Penguins hire ex-Bruins coach Sullivan for AHL

[Fenway]

Last coach from the Sinden era and perfect example of a coach only being as good as talent he has to work with. Blowing a 3-1 lead to Montreal in 2004 wasn't really his fault as we found out afterwards about injuries. The 2006 team was a glorified AHL roster and probably rock bottom for this franchise the past 40 years - ( of course 2007 under Dave Lewis was a disaster as well )

I wish him well.


PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins have hired former Boston Bruins coach Mike Sullivan to lead their AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

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[GarbageGoal]

Sullivan would have been a better coach with a little more grooming in Providence. Instead he was rushed up to assist O'Connell after the Ftorek debacle during a great rookie season in the AHL. And then got let go for that dope Lewis. Another ball dropped during that idiotic era.

 

[Era of Sanity]

Wasn't a fan, always got the impression he was soft. He wasn't an idiot though so he was better than Dave Lewis.

 

[BNHL]

Got the shaft from Chiarelli,his first mistake before a game was played. No good reasons that he and John Torchetti are not NHL coaches.

 

[jgatie]

Threw Nick Boynton under the bus for sticking up for his goaltender. Wanted his players as soft as he was. Not a fan

 

[BNHL]

Threw Nick Boynton under the bus for sticking up for his goaltender. Wanted his players as soft as he was. Not a fan

Chicago was 29th and Tampa 13th,Rangers 24th and Anaheim 6th in PIMS/G this year.

 

[jgatie]

Chicago was 29th and Tampa 13th,Rangers 24th and Anaheim 6th in PIMS/G this year.

I don't care. The league was far rougher back then, and I've never heard a coach call a guy out in a presser for sticking up for his goalie before, or since. Even if you think he made the wrong move, you don't make it public, you keep it in the room. For me, it was the lowest moment of the lowest seasons in my Bruins watching history.

 

[BNHL]

The teams that won the cups when Sullivan was coach were 28th and 26th in PIMS/G,the Bruins around 17th. As for the Boynton thing,I don't remember it but just read up on it and most,if not all, agree with you.

 

[smithformeragent]

Would you rather be an assistant coach in the NHL or a head coach in the AHL?

 

[Fenway]

In the end Chia got rid of all three of them before he officially became GM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/28/AR2006062801413.html

Thursday, June 29, 2006; 12:25 AM
BOSTON -- Dave Lewis is headed from the Stanley Cups and stars of Detroit to the failures and fresh faces of Boston.

The Bruins hired him as their coach, an official within the NHL said Wednesday, one day after Mike Sullivan was fired following a last-place finish in the Northeast Division in his second season.

The official spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the Bruins hadn't made an announcement. That is expected at a news conference Thursday afternoon to be attended by Peter Chiarelli, who is scheduled to officially take over as general manager on July 15 after completing his duties as Ottawa's assistant GM.

Lewis spent 15 seasons as an assistant coach for the Red Wings before succeeding Scotty Bowman as head coach after they won their third Stanley Cup in six years in 2001-02. He held the job for two seasons, but his contract wasn't renewed in June 2005 and he stayed with Detroit as a scout.

The Bruins said they would not announce their head coach before the news conference. Chiarelli and Lewis did not return telephone calls.

The pair have a major challenge to rebuild the Bruins, although Lewis is known as a motivator, a skill that could help a young team. Sullivan was stoic and had a reputation as a players' coach but was left without much experienced talent after the Bruins traded their two most dynamic offensive players last season, Joe Thornton and Sergei Samsonov.

Sullivan, who had one year left on his contract, also was hurt by training camp holdouts of defenseman Nick Boynton and goaltender Andrew Raycroft, who both were traded in the past week.

 

[Fenway]

Would you rather be an assistant coach in the NHL or a head coach in the AHL?

Assistant coaches fly charter - AHL coaches ride a bus

 

[BruinDust]

Wasn't sad to see him go.

Like it or not, in a league where head coaches get recycled numerous times, there is probably a reason he hasn't had a permanent head coaching job at the NHL almost 9 years after being let go from Boston.

Got out-coached by Julien in the 2004 playoffs. His 2005-06 team were almost as slow and soft as the 2006-07 squad under Dave Lewis. Both those teams were painful to watch.

 

[captain stone]

Sully was one of those guys that Sinden loved to hire as Bs HC with very little, if any, prior pro coaching experience because he knew that he could control them because they would be indebted to him for hiring them. Kinda like the way that Belichick hires his assistant coaches.
Although to be fair, the first HC to defeat Montreal in the POs in over 40 years was one exactly like that.