DK: Dubas had better be right ... or this whole process goes poof
I've got no cause to criticize Kyle Dubas for firingMike Sullivan.
And before proceeding further, let's please dispense with any and all semantics: This was a firing, not some mutual this or that, as put forth in the Penguins' press release at 9:03 a.m. today. When the boss flies to meet with the employee for the express purpose of putting an end to that employment, that's a firing.
"It just became clear to me that it was probably time for a change and to move on," Dubas would say today at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. "And I went yesterday and met with Sully and sat down with him in Boston, and I just kind of went through that with him. And sometimes there's disagreement when you have those conversations. At other times, there's an agreement. I don't want to speak for him and how he views it, but I would say it was very amicable, and the conversations with him have continued to stay that way."
He added that he'd reached out to Sidney Crosby beforehand: "I called Sid yesterday morning before I met with Sully to give him the heads up."
Yep. Firing.
And a stunning one at that. Beyond stunning.
Partly because of Sullivan's outsized role in leading those 2016 and 2017 teams to Stanley Cup glory, partly because of his equally real passion for both the Penguins and Pittsburgh, partly because of the impeccable professionalism with which he carried himself in all settings ... but also because, for anyone who might've tuned out, the team went 10-5-2 to close out this past regular season, not exactly coasting to the finish.
Stunning.
I'm stunned. I'm sitting here more and more stunned with each subsequent keystroke.
And yet ...
Look, here's the thing: If Dubas was right with everything he spoke over those 23 minutes today, if he was accurate in his portrayal of how this played out -- and I've known him to be nothing but forthright in his tenure here -- then he'd be wholly justified in this, the biggest move of his NHL career.
If he's right that Sullivan wouldn't be the best choice to transition to a build-with-youth-around-the-core phase, as he repeatedly intimated, extending so far as to cite historical data about coaches with Sullivan's career path, then Dubas would be wholly justified in the firing.
If he's right that Sullivan wasn't all-the-way in on what was or will be unfolding, that Sullivan didn't even really resist suggestions to the contrary in their conversation yesterday, then he'd be wholly justified in the firing.
I won't take this end of it too far. My respect for Sullivan's too great to take it further without hearing from the man himself, and there's no telling when that might be.
From Dubas' perspective ... man, he'd better be right.
About all of the above but especially with whoever he hires.
He spoke of "casting a wide net," offering as possibilities finding a coach from the Canadian junior ranks, Europe, pretty much anywhere. But I wonder how wide.
He appeared to paint all of Sullivan's staff from this past season -- David Quinn, Mike Vellucci, skills specialist Ty Hennes and goaltending coach Andy Chiodo -- as optional for whoever's hired to be head coach so that the new guy can have "a clean slate" and, in turn, freed everyone except Quinn, who's under contract for another year, to seek new work. Also from within, Dubas plainly ruled out his AHL coach, Kirk MacDonald, since McDonald's been in Wilkes-Barre barely a year and just oversaw an 0-2 exit from the Calder Cup playoffs.
More telling, as I see it, given Dubas' blanket portrayal of coaches with Sullivan's career path, he's not going to want a John Tortorella, a Bruce Boudreau or anyone else from the NHL's endless carousel of recyclables. He might not even want Rick Tocchet for the same reason.
Which has all of this coming across as Dubas searching for his next Sheldon Keefe.
Keefe's currently the Devils' head coach, of course, but he got his break at age 34 when Dubas, then the GM of the Maple Leafs' AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies, hired him away from the junior ranks, Sault Ste. Marie of the Ontario Hockey League. And when Dubas was promoted to be the parent club's GM, he'd soon fire Mike Babcock and bring along Keefe.
That's what I'm envisioning, adding all this up. Young coach for a predominantly young team.
Again, he'd better be right. With the coach. With the approach. Because if he isn't, no amount of hoarding draft picks, no amount of acquiring Anthony Beauvillier/Phil Tomasino projects, no amount of cap space, and not even any amount of continued excellence from Sid will keep this process from going poof.
• I want this on the record: There's no walk of hockey or life in which I'd ever witnessed, with my own eyes, or even heard tangentially that Sullivan was anything but 100% committed to what he was doing, on a day-to-day basis or in any broader context. I've said this before, and I'll repeat: He's the best coach/manager I've ever covered, though he's followed closely by Clint Hurdle of the Pirates, and I'm sure he'll continue to excel anywhere he'd go next except Toronto. (Where, lucky for him, Craig Berube's got a good grip on that job.)
• No, he wasn't of the right temperament for this phase. As Dubas said of that while praising Sullivan's overall career, "Both things can be true." He entered every arena wanting nothing more -- or beyond -- winning that game that night. Which is optimal when coaching a contender, but much less so when needing to see, warts and all, how Ville Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty can progress. The common rap that Sullivan never wanted to use youngsters was never true. Marcus Pettersson was a top-four contributor at age 22. John Marino showed up as a nobody in training camp and made the roster. And never forget how he assimilated Jake Guentzel, Bryan Rust, Matt Murray, Conor Sheary and other kids into those two championship teams. But he believed that the painful portion of that progress needed to occur somewhere other than Pittsburgh. Because he needed to win that game in front of him. ... That's not now.
• I've admired from Dubas' first day on the job that he's made special exceptions for Sid. Because Sid's legitimately a special case. The execs and coaches who've understood how to handle the stars in Pittsburgh are the ones who've succeeded. It was just "five minutes," that call to Sid, but I'll bet it went a long way.
• Noteworthy from Dubas regarding this firing: "It had been something on my mind during the season. But I have great respect for Sully and just wanted to see it through the end of the year." Trust me when I share he has a lot of stuff like that on his mind as the season's proceeding, but he'll be patient before acting or even just piping up publicly. Same goes for those strikingly critical remarks two weeks ago about Erik Karlsson.
• Can't state this strongly enough: Here's hoping the new coach is soaking up the ongoing Stanley Cup playoffs, because there's abundant evidence that bodychecking's back. Look past the obvious Tom Wilson examples, and look instead to the young, exciting Canadiens. Finishing in all directions. Creating offense from that. There was never any single subject on which I'd disagree more with Sullivan. Being physical's a must in this sport.
• Here's also hoping that the pinching defensemen can be ... adjusted. The modern NHL requires everyone to contribute offensively, and it'd be nuts to leash them up like it was 1976. But there are times, and there are times.
• Good on Dubas for recognizing that Quinn has "deep, deep experience at this level," even if that just ultimately means keeping Quinn aboard as an assistant. He had a massive impact on the Penguins' dramatically improved power play in his first year on the staff. That was his baby from front to finish.
• Sullivan will never receive enough credit for how his speed-based, shot-volume system freaked out the rest of the NHL in 2016. Sure, Jim Rutherford had to chase down Carl Hagelin and others to make it work, but there was no answer for it. Not that year. Not the next. That's rare air in professional sports.
• He'll join a lot of the players he's coached someday in the Hall of Fame. And I'd like to think it'll help that he'll have led the United States to Olympic gold next winter in Italy.
• One scene I'll never forget from being on the ice in San Jose on that magical night: When Sullivan was handed the Cup, marking the crowning achievement of a full life in hockey and the NHL, he raised it, then glanced around to find the nearest group of players, then screamed out, "You guys are the BEST!" Always kept it about the players.
• Best of luck and health to a "terrific" coach and man, to borrow his own favorite adjective. He'll be missed.
THE ASYLUM
DK: Dubas had better be right ... or this whole process goes poof
I've got no cause to criticize Kyle Dubas for firing Mike Sullivan.
And before proceeding further, let's please dispense with any and all semantics: This was a firing, not some mutual this or that, as put forth in the Penguins' press release at 9:03 a.m. today. When the boss flies to meet with the employee for the express purpose of putting an end to that employment, that's a firing.
"It just became clear to me that it was probably time for a change and to move on," Dubas would say today at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. "And I went yesterday and met with Sully and sat down with him in Boston, and I just kind of went through that with him. And sometimes there's disagreement when you have those conversations. At other times, there's an agreement. I don't want to speak for him and how he views it, but I would say it was very amicable, and the conversations with him have continued to stay that way."
He added that he'd reached out to Sidney Crosby beforehand: "I called Sid yesterday morning before I met with Sully to give him the heads up."
Yep. Firing.
And a stunning one at that. Beyond stunning.
Partly because of Sullivan's outsized role in leading those 2016 and 2017 teams to Stanley Cup glory, partly because of his equally real passion for both the Penguins and Pittsburgh, partly because of the impeccable professionalism with which he carried himself in all settings ... but also because, for anyone who might've tuned out, the team went 10-5-2 to close out this past regular season, not exactly coasting to the finish.
Stunning.
I'm stunned. I'm sitting here more and more stunned with each subsequent keystroke.
And yet ...
Look, here's the thing: If Dubas was right with everything he spoke over those 23 minutes today, if he was accurate in his portrayal of how this played out -- and I've known him to be nothing but forthright in his tenure here -- then he'd be wholly justified in this, the biggest move of his NHL career.
If he's right that Sullivan wouldn't be the best choice to transition to a build-with-youth-around-the-core phase, as he repeatedly intimated, extending so far as to cite historical data about coaches with Sullivan's career path, then Dubas would be wholly justified in the firing.
If he's right that Sullivan wasn't all-the-way in on what was or will be unfolding, that Sullivan didn't even really resist suggestions to the contrary in their conversation yesterday, then he'd be wholly justified in the firing.
I won't take this end of it too far. My respect for Sullivan's too great to take it further without hearing from the man himself, and there's no telling when that might be.
From Dubas' perspective ... man, he'd better be right.
About all of the above but especially with whoever he hires.
He spoke of "casting a wide net," offering as possibilities finding a coach from the Canadian junior ranks, Europe, pretty much anywhere. But I wonder how wide.
He appeared to paint all of Sullivan's staff from this past season -- David Quinn, Mike Vellucci, skills specialist Ty Hennes and goaltending coach Andy Chiodo -- as optional for whoever's hired to be head coach so that the new guy can have "a clean slate" and, in turn, freed everyone except Quinn, who's under contract for another year, to seek new work. Also from within, Dubas plainly ruled out his AHL coach, Kirk MacDonald, since McDonald's been in Wilkes-Barre barely a year and just oversaw an 0-2 exit from the Calder Cup playoffs.
More telling, as I see it, given Dubas' blanket portrayal of coaches with Sullivan's career path, he's not going to want a John Tortorella, a Bruce Boudreau or anyone else from the NHL's endless carousel of recyclables. He might not even want Rick Tocchet for the same reason.
Which has all of this coming across as Dubas searching for his next Sheldon Keefe.
Keefe's currently the Devils' head coach, of course, but he got his break at age 34 when Dubas, then the GM of the Maple Leafs' AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies, hired him away from the junior ranks, Sault Ste. Marie of the Ontario Hockey League. And when Dubas was promoted to be the parent club's GM, he'd soon fire Mike Babcock and bring along Keefe.
That's what I'm envisioning, adding all this up. Young coach for a predominantly young team.
Again, he'd better be right. With the coach. With the approach. Because if he isn't, no amount of hoarding draft picks, no amount of acquiring Anthony Beauvillier/Phil Tomasino projects, no amount of cap space, and not even any amount of continued excellence from Sid will keep this process from going poof.
• I want this on the record: There's no walk of hockey or life in which I'd ever witnessed, with my own eyes, or even heard tangentially that Sullivan was anything but 100% committed to what he was doing, on a day-to-day basis or in any broader context. I've said this before, and I'll repeat: He's the best coach/manager I've ever covered, though he's followed closely by Clint Hurdle of the Pirates, and I'm sure he'll continue to excel anywhere he'd go next except Toronto. (Where, lucky for him, Craig Berube's got a good grip on that job.)
• No, he wasn't of the right temperament for this phase. As Dubas said of that while praising Sullivan's overall career, "Both things can be true." He entered every arena wanting nothing more -- or beyond -- winning that game that night. Which is optimal when coaching a contender, but much less so when needing to see, warts and all, how Ville Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty can progress. The common rap that Sullivan never wanted to use youngsters was never true. Marcus Pettersson was a top-four contributor at age 22. John Marino showed up as a nobody in training camp and made the roster. And never forget how he assimilated Jake Guentzel, Bryan Rust, Matt Murray, Conor Sheary and other kids into those two championship teams. But he believed that the painful portion of that progress needed to occur somewhere other than Pittsburgh. Because he needed to win that game in front of him. ... That's not now.
• I've admired from Dubas' first day on the job that he's made special exceptions for Sid. Because Sid's legitimately a special case. The execs and coaches who've understood how to handle the stars in Pittsburgh are the ones who've succeeded. It was just "five minutes," that call to Sid, but I'll bet it went a long way.
• Noteworthy from Dubas regarding this firing: "It had been something on my mind during the season. But I have great respect for Sully and just wanted to see it through the end of the year." Trust me when I share he has a lot of stuff like that on his mind as the season's proceeding, but he'll be patient before acting or even just piping up publicly. Same goes for those strikingly critical remarks two weeks ago about Erik Karlsson.
• Can't state this strongly enough: Here's hoping the new coach is soaking up the ongoing Stanley Cup playoffs, because there's abundant evidence that bodychecking's back. Look past the obvious Tom Wilson examples, and look instead to the young, exciting Canadiens. Finishing in all directions. Creating offense from that. There was never any single subject on which I'd disagree more with Sullivan. Being physical's a must in this sport.
• Here's also hoping that the pinching defensemen can be ... adjusted. The modern NHL requires everyone to contribute offensively, and it'd be nuts to leash them up like it was 1976. But there are times, and there are times.
• Good on Dubas for recognizing that Quinn has "deep, deep experience at this level," even if that just ultimately means keeping Quinn aboard as an assistant. He had a massive impact on the Penguins' dramatically improved power play in his first year on the staff. That was his baby from front to finish.
• Sullivan will never receive enough credit for how his speed-based, shot-volume system freaked out the rest of the NHL in 2016. Sure, Jim Rutherford had to chase down Carl Hagelin and others to make it work, but there was no answer for it. Not that year. Not the next. That's rare air in professional sports.
• He'll join a lot of the players he's coached someday in the Hall of Fame. And I'd like to think it'll help that he'll have led the United States to Olympic gold next winter in Italy.
• One scene I'll never forget from being on the ice in San Jose on that magical night: When Sullivan was handed the Cup, marking the crowning achievement of a full life in hockey and the NHL, he raised it, then glanced around to find the nearest group of players, then screamed out, "You guys are the BEST!" Always kept it about the players.
• Best of luck and health to a "terrific" coach and man, to borrow his own favorite adjective. He'll be missed.
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