Confirmed with Link: Penguins will not renew contracts of Gonchar, Martin, Recchi
- Thread starter Randy Butternubs
- Start date
Jacob
as seen on TV
- Feb 27, 2002
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There are fine details to playing D at the NHL level that Martin, who never played the position, and Gonchar, who got by mostly on pure talent alone, wouldn’t know much about.
billybudd
Registered User
- Feb 1, 2012
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It's not about the assistants, per se. JR sort of just shot some hostages to send Sullivan a message. His days are probably numbered. I can't remember a coach who had his assistants fired and then finished out the next season.
Freeptop
Registered User
The defensive coaches are the ones who decides who goes over the boards for each shift, though. So they're the ones who decided that JJ / Schultz should be on the ice at all. Even when they clearly deserved to be benched.
So, yeah, I can definitely see why they're changing all the assistant coaches.
DesertPenguin
Registered User
- Apr 22, 2015
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His name is Mike Vellucci. He's there already.
Leaving aside what Freetop correctly said, they're also just generally not part of the solution to sudden lapses of motivation or maybe stopping Sully/players doing stupid things (and probably had a hand in some).
Also got to consider Martin's 67, and Gonchar still lives in Texas. Might be both of them are a little relieved. They certainly not going to be constant around the team energy voices.
I'm not. Whether or not he'd actually be a good assistant, my hope is that they come without ties (or without recent ties) to the organization.
I wouldn't say he was overqualified, but it happened last summer in WBS.
ImporterExporter
"You're a boring old man"
Sullivan is on his last leg. They just canned everyone but him. The next step is his ass/maybe JR's as well.
It's make or break it time for this group though I think some will argue it should be now.
It's make or break it time for this group though I think some will argue it should be now.
PhilThrillPill
Registered User
1. Dump/trade/let walk JJ, Schultz, Sheary, Marleau, Bjugstad
2. Resign Simon, McCann, Jarry
3. Acquire Third line warrior (a la Bones) and two decent bottom pairing defenseman (one of which should be a warrior a la Cole).
Guentzel-Sid-Simon
Zucker-Malkin-Rust
McCann-warrior-Horny
ZAR-BLUEGER-Tanev
Dumo-Tanger
Petts-Marino
Decent D5 and Decent D6 (one is a warrior)
Jarry
Desmith
I know we all want to see heads flying. Three did today. I don’t see how trading Letang, Geno, Dumo or Rust makes us any better now. For me McCann seemed better at wing. He’s not the #3C warrior we need. Neither is bye bye Bjugstad.
The way I see it if you think the window has closed you blow up the ship and go full tank mode. I don’t understand what trading away a good player gives you.
2. Resign Simon, McCann, Jarry
3. Acquire Third line warrior (a la Bones) and two decent bottom pairing defenseman (one of which should be a warrior a la Cole).
Guentzel-Sid-Simon
Zucker-Malkin-Rust
McCann-warrior-Horny
ZAR-BLUEGER-Tanev
Dumo-Tanger
Petts-Marino
Decent D5 and Decent D6 (one is a warrior)
Jarry
Desmith
I know we all want to see heads flying. Three did today. I don’t see how trading Letang, Geno, Dumo or Rust makes us any better now. For me McCann seemed better at wing. He’s not the #3C warrior we need. Neither is bye bye Bjugstad.
The way I see it if you think the window has closed you blow up the ship and go full tank mode. I don’t understand what trading away a good player gives you.
The Great Mighty Poo
Thank You 59.
JR isn't going. Only way he goes is when he decides the party is over, at which point he opts to resign or to accept a 'promotion' rather than deal with a rebuild.
billybudd
Registered User
- Feb 1, 2012
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I don't know if I'd call this man overqualified, per se, but being sold as a backup plan for Sullivan could have been why a coach would leave the Checkers for another minor league job the summer after winning a championship, yes.
HandshakeLine
A real jerk thing
IIRC, wasn't Vellucci pegged as one of the top coaches in the AHL? I thought that him not having NHL experience wasn't necessarily because there wasn't any offers for him, but that he prefers coaching in the AHL, but I could be easily misremembering that.
AuroraBorealis
Back-to-back hater
Think you're being a little hard on him. He contributes more to broadcasts than 3/4 of other color analysts. You can mock his quirks but he's in no way dumb.
cygnus47
Registered User
- Sep 14, 2013
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Agree with those saying this is the way of putting Sully's feet to the fire without actually booting him to the curb. I think it's a step in the right direction but I doubt it will really fix anything. We need something to give the players direction and identity.
Schultz won't get re-signed, JR already shat on him in his end of season thing, that's what he does. Hopefully he can dropkick JJ too and find some D that actually help.
Schultz won't get re-signed, JR already shat on him in his end of season thing, that's what he does. Hopefully he can dropkick JJ too and find some D that actually help.
Ugene Magic
EVIL LAUGH
Honour Over Glory
Fire Sully
- Jan 30, 2012
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Justin Schultz deserved more than being shat on, he was putrid and JJ was even worse. Yet somehow, they were doled out game after game, shift after shift.
I think Sullivan is on a very short leash, but it’s tough to know when that leash gets pulled and they put that wanker to sleep. During the season, they go could just float into the 4th-5th spot and then get bounced in the first round and then you’d have wasted a full season with that horse shit again.
It just doesn’t sit well with me. It’s clear he needs an assistant that is basically just dedicated to translating his message in a more constructive way, to the players, which is what Tocchet did, but then you also need an assistant coach that will run the powerplay for him, then a defensive coach that will know and push Sullivan to play the right guys, then another bloke that will help with the development.
It’s going to be f***ing hilarious. Instead of firing his stupid ass, they’re going to hire a bunch of guys that they will either fire or replace after next season again.
What. A. Mess.
I can't remember enough of the deets tbh. All I really remember is he was a long term OHL guy who knew Rutherford, had been very successful with the Charlotte Checkers, and that he wasn't going back to Front Office roles (which he'd done) because he wanted to be an NHL head coach.
Re-signing Simon = more of the same. It's been proven since 2018 jabronis like him don't work on Crosby's line, even if that's his preference.
SomeDude
Registered User
Rutherford may just have to pull the Michel Ouellett move and just not qualify Simon to keep Sullivan from putting him in the top 6.
this is the anatomy of the pens problems. you cant have a gm and coach working at cross purposes about player utilization. maybe you could when sid and geno were in their primes, but you need to maximize every dollar of payroll now and misusing players doesnt do that.
Pens x
Registered User
- Oct 8, 2016
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If the Habs get swept or lose in 5, wouldn’t it make Sullivan look even worse if he was 1-7 in the playoffs over the last two years, and the teams that beat him went 0-8 or 1-8 after beating the Pens?
Unfortunately, it won’t make a difference at this point, I guess.
Unfortunately, it won’t make a difference at this point, I guess.
