Can Sullivan Coach Stars?

[Icarium]

It would greatly help the collective fanbase if people could remember back farther than 3 f***ing months before opening their mouths

Months? More like days.

Sully has his flaws but I highly doubt he told Geno "Hey, don't bother marking that Geekie guy if you lose the face-off, what are the odds that some rookie will score in his first game?" or Sid "Don't bother defending. Like at all" or Letang "Pinch, pinch, pinch, no matter what" or the entire PP1 unit "Only goals after ten passes inside the zone count". It's quite possible that a new coach will give the team a boost, coaches get replaced quite often for a reason, after all, but the idea that Sully can't coach stars is utterly laughable.

 

[BeatenLikeRentedMule]

Two-Three good months early in the season don't negate what happened against the Islanders last year or the loss against the Caps in 2018. The wheels have fallen off at this point. March is when a team is supposed to be putting it's best foot forward.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Sully's a good, smart coach. Even good, smart coaches wear out their time with a club. That's the way of the road, Bubs.

JR's the guy who had his attention focused on undoing his numerous f***-ups from the past several seasons, resulting in an abomination on defense. Even having lucked into landing Marino for essentially free, a guy I'd say has been our best blueliner all season long, the defense is still as ineffective as it was against the Isles. JJ sucks, Schultz sucks, Petts sucks.

For as much as we're roasting Sully, and I think most of it is warranted, this is still JR's problem to fix.

Come October, I hope we have a new GM and coach in place, and that new GM has spent whatever assets needed in order to shore up the 2LD and 1RW spots.

 

[3074326]

This team tunes out coaches after a few years. Then they win a cup with the replacement.

I love Sully, I'm not advocating for him being fired. I am just concerned that this has happened. Again.

 

[Beau Knows]

He clearly can coach stars. Does anyone forget how good Kessel was in the 2016 playoffs? How about Crosby and Malkin in 2017?

Has the team stopped responding to his message? Maybe, it seems to be a common occurrence in hockey for whatever reason. But I have no doubt that's he's an excellent coach, even if things don't turn around here.

 

[ZeroPucksGiven]

JR built a shit defense because he spent years acquiring awful fits/players like Reaves, Gudbranson, JJ, Pearson, Brassard, etc., which resulted in more years of him spending all of his time trying to undo those f***-ups. When you spray and pray like JR seems to do, and you miss a lot, you spend a lot of time cleaning up your own mess. This is the result of that approach. For every good deal, there are probably two or three that either didn't work out or completely backfired on JR.

This roster, particularly on the blueline, absolutely needs an overhaul. The forwards are close, need some tweaks at 1RW and 3C, but the blueline's in shambles beyond Dumo, Letang, Marino and Riikola--who never plays because the coach has just decided on a whim he doesn't like the guy.

We got work to do this summer, and depending on how the rest of the season/playoffs play out, Sully very realistically might not be a part of it.

Agree with everything in your post EXCEPT Brassard
Brass seemed to be a good fit here- checked all the boxes on paper

So I can't blast Sully/JR for that one. Otherwise spot on

 

[LOGiK]

I came here fully expected this to be a thread about Sullivan coaching the Dallas Stars.

 

[LOGiK]

When do the players get blamed? Sullivan has this team firing at all cylinders. Sid gets back and everyone gets comfortable.

Firing on all cylinders in the wrong direction.

He had them on the mark this season with 100% team wide contribution.

That is gone and it is not coming back this season. It may have been Sullivan's final bit of masterful work on the Penguins team. I don't think this team will ever reach that kind of dominance again under Sullivan.

Oh baby would I love to be wrong.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

This team tunes out coaches after a few years. Then they win a cup with the replacement.

I love Sully, I'm not advocating for him being fired. I am just concerned that this has happened. Again.

I don't think it's Pens-exclusive. There's a reason coaches usually have a shelf life of around 3-4 years for the good ones, less than that for the bad ones.