Opinion
Kingerski: It’s Either Sullivan or Make Big Moves, Something Has to Give
The Pittsburgh Penguins are falling apart.
The team that has seven wins in 23 games is devolving into a disorganized group of players whose poor defensive zone coverage only serves to mask a weak-willed team that has laid down for opponents so often that it seems like their natural position. It might be one thing to be outclassed or boat-raced by heavyweight teams such as the Dallas Stars or Winnipeg Jets, but it’s another entirely to give away three-goal leads to the likes of the lowly San Jose Sharks or cower meekly to the Utah Something Somethings, who employed a pair of aging former Penguins defensemen in their top-four (Ian Cole and Olli Maatta) and still sport a losing record.
Indeed, the Penguins’ melodrama continues to defy the belief that they’ve hit rock bottom by digging deeper with each passing game. An extended homestand with seven of eight games at PPG Paints Arena has only served to showcase exasperated fans and a disheartened team with a few disinterested players.
Something has to give. Either coach Mike Sullivan is relieved of duties, or general manager Kyle Dubas trades away a couple of incorrigible players.
Defenseman Erik Karlsson’s interest in the Penguins situation seems to be waning. The number of times in recent games that goals against are attributable to his effort or defensive mistakes is staggering. Our recent breakdown of the Penguins’ horrendous mistakes against Tampa Bay last Tuesday was not kind to Karlsson.
There were more examples yet to come against Winnipeg on Friday, and there are far too many examples of dreadful Karlsson performances this season.
The Karlsson situation seems to be careening toward a level not seen since Phil Kessel’s last days with the Penguins in 2019 when Kessel clashed with coaches and eventually teammates over his head-strong refusal of structure in favor of himself.
In fact, the entire Penguins’ blue line is beleaguered. Kris Letang is significantly off from his expected production. Marcus Pettersson is a bit overwhelmed from covering for Karlsson, while Ryan Graves and Jack St. Ivany haven’t been good (Graves was up, then way down before becoming a healthy scratch for several games). Matt Grzelcyk has been disappointing, as he has too often been caught puck-watching instead of defending.
Utah’s first goal Saturday was a prime example of the Penguins’ breakdowns. Grzelcyk left his post to help Graves who was chasing the puck, but neither did the job and left the net front open.
The defensemen’s issues only heighten the forwards’ struggles. The Penguins have ample forwards capable of sound defensive games, but each mistake is magnified, creating nothing short of chaos.
We’re left with goalie Alex Nedeljkovic challenging teammates—any teammate who is sick of feeling this way—to do something about it. Nedeljkovic said players have to pay the price to make a play.
Even casual observers can see that an attitude that has evaporated from the Penguins roster.
“It sucks … the only other way I can say it is if we want to stop feeling like this after games, if we want to stop getting embarrassed at home, do something about it,” Nedeljkovic said. “I don’t know. Pay a price. Do something else. Feel something else. Like, anything else.”
In a couple of weeks, Sullivan will have been on the job for 10 years, which is an eternity plus infinity for a hockey coach. Even a couple of weeks ago, it would have been incorrect to say he had lost the locker room. However, it’s becoming clear that the locker room has lost the locker room, and Sullivan doesn’t appear to be able to get it back. Disheartened and discouraged players no longer have answers as to how to fix this mess.
It would seem that more than a few players realize that Dubas’s roster was not good enough to win anything but participation trophies. Pride has gone away, too. After the team lost yet another 2-0 lead Tuesday against Tampa Bay, Sullivan ripped into his team.
“Because we have to compete harder. We need more guys to compete harder and pay more attention to detail,” Sullivan said. “And we need to take more pride in playing defense.”
It’s unfair to blame a coach for a poorly constructed roster, but it’s not unfair to lay blame for a team that is checking out or that lacks pride. The team should be much better than that and should have been good enough to remain on the periphery of the wild card race instead of the dubious race for the most ping-pong balls in the NHL Draft Lottery.
The public perceptions that Sullivan hasn’t made changes are wildly inaccurate. The public outcry that Sullivan won’t play young players has been debunked by evidence that has largely been ignored. However, none of those issues matter if the team routinely quits, as they did Friday and Saturday.
Life isn’t fair, and the Penguins badly need a jolt to salvage part of their season. It goes far beyond mere wins and losses, but to atmosphere, too. As part of the Penguins player development and thrust to get younger, it would be harmful to drop prospects into this souring stew of discontent and disappointment.
Dubas and ownership told captain Sidney Crosby things would be better this season, and the Penguins would maintain a competitive roster but also try to revamp it as quickly as possible. Crosby re-upped for two more years after this one.
Even Crosby’s voice is soft as he struggles to find words to describe what is going on.
While Dubas has tried to plan for the future without a full teardown, the results of his roster construction are identical as losses pile up. In fact, there are no solutions except significant roster changes or an attempt to change the locker room dynamic by changing the head coach.
“It’s not an easy experience to go through–what we’re going through. And so the biggest thing for me is to try to inspire these guys and make sure that we don’t we don’t give in to our emotions, that we’ve got to have some resilience to us,” Sullivan said on Saturday.
It seems that ship has already sailed. The Penguins have buckled, and the few players who need to be inspired have chosen against it.
No, life isn’t fair. A new coach would still have to deal with an inadequate defense corps and veterans losing faith. Changing coaches isn’t the panacea that many fans assume, and after the first 10 or 20 games, everything returns to normal. For the Penguins, that’s not good.
We’ve reached the point where fans are tuning out and not showing up. They’re beyond angry and reaching indifference, which is very bad for business. While attendance was solid on Saturday, it was a mere 15,232 on Friday, with even fewer fans actually in the building.
Read More: Penguins Fans Getting Angry; Dubas, Ownership MUST Communicate the Plan
Expect attendance to nosedive as people decide to spend their money elsewhere rather than invest their emotions into a team that isn’t doing the same.
So, to paraphrase Nedeljkovic, someone has to do something—anything. Changes need to be made if they don’t want to feel this way anymore.
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I could write a dissertation on just how much of this is Sullivan and no one else. However, I don’t have the time nor the space to write. I will simply put it this way. If the players are as bad as all that, that they were they problem, other teams will know this and not really want to take on those problem children. So, the likelihood of a big, impactful trade is slim and none. There are precious few Chicago Blackhawks teams willing to take on an aging Rob Scuderi in exchange for a Trevor Daley. Furthermore, if we… Read more »
It’s not all on Sullivan. I mean we are clearly prioritizing the future–stocking draft picks, trading players with value on expiring deals for prospects/picks, not signing any FAs that will hurt us with their long contracts as they age, refusing to spend future assets to help the team, etc…(and good, it’s the right move to prioritize the future)– so obviously that limits the quality of team we can put on the ice. But a decent chunk lays on Sully. Anybody who follows this team knows we’ve had the EXACT SAME PROBLEMS the past 3-4 years. And in those 3-4 years… Read more »
That the core is the problem.
Lol. The core isn’t the problem. They are literally the only good things about this team. Think about it.
The defense has historically been a Penguins problem since, well, since the Hornets were the only professional hockey team in Pittsburgh. Why is no one talking about the woeful soul who is Kevin Hayes? Against Utah alone, in the second period he tentatively skated to the Pens offensive blue line, was confronted by Utah players, and made a 3 – 6 foot pass to another Penguin which either was an immediate turnover or resulted in a smoked Penguin player. Sure, Karlsson and Letang make a lot more $$ and have made numerous errors. Expectations are higher for them than a… Read more »
Omg these so called wonderful draft picks have pushed the team over a cliff. Just how many first round picks have they ruined this team for. Awe that’s right 0 first rounders. I’m so sick of hearing about all these great third and fifth rounders. This organization is beyond a joke starting with the head coach followed closely by the so called genius GM
Who can we have traded for a 1st? The only answer is Guentzel as a rental. We could’ve gotten maybe the late 1st and then a B prospect. That’s the rate for a top line winger at the TDL with an expiring contract. I’ve always been high on Koivunen (who’s doing pretty damn well in WBS this year) but I never had a problem with the Guentzel return. We basically got back like 5 2nd/3rd round picks. With the rest of our moves we now have 14 draft picks (as of now, that’ll grow with this deadline) in the first… Read more »
Correct. Maybe someone should take a look at our scouting department. I realize we’ve had few, if any, 1st rounders but I’d think we could’ve found a diamond in the rough at some point. How many high draft picks do we have that are either on the team or projected to be here and are projected to be 2nd or 3rd line players? Geez! Gimme a break.
And your dissertation would lack merit.
Firing Sillivan will do nothing to improve the team. Because it’s the talent…
Yes it will. Sully sucks at getting guys to play hard.
Sully sucks at getting guys who don’t give a damn to play hard. There, I fixed it for you.
We’ve had the exact same problems like 3 straight years, through 3 straight rosters. We’ve turned the roster over everywhere but at the top 3 times. I mean I agree we’re prioritizing the future so our roster is going to be limited on how good it will be and this roster isn’t good even a little bit, but Sully is one of the constants and we keep having the same issues year after year, player after player, hard to not point some of that blame on the coaching….
Sullivan has an issue with physical players. He refuses to embrace anyone that
will stand up for a teammate. He’ll also will stand behind the bench and watch
his star players ….Malkin, Crosby, etc…. having to defend themselves “It’s
ridiculous” Not to mention his system is out dated and his ego will not allow him
to make adjustments – Sullivan needs to go asap.
Exactly. Who do we have that can do a respectable job in a fight? I’d say Acciari is the only one. Petterson tries and has the heart but not the skill to go toe to toe with some of the big boys. We had Reaves who would stand up for his team mates and could actually chip in a goal or two but Sullivan wouldn’t play him and as I said then, I will never forgive him for that. Sullivan doesn’t grasp that there are many elements to hockey and his stubbornness has cost us dearly.
I disagree, he’s not playing the kids. A few mixed in on bottom with minimal minutes.
I’d like to know the definition of “emergency” so we could bring up Brunicke. 🙂
He has a broken wrist.
Brunicke has a broken wrist so you can forget that happening this year
He’d still be better than the clowns they’re dressing now.
He broke his wrist. He ain’t coming to Pittsburgh.
Once he was sent down to his Junior team, he has to stay there till the junior season is done. On top of that I believe he recently broke his wrist or forearm
They can’t.
The choices facing the Penguins aren’t simple. They have a respected coach who’s still under contract for another 2.5 seasons on a good salary, so letting him go would cost ownership. It’s unlikely they’re ready to take on that financial hit, and even if they did, finding a replacement who could turn the season around isn’t a given—the team just doesn’t have the depth needed. As for moving players, that’s also easier said than done. Many players have (NMC) or (NTC), and even if those were negotiable, the length of their contracts would still be a big hurdle for any… Read more »
The question becomes how much more of an expense will a half or more empty arena cost the team compared to the Coach’s salary. How much of a hit on merchandizing sales will a protracted nose dive until the Sullivan’s contract ends cost the team.
And let’s not forget the cost of prestige with a protracted nose dive making it more and more difficult to attract good UFAs, even when we cold afford them. As prestige drops, so will the players willingness to risk wasted years in Pittsburgh.
They aren’t in the market for good free agents at this stage. They are in rebuild mode. Embrace the Lodi g and hope they hid big with the higher end draft picks to come in the next 2 to 3 years.
I think those are excellent, valid points. The remaining value on that contract is likely around $13–14 million. Many contracts do have buyout clauses, but, as you pointed out, there are significant challenges across the board when it comes to generating revenue. This is definitely a big hurdle for Dubas and the organization to tackle, and it won’t be an easy one to overcome.
Pens fans are staying away = loss in revenue. And if teams make the most of their money in the playoffs, Sullivan will continue losing them money. If he gets fired and another team wants to hire him, technically he’s still under contract with the Pens. I’m sure they protected themselves contractually by saying his contract is terminated if he gets hired somewhere else. Fire Sully. Let Vellucci take over. If Vellucci saves the season, then he’s your guy next year. If not, start your search over the summer
I completely agree; plus this is uncharted territory for Fenway Sports Group. With the Red Sox and Liverpool, they’ve had the flexibility to sell off contracts and reinvest in the team. The NHL, however, operates differently, and contracts aren’t offload.
I don’t think Vellucci is an answer, even short term. The only advantage is that he is already under contract and $ would be saved. Vellucci is part of the current staff and I’d see more of the same old same old. That could be an advantage if they’re playing for a lottery pick but why not play for pride and let Sid enjoy his last 2 years?
Sullivan has lost the team. They’ve tuned him out. A new face and a fresh voice can allow the team to all get on the same page. Sullivan gotta go! I said this 2 years ago and haven’t wavered on that feeling.
I’d like to know why the leadership comes from the likes of Eller and Nedeljkovic? “Even Crosby’s voice is soft”… really? So no one with a letter on their chest speaks up? Stunning. Maybe it’s about time for another apology from 71. SMH.
Changing the coach puts the spotlight directly on the players. As it should. Maybe Sully would get a job five days after he’s fired.
Maybe Crosby, Malkin, and Letang are exhausted from carrying the dead weight of minimum wage, bargain basement has-been-s and never-was-s around the ice for 23 games. There is only so much 37 year old and 38 year old players can give, even if they were once generational talents now reduced to just good players. They can’t help that a roster full of Soft, Puck Moving Defensemen can’t defend their own zone. The skill set doesn’t exist in the players that the coach puts on the ice. Nor can Crosby and Malkin Help it when the go on the attack only… Read more »
IMO they are loyal to each other, not to the team. Malkin has been particularly good at checking out and making lack of effort and mistakes an issue costing the Pens points over the last few years. Letang has, to lesser extent, done the same thing, primarily in the form of mental mistakes that have cost the Pens dearly. Both resignings have not helped the Pens; the players are not as good as they were years ago. Sullivan has put his head in the sand and tried make the players he has fit a “system” that may have worked ten… Read more »
I’ll agree that our defensemen are not playing up ho par. But on many occasions, I don’t see the forwards coming back to help on defense. Crosby has been great in that aspect. Eller also played a good 200 foot game and hated to see him go. Rust usually does as well. But a lot of the remaining forwards rest on their heels when they should be battling the opposition.
I’m not sure our defenseman aren’t playing up to par. Their play might be par for them but not to NHL standards. If Pettersson, or when, gets traded can you imagine the dumpster fire we’ll have then?
The Penguins badly need either a more disciplined structure or the right players to respond to what Sullivan is selling. If they make enough changes to the roster there could be hope for next season. If not, it’s time to cut bait. And its long past time to play the prospects. They have to know what they have in them so they know what types of deals to make. Otherwise, a new coach is in order, in the vein of Michel Therrien. They need to get back to basics and build a team from there, not collecting hockey cards.
LOL. Please keep Sully forever. After all. It’s not ANY coach that can go 6 years ( going on 7 ) without winning a playoff series. Gee we’re lucky to have such a brilliant coach!
Two of those years the goalies crapped the bed in the first round. We so easily forget those.
In the 2020-21 season, in the playoffs against the Islanders, yes Jarry made a large gaffe, but in the 6 game series, 87 had 2 points and was minus 2, 59 had 2 points and was minus 6, and 17 had 3 points and was minus 3!!! Mainly because Sully did not match lines vs. d pairings, and you don’t win ANY playoff series with stats like that from your first line!!!
Don’t forget Tomlin Pete…we got 2 brilliant coaches
Yes 28 DIFFERENT coaches have won a playoff series since the last time Sully did(including Geoff Ward, Jeremy Colliton and Dominique Ducharme) while 7 coaches have since won a series with 2 different teams(including Rick Tocchet) and 1 coach who has won with 3 differentt teams(DeBoer).
I disagree its all on Sully. This team is GUTLESS! Sid gets into a fight and nobody else pushes back? Then they all celebrate with Sid for his 600th, then quit! Heartess, prideless, gutless, bunch of paycheck cashers.
I wonder who decided to put Ludvig on waivers – Dubas or Sully
The coach doesn’t put players on waivers. Dubas is the GM.
But at Sullivans behest. Sullivan has had way too much input on how this team has been constructed over the years. I believe there was a serious rift with Jim Rutherford which caused him to leave. The inmates are running the asylum.
Ludwig? Really? You think he is the difference maker? He has played in 5 of the 21 games.
Another physical defensemen he did not like(Cole, Oleksiak, Gudbranson) and now Ludvig, and he is only 24 years old! But we got the GRZZ!!!
Actually, when Crosby had the fight, the team played harder. But when Utah scored that third goal, the team sucked thereafter.
They’re gutless because of Sully. There’s basically no one that can step up because of the wimpy team Sully wants. Who wants to step up and get their butt kicked all over the ice and not be appreciated by the coaching staff? Like Jack Lambert once said about quarterbacks, “maybe they should wear skirts”.
I say make a few trades- I would keep Sullivan as I believe he is a good coach- way too many holes on this team – make Karlsson your first move
Best yet, two for one. A team to take both.
I would want to see if ek would improve under a new coach first before trading him…I honestly believe it’s the system sully plays and yes the talented players seemed to have checked out but I truly believe a new voice is needed…id love to see Gerard Gallant here but that’s just me…if ek wouldn’t be better under a new coach and new system then yes trade him for whatever.
I wish we could pry Tocchet loose.
I’ve said Gerard Gallant several times on previous posts. He is a no nonsense coach who takes no BS.
the 2 best Dmen are turnover machines. At least Karlsson is getting some points. Where is Kris. Oh wait…another turnover or late for a D assignement.
This team’s not working together. Some players dont like each other in that locker room too. And Sully msg is WAY overdue. He should have been fired 3 years ago.
2-3 early playoffs exists and missing the last 2 years playoffs. Thanks for your services Sully but you and ALL the coaching staff are out of here.
SO who could be the next coach? Gallant? Coach Q’s return in the NHL? Guy Boucher?
I can accept that players make poor decisions. I can accept that players make mistakes. I can accept that players may not be the most talented. I cannot accept players quitting. That is where I draw the line.
They’ve given up not half way through the season. What does that say? Stayed way too long with the core and the coach. This team was poorly managed after the last cup win. Now what?
Firing the coach and making wholesale changes to the roster are not mutually exclusive. They both need to be done.
They need to continue to lose and stack high draft picks.
100% this.
Ask yourself this question: Who would win a game if jobs were literally on the line…the Penguins or WBS?
Man, Dan… this had to be a hard article to write. Probably more appropriate for a Q&A but what’s the feeling like knowing you have to say something so brutal then go interview these guys. This one or the Utah article/post mortem. That was only the second time I’ve seen you say the team quit. They did. Tough times.
There’s a simple but difficult test I run it through. If one of the players or Sullivan were to call me out for it, could I defend it? It’s not fun to write these but also part of the profession is accountability. A rival GM said that!
It is part of every profession and this team has had no accountability for quite a few years!
Thank you.
To be fair Dan, I really liked this article, but it should have been written a couple of seasons ago. After the lackluster efforts against Chicago and Columbus it was pretty obvious that something was wrong in that locker room.
Mr Dubas is doing his job. Trying to put the best entertainment forward while tanking in the background. Coach has done his job. I think everything is on plan. Who thought the Pens would be able to compete with all the Young talent on multiple teams. I think Mr Dubas only mistake so far is Karlsson. Karlsson was brought in as a distraction, but that got old quick. Was that an error? Mr Dubas does have us ready for a rebuild, now….. Bingo.
Mister Dubas. Mister? Such respect for a guy that never accomplished anything. All this talk of firing the coach. It distracts from the real issue — the competence, or lack thereof, of management. This is the case with every team in professional sport. The incompetence of management. It usually takes 5 or 6 miserable years for ownership to realize the GM is the problem.
Maybe that’s why Sullivan hasn’t been fired. Maybe he’s part of “the plan”. If he isn’t fired then we’ll all know.
Previous ownership really made a mess on the way out…a very preventable mess.
Should’ve let Rutherford make the deal.
What deal? The one that fans talk about but no beat reporter has ever been able to confirm?
Tired of reading/hearing (I don’t watch) about them – they’re the sixth worst team in the league and have the worst GA/GF ratio…Sullivan, Crosby, Malkin and Letang need to go…the organization won’t do that because no one would show up to watch…Sullivan is a great bullshitter and should go into politics…in layman’s terms – the Pittaburgh Penguins suck…quit writing about them; it’s getting redundant.
Did you fall and hit your head? So, you don’t want to read about them, and don’t watch, yet you read and commented at a media outlet which EXClUSIVELY covers the Pittsburgh Penguins. I’m not going to tell you how to live your life, but a moment of thought before speaking or commenting might help.
The Pens have a lot of players (most of the team) performing below their cap hit. We literally traded for more players – like Hayes- who were not desired from a price/ performance standpoint in order to get extra picks. The playoffs were not a goal for this season. Dubas did things to make that more unlikely in order to tank and add draft picks. The plan is obvious. The plan is not to win. They didn’t extend Crosby and Sullivan to win – you can tell this by the other moves they made, like trading Guentzel and Eller. The… Read more »
Bingo. If you want high draft picks for the next few years we have to lose. What better combo to ensure losses than a soft D, shaky goalie, and a defunct coaching system. It’s a recipe for draft picks, and the required losses to get there.
Getting high draft picks means nothing. Take the words of a HOF NFL Coach: The key is not getting the picks, the key is picking good players with the picks.
Time for a new regime.
Do you think that Sullivan being the Team USA head coach for the 4 Nations tournament has any influence on Penguins Team Management? If Sullivan was fired would he still be allowed to coach in the tournament?
None. Management realizes this team wasn’t built to win.
Call me too optimistic BUT I think a lot of this mess gets cleaned up at the trade deadline. Dubas will make half a dozen moves and the team can plot its future better by acquiring more draft picks and/or guys on expiring contracts and they can move some guys who are not part of the future.
There isn’t a whole lot of players in demand on this roster so there will not be much in the way of draft picks or prospects coming back in.
Sullivan has had a great run. He’s been a great coach. But that aside, the leadership on the team needs a big change. When a team appears to be unprepared and not motivated, you start at the top and work your way down. It’s not just the coach but several players just didn’t work out as expected. When Karlsson was brought on board, I thought that was a great pickup but I thought San Jose should have retained more of his salary. I felt that Ryan Graces was a great pickup but has been a major disappointment. Likewise Grelcyk has… Read more »
I’m blaming Sullivan and I’m going back years to his direction destroying the chemistry of this team. Rutherford left, IMO, because of Sullivan. Rutherford constantly found players to match the chemistry of this team but Sullivan wouldn’t play them. Like Ryan Reeves as the perfect example. I have argued for years that Sullivan has neutered the Penguins. No enforcers for our players and the one player who carried that torch the last few years has been Malkin. But the Penguins are soft. When Brad Marchand ran his stick into Jarry’s mask a few years ago, and then took runs at… Read more »
“Just play.”
Bingo!!!Couldn’t have said it any better myself..I’d welcome you to The Dark Side but we’re beyond that.Truth hurts but this hits home perfectly
Too late. Sullivan has to go and I hate to say it, but Sid is all we have as trade bait. Can’t fucking believe they let it go this far!!!
IMO, firing Sully doesn’t change the defense one bit.