A prime NHL head coaching candidate hit the market on Monday morning and he’s got strong Boston ties.
But the Bruins would not be the only team with logical interest in him.
Marshfield native Mike Sullivan, who won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins, agreed to part ways with the Pens on Monday. The 57-year-old former Boston University Terrier, who played 77 games for the B’s in the 1997-98 season, got his first head coaching job with the Bruins in 2003-04. But the New York Rangers, for whom he was an assistant from 2009 to 2013 under John Tortorella, are expected to be strong suitors for Sullivan’s services.
In the season-ending presser last week, GM Don Sweeney put a high priority on the next coaching candidate having exposure to the NHL as well as being able to work with young players.
“In terms of hitting the criteria, communication with players nowadays is paramount,” said Sweeney. “Structure, detail and being organized is paramount. You can’t (not) have it and survive. I want a coach that’s going to evolve a little bit offensively, and again, that’s part and parcel with being able to communicate with sometimes younger players and their stubbornness or their inexperience.”
At the tail end of his first head coaching season with the B’s AHL affiliate in Providence, Sullivan was brought up to the Boston staff after head coach Robbie Ftorek was fired late in the 2002-03 season. GM Mike O’Connell then hired him as the head coach prior to the 2003-04 season and Sullivan led them to a 41-19-15 record, though the B’s lost in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. But in that season, he and the B’s brass recognized the potential of an 18-year-old Patrice Bergeron and gave him a spot in the lineup.
It would be a short-lived stay here for Sullivan, through little fault of his own. The next season was wiped out by the owners’ lockout and, once business resumed, several key players such as Brian Rolston and Mike Knuble moved on as free agents while the B’s had trouble attracting new free agents. The 2005-06 season went off the rails when the B’s, off to a slow start, traded star center Joe Thornton. Eventually, O’Connell was fired and new GM Peter Chiarelli brought in his own coach, Dave Lewis, who lasted only a season before he was replaced by Claude Julien. Julien stayed in Boston for a decade, winning the Stanley Cup in 2011.
For Sullivan, it would be 10 years before he got another head coaching gig. He was Tortorella’s assistant for one year in Tampa Bay, four with the Rangers and one in Calgary. He was hired to be the head coach of the Penguins’ AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at the start of the 2015-16 season but just 24 games into the season there, he took over the head coaching job in Pittsburgh. Sullivan made his second chance count, winning back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and ‘17.
But as Penguins management committed to an aging core, the Pens have not been able to keep their heads above water. They have missed the playoffs for the last three seasons.
Sullivan’s local ties go beyond his South Shore roots, BU and his coaching start with the B’s. He is also the father-in-law of No. 1 defenseman Charlie McAvoy. Whether that’s an enticement to come home or is seen as a potentially awkward situation – whether for the player, coach or organization – remains to be seen. Sullivan did coach McAvoy in the Four Nations Faceoff but there’s a big difference between a 10-day tournament and a grinding 82-game NHL schedule.
The Rangers are a strong possibility. While the Rangers never got over the hump to win a Cup in Sullivan’s time there under Tortorella, the Blueshirts won more than they lost in that time (171-115-29). And there is the BU connection with GM Chris Drury, who also played for the Rangers at the end of his career during Sullivan’s time in Manhattan.
The growing perception that the Bruins are unique in grinding through coaches shouldn’t hurt them if it came down to the Rangers and them. The Blueshirts will be hiring their fourth coach since 2018.
Another possibility for Sullivan is Vancouver. Current Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet was still mulling whether he was going to return as of Monday morning. If Tocchet decides to leave, Canucks’ team president Jim Rutherford was the GM in Pittsburgh who gave Sullivan his opportunity with the Penguins.
Originally Published: April 28, 2025 at 11:16 AM EDT
