buffalo or Columbus. This spring I’ll surely curse at that stupid, ridiculously small visiting room in Washington and wish I felt claustrophobic again. The day after the 2017 Stanley Cup final, writing all night and the next day grabbing lunch at Hattie B’s with Sam Werner and Sean Gentille (and watching Sean almost die) will be seared in my brain forever. I nearly cried during my last trip to Vancouver.
But I also avoid the dreaded de-icing bay during baseball. Flight delays are far less prevalent. I can feel my fingers when I write. I can do different stories because baseball access is unlike any other pro sport. Unpacking my suitcase (which I always do) now makes sense because I stay places for longer than 36 hours.
12. I guess what I’m trying to say is that all sports, all beats, have their perks and downsides. As one veteran beat man once told me: “There’s [crap] everywhere.” That may be true, but I’d like to think there’s beauty, too. And with some serious gorgeousness on the way via spring training, I’m thrilled to think about that.
So, no. I don’t totally miss it. I’m happy to have made the move, to have intentionally put myself in an uncomfortable position to see how I would respond and also because I love the sport. But I also can’t say any of it has been easy.
13. Back to pucks … An Eastern Conference final against the Bruins would be absolutely tremendous. I’m not sure there’s a better top line in the league than Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak, who’ve combined for 79 goals and 176 points.
Toss in Zdeno Chara (not literally; that would be hard) and a considerable amount of snarl, a power play that at one point scored in 14 consecutive games plus a healthy dislike that already exists between these teams, and it could be a lot of fun.
14. The Penguins’ bounce-back Sunday wasn’t all about Murray gathering himself or Crosby and Malkin making terrific plays or Johnson’s short-handed goal or Bryan Rust impersonating Jake Guentzel.
It was also about Patric Hornqvist.
As the Penguins dug themselves a huge hole, did you notice who was constantly agitating Bruins goaltender Jaroslav Halak and pretty much anyone else he could find?
The energy Hornqvist injected into the Penguins was something else. It was yet another example of why he has a letter on his sweater without actually having one.
15. We can talk all we want about how the Penguins are playing now under Sullivan, but the real key here is simple: losing faceoffs. Seriously, it’s a funny trend that proves faceoffs are (mostly) pointless for this team.
Of the 14 Stanley Cup winners in the salary-cap era, only two won less than 50 percent of their faceoffs: the 2008-09 Penguins (49.1) and the 2016-17 Penguins (47.6). In the other 12 seasons, the Cup champion was sixth or better nine times, including the Blues (51.4 percent, sixth) last season.
This season, the Penguins are winning just 48.5 percent of their faceoffs, which is 24th in the league. They won 50.3 percent last season and 50.6 before that, ranking 15th and 12th, respectively.
Perhaps Matt Cullen was at practice in early December to remind the Penguins to not exert too much energy in this part of their game.
16. Good news for the Penguins that it appears Dominik Simon won’t miss any significant time.
The Czech winger with little finish was actually starting to bury a few — four goals and seven points over his past 13 — before he left Sunday’s game with a lower-body injury.
I’m surprised I’m typing this, but Simon has actually capitalized on a few opportunities lately. They’ll need more of that with Guentzel out.
17. “To me, at this point, he would be the greatest goal-scorer of all time.”
That was Trotz talking about his former captain, Alex Ovechkin, after the latter passed Mario Lemieux in career goals and pulled into a tie with Steve Yzerman over the weekend.
I think Ovechkin is a tremendous player. So fun to watch. He’s been red-hot lately and showing no signs of slowing down. But the greatest goal-scorer of all time? I’m not sure I can go there. At least not yet.
18. I’m not the biggest Marchand fan. He’s a tremendously skilled player, and I wish he’d focus more on that than trying to be weird or annoying or toeing the line or whatever you want to call it that he does.
But props to him for this tweet.
ATTENTION...hands have been lost or stolen, if found please return to TD Garden...thanks
— Brad Marchand (@Bmarch63) January 17, 2020
At least he has a sense of humor about the whole thing. His failed shootout attempt was obviously bad, but I’m pretty sure the puck had butter on it or something during this breakaway against the Penguins on Thursday night:
Brad Marchand is apparently cursed on any form of a breakaway now 😭😂 pic.twitter.com/4C1RHTpnMg
— Hockey Central (@HockeyCentraI) January 17, 2020
19. Number of the week: 3
The Penguins pulled off another three-goal comeback win Sunday, their third this season. That’s the second time in franchise history they’ve done that, the first coming in 2008-09.
They’re one of three NHL teams with multiple comebacks from three-plus goal deficits, and their seven wins when trailing entering the third period rank second behind only Dallas (8).
20. Non-hockey Thought(s) of the week: As the (married) father of two young boys — ages 6 and 1 — I was mortified by the Antonio Brown video that made its way around the internet last week.
One, the guy needs help. CTE or whatever, it’s not normal to act like that. Two, that poor woman and those children; nobody should ever be treated like that. I can’t even imagine what those kids must be feeling and thinking right now.
Three, if you’re not getting Brown help, how do you possibly associate with him? The rap career, that goofy (and subsequently filmed) tryout with the Saints … you need a paycheck so bad that you’re willing to associate with someone who treats women and children like that?
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: January 21, 2020, 12:00 p.m.
