Two weeks ago, coach Mike Sullivan learned that his old boss and the man who hired him, Jim Rutherford, was resigning his position as general manager.
The Penguins on Tuesday replaced Rutherford with Ron Hextall and Brian Burke. Now Sullivan has to get to know his two new bosses during a strange, shortened season during a pandemic, with the NHL’s COVID protocols putting restrictions on face-to-face interaction. That will be a pretty significant challenge, right?
“I look at it as an opportunity,” the Cup-winning coach said Wednesday in his first comments since the hires were made. “These guys are really smart guys. They’ve been around the game a long time. They’ve got a ton of experience managing teams and building teams and supporting teams to make them better.”
The process began soon after their introductory virtual press conferences were completed Tuesday afternoon. Sullivan said he had “good conversations” with both Hextall and Burke, who are still in the process of relocating to Pittsburgh.
Sullivan has worked with Burke previously through the USA Hockey program. They were also both a part of the support staff for the American team at the World Cup of Hockey in 2016. Burke was a senior advisor and Sullivan, fresh off of his first Stanley Cup championship, was one of John Tortorella’s assistants.
“So he and I have an established relationship,” he said. “Hexy, I don’t know as well. But I have a ton of respect for what he was able to accomplish in Philadelphia, and I know he is going to bring his experience to Pittsburgh. I think we’re all aligned as to what the objective is — trying to win with this [current core].”
Hextall largely laid the foundation of the Flyers team that has posed problems to Sullivan’s squad over the last few years. The coach said he has a lot of respect for what Hextall did there. Their playing careers also overlapped eight years.
“My recollection of Ron as a goalie was he was ultra-competitive. He was a fierce competitor and he wanted to win,” Sullivan said. “I think that was evident whenever you played against him. He had a tremendous career and I’m sure that his competitive spirit is part of what he brings to the management team, as well.”
Sidney Crosby, who has great reverence for NHL history, remembers watching Hextall play for the Flyers all those years. He admitted it’s a little odd to picture Hextall as a member of the Penguins. After all, this was the guy who swung his stick at Rob Brown and years later rebuilt Pittsburgh’s Keystone State rivals.
“It’s funny when you think about it. You probably don’t ever anticipate that,” he said. “But at the same time I think you find yourself saying that a lot in hockey. It finds a way of kind of bringing people together in different circumstances. In this case, it’s not any different than rivalries and players [changing teams].”
Crosby said he has crossed paths with Hextall and Burke over the years but doesn’t know either particularly well. They both reached out to him after they were hired to introduce themselves and start building a working relationship.
“I’ve heard great things,” the captain said. “But yeah, obviously, you know with [Rutherford resigning] that there’s a process going on and with those two being named, I think everybody’s excited to meet them and kind of move forward.”
Matt Vensel: mvensel@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mattvensel.
First Published: February 10, 2021, 9:37 p.m.
