What makes a hockey coach good or bad? It's an instinctual game, like baseball and basketball, there's only so much a coach can do to make his team better. (football is the outlier) But a hockey coach can be a bad coach or bad for a particular team.
Do people really believe that DB was a better hockey coach than Michel Therrien? Well if you use the logic I hear in regards to Sully's 2 cups, I would assume the answer is a resounding yes. Reality was, Therrien was an awesome coach, but his style rubbed too many key players the wrong way. DB enters, lightens the mood and viola......
Was Mike Johnston a bad coach? Looking at it, he never had a chance. Those same key players never bought into him and management was never going to side with MJ over those players. So the team grew lethargic and he did what nearly all hockey coaches do when failing, apply more structure/defense as a way to get back to the basics. Sully comes in with a pedigree, loosens the reigns, a few key trades and a youth injection.......viola, Sully is a genius!!
4 years later, Sully is becoming a bad mix of DB and MJ; DB's stubbornness and loyalty to a certain gang, and MJ's structure/defense panic to fall back on. But there's one more element with Sully, they let him help shape the roster. Sully's style that everyone beamed over in 16 wasn't new, it was different for this team and it also caught the league literally flat footed. But that style that's he's still sticking by because it worked so well 5 years ago isn't catching anyone by surprise. In fact, the Rangers play that same style to a tee. Only their players are younger, faster, stronger and more physical.
Is Sully a good coach? That's not the question that should be asked here or at the Pens FO. The real question to ask, Is Sully a good coach for this team right now? I believe that answer to be a resounding no.
Maybe they get their lines right, maybe the team gels in the last week, maybe Jarry steps up into an all world category and maybe they win a round and look great in doing so.
That's too many maybe's for me.
The sun rises from east, milk comes from utters and hockey coaches have a short shelf life. I'm not a negative Nancy, I just refuse to drink the spoiled milk.