Kovacevic: Only the mirror is left now, Penguins

For whatever words Jim Rutherford might have lacked late Friday night when he gave me that terribly telling grunt down on the Consol Energy Center concourse, the man sure found all the right words the following morning, didn't he?

The first two, as you know by now: You're fired.

Mike Johnston was out as the Penguins' head coach after 15 months, one first-round playoff failure and countless head-scratching, Daniel Sprong-scratching, staring-into-oblivion decisions right down to his final day.

The next word: Underachieved.

The GM must have turned to this term, in one form or another, no fewer than a half-dozen times in his brief press conference Saturday, whether it was the direct reference that he looked "at this snapshot over the first 27 games and felt that we’ve underachieved" or the less direct needing "more will to win" or being "better on the power play" or getting "more production out of some guys" or making "some guys more accountable."

It was all about more and better.

The problem has been about more and better all along, really.



I liked Johnston, liked his system at its root, and entered 2015-16 believing firmly that he, like all NHL coaches, deserved more than a year to establish himself. And I believed it all the more after he made a few impressive adjustments in that playoff loss to the Rangers, one in which it should be remembered he was missing half his defense corps. But right from the opening games this season in Dallas and then in Phoenix, I saw signs of a coach who had, frankly, some very bad ideas, some very bad communication of those ideas and, on top of that, an obstinate and even insubordinate side that ultimately cost him his job.

You know all that already. So let's move on, as the Penguins have smartly done.

It's time, maybe well past time, to flip the conversation from underachieving to overachieving. And that, of course, is where Mike Sullivan will walk behind the bench with head held high.





He's 47, and he'll be the NHL's fifth-youngest coach. That's achieving. But he also was an NHL head coach in Boston at age 35. Youngest in the league, as a matter of fact. And his Bruins went 41-19-15-7. That's overachieving.

He bounced back from a firing two years later to become John Tortorella's top lieutenant with the Lightning, Rangers and Canucks. That's achieving. But he broke off from Tortorella after both spent a year out of the game, was hired by the Penguins to coach their AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre and bolted off to an 18-5 start. That's overachieving.

He was handed a roster with almost no offensive pedigree among the prospects and oversaw a team that scored 85 goals, third-most in the league, and a power play that ranks ninth at 19.6 percent. That's ... well, that's overachieving right there. But when that top power-play unit has one surefire NHL-caliber prospect in Derrick Pouliot -- the rest are Scott Wilson, Conor Sheary, Tom Kostopoulos and Kael Mouillierat -- that's on a plane miles above overachieving.

Listen to Sullivan in an interview with our Russ Hryvnak in Wilkes-Barre two days ago about his team, and you'll begin to get the feel: “I think we’ve got a long way to go. I think we can improve away from the puck. I think we can become more difficult to play against. I feel that our special teams can continue to improve and provide momentum and influence on the game. So there’s lots of ways that we can improve.  It’s my job as their coach to push our guys and try to maximize this group and their potential. We are certainly pleased with the start that we’ve had so far, but by no means are we satisfied.”

This past summer at the Penguins' development camp, I was watching a few of the drills along with beat writer Josh Yohe and listening as one voice stood out above the rest. I'd been immersed in football and baseball at the time, so I wasn't totally tuned in with all of the various men on the rink, and I turned and asked, "Who's that guy? It's like he's the head coach."

Isolating on Sullivan, I then saw him take each player, one at a time, and offering careful instruction, looking each in the eye and speaking authoritatively but also personally.

Not to make too much of that. It's a tiny impression, maybe meaningless. But in the months to follow, there was more and more buzz from inside the organization about his work even apart from the golden record in Wilkes-Barre. They loved his knowledge of the game and his experience, but more than anything, they loved his commanding presence.

And now listen to Sullivan in his interview with Yohe on this day: "The greatest challenge in pro sports today is inspiring today’s athletes to be at their best. That’s my goal. That’s what I’m going to try to do."

Maybe Rutherford had that in mind, a possible replacement for the passive Johnston, back when he hired Sullivan.

"I’ve got to know him a little bit better," Rutherford said Saturday. "And I believe he’s the guy that can come in and really take control and really make some guys more accountable than when we’re not performing at the level that we think we should be."

If that doesn't sound like your dream coach for this particular group of Penguins, I can't imagine what does.

At the same time, let's not lay it all on Sullivan. Or on Johnston, for that matter. Because there's so much more than the head coach or manager who's to be credited or blamed in any professional team sport.

Rutherford needs to get cracking at upgrading this defense. And good on him for accepting some fault Saturday in letting down Johnston: "Part of this falls on me because I didn’t get the defensemen necessary to have more movement from the back end." He could start by taking into advisement Sullivan's honest recommendation about what to do with Pouliot. If Sullivan says he's ready to return, then that time is now.

Jacques Martin needs to make a real difference now that he's going to the bench. He's considered one of the brightest men in hockey, but either his impact was negligible from the booth, or his voice wasn't being heard. I've never gotten a clear signal on that, but it'll be crystal clear now.

Rick Tocchet needs to make the power play go. Johnston wasn't listening to him. At all. We've reported that here for months, and it only worsened over time. By the time Johnston and Gary Agnew were fired, they were pretty much working only with each other. So now Tocchet really has the reins. Let's see what he's got.

Sidney Crosby needs to score. Not play well. Not win a bunch of faceoffs. Score.

Evgeni Malkin needs to continue his personally fueled elevation into leadership.

Phil Kessel needs to bear down and finish.

Kris Letang needs to be taken off the top power-play unit. Even if that's for David Warsofsky, if only because Warsofsky shoots the puck and Tocchet loves him. Again, that's Tocchet's call now.

Patric Hornqvist needs a fresh chance at top-six duty, and he needs to produce.

Marc-Andre Fleury needs to accept getting the odd rest. He'll burn out by January at this rate, whereas if he's sharp, he needs to continue to be one of the league's best at what he does.

Sprong needs to just play, for crying out loud. Starting Monday against the Capitals. Alongside Crosby.

Adam Clendening needs to play, too. Rob Scuderi needs to sit. These are as intertwined as they are obvious.

It's not a bad team. It's not perfect, but it went 15-10-3 with a ghost of a coach, and it's looked little different than some of the NHL's elite, including Friday night in outshooting the Kings, 42-40, before the shootout loss. The speed is there. The skill is there. And yeah, in spite of the semi-circus and lack of direction around them, the Penguins' will has mostly been there, too.

It's time, maybe well past time, to look in the mirror and get moving.