Hextall: Tuning Out Sullivan? Pack Your Bags
CRANBERRY — Ron Hextall had a chance Sunday to say that he has no concerns that any of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ players are tuning out Mike Sullivan, their coach for more than seven years.
He passed.
But Hextall also left no doubt that if he determines any player is doing so, someone will be moving on.
And it won’t be Sullivan.
“I would put him up against any coach in the league,” Hextall said. “And if there are any players who aren’t responding to him, I would more look to move those players.”
On other issues, Hextall:
*** Suggested it’s unlikely that a scenario will arise under which the Penguins would be a seller at the March 3 trade deadline. “I certainly hope not,” he said. “If we play the way we’re capable of playing, I see us certainly making the playoffs. With injuries and with our inconsistencies this year, I guess it’s a fair question.”
*** Noted that in the pre-pandemic NHL, he liked to maintain about a $2 million cushion of space below the salary-cap ceiling to allow for call-ups, trades and other personnel moves. But because the ceiling has gone up only nominally over the past few seasons, doing so has become more challenging.
“With the flat cap, frankly, it’s become much more difficult,” Hextall said. “If you want to go into the season with a team that you think is a little lesser (to preserve cap space) and go those first two or three months with maybe one lesser player or a player who’s not as good as (another) player.
“Last summer, we wanted to sign (Evgeni Malkin) and we wanted to sign (Kris Letang) and we knew it was going to cost us. … If you’re asking me if I’d rather have one less of our top players and have a couple of million dollars, I would say the answer is ‘No.’ ”
*** Offered his thoughts on balancing the Pittsburgh Penguins’ current needs with their ones in coming seasons. “My job is to look at this team today, tomorrow, a year from now, two, three years from now,” he said. “But right now, our focus is on having the best team possible this year. You know, without doing silly things for the future. But if we can do something to make us better this year, we’re going to look to do it.
“Right now, with the team we have, we want to make the playoffs and be as good as we can be going into mid-April. So that is the focus, and the focus will continue to be there.”
*** Acknowledged a lack of consistency in the performance of No. 2 goalie Casey DeSmith. “Casey’s been good at times,” he said. “The Washington game (a 4-3 shootout loss Jan. 26) was a good example where he was very good and other times he wasn’t as good as we need him to be.”
Categorized:Penguins
“without doing silly things for the future.” – If true, this is good to know. So we aren’t “all in” it seems and that’s OK. I don’t think we have many options for this season anyway. Better options next year.
Wake up call I am sorry the goaltender situation has cost the Pens the last couple of years it needs to addressed
Yes I’m OK with holding on to the sacred 17th pick in the 2023 draft so we can get another Sam Poulin who can spend 2 years in Ontario league and 3 more in Wilkes Barre before we decide he can’t even make the team as a 3rd line player.
BRILLIANT!
Agreed. The Pens scouting staff needs to be looked at…hard. They haven’t done a very good job for several years. I realize drafting a 17 or 18 year old can be a crap shoot and if they do work out it’ll take maybe several years to make it onto the big club, if ever.
The Pens are currently the oldest team in the NHL with an average age of 30.3 years old followed by the Capitals at 30. Time for some youth.
That’s a little easier said than done.
“Old age and treachery overcomes youth and skill”…. A “good” (wise) coach will extract the best from his or her team.
Tampa Lightening 3rd at 29.1. Toronto 4th at 29 even. That statement is total bullshit. The older players are not what is dragging down this team (Carter and Dumoulin are the exceptions). It’s the younger 3rd line and 4th line guys and the younger defense.
I am so sick and tired of hearing this “we are too old” nonsense. Teddy Blueger, Kasperi Kapanen, Danton Heinen, Brock McGinn, PO Joseph…. These are the problems and they are the YOUNGER players.
I agree that the bottom 6 have very little value and the defense has issues too. However your comparison of Tampa and Toronto to the Pens is off. The Pens ages of their top two forwards and top 2 d-men are 35, 35, 35 & 36. Toronto’s is 25, 25, 28 & 32. Tampa is 24, 26, 29 & 32. There’s a difference between between having old support players and having old core players.
To late
I guess he’s talking about McGinn/Blueger/Heinen unless he starts asking players if they would waive their No Trade/No Movement clauses. Although Blueger hasn’t been producing offensively, he’s doing what is asked of him.
So Dave, is he going to make a trade or not this year?
Don’t put the blame on the goalie, this team has a huge problem with playing 60 minutes they play in spurts. Gentzel needs to beef up and when guys miss a shot quit looking to the heavens and continue play.