Awaiting confirmation
Joe retiring too? How much news can we handle?
If they need me to bleed, then I'll bleed for my team
Well…that’s a lot to digest
I was hoping The Mouth would retire as well. I'm happy to see he was smart enough to wait and let Sam have his glory.
Well they make it official on Sullivan this morning. Duffy always seemed to want him, so guess it’s no surprise. Not sure he’s going too much success here, so I guess we’ll have to wait and see
No Torts which is probably good. Not sold on Sullivan at all. But Drury likes retreads. Sullivan record after two cup wins is pretty ordinary. Hopefully another BC alum Kreider doesn't weasel his way off the must move list before next season. I can see that happening. That first power play unit needs to be dissected.
No Torts which is probably good. Not sold on Sullivan at all. But Drury likes retreads. Sullivan record after two cup wins is pretty ordinary. Hopefully another BC alum Kreider doesn't weasel his way off the must move list before next season. I can see that happening. That first power play unit needs to be dissected.
Yeah, and though the Penguins roster has been problematic for some years, he appeared to overplay flawed players the same way we've seen most of the guys in NY do as well. Not sure he's good with younger players either, though I guess that's something that I haven't really researched much.
Not sure what to say, but it seemed clear Drury wanted him. Sullivan would be the first Head Coach in the Cap era, and first since Scotty Bowman in 2002 to win a Cup with two or more franchises
Of the available candidates you can't argue that Sullivan was among the top 2. I think any NYR coach of this mess has his work cut out for him and the only downside is the prospect of Jon Cooper not renewing with TB after this year. Rangers need and need to shed so much it is hard to think they could be a playoff contender let alone a SC contender any time soon.
If they need me to bleed, then I'll bleed for my team
No Torts which is probably good. Not sold on Sullivan at all. But Drury likes retreads. Sullivan record after two cup wins is pretty ordinary. Hopefully another BC alum Kreider doesn't weasel his way off the must move list before next season. I can see that happening. That first power play unit needs to be dissected.
Yeah, and though the Penguins roster has been problematic for some years, he appeared to overplay flawed players the same way we've seen most of the guys in NY do as well. Not sure he's good with younger players either, though I guess that's something that I haven't really researched much.
Not sure what to say, but it seemed clear Drury wanted him. Sullivan would be the first Head Coach in the Cap era, and first since Scotty Bowman in 2002 to win a Cup with two or more franchises
I read a blurb the other day the only young player that’s player, not player’s, Sullivan’s developed is Jake Guentzel. And he was a stud his first season so not much development needed there.
Interesting article Sullivan with two cup wins and not much else in 10 years in Pitt. Laviolette with one cup win, three other cup finals, and 5 division titles. If one was hiring based on that, pretty obvious no? Here's the article.
####
Is Mike Sullivan the right hire for the Rangers?
The New York Rangers on Friday hired Mike Sullivan as their new head coach following his recent parting of ways with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Even before the hiring, many analysts seemed to be in lockstep that the former Rangers assistant is an ideal hire for a team looking to rebound from an awful campaign. However, is Sullivan really a slam-dunk choice?
Sullivan has been an unequivocal success as a head coach, with a pair of Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017 as well as division titles with the Penguins and with Boston back in 2004. But those successes are not exactly recent. The recently fired Peter Laviolette has a Stanley Cup, three Finals losses and five division titles to his name. Those baubles didn’t really help him much this past season, did they?
The 57-year-old Sullivan doesn’t have a whole lot of recent success to lean on, either. His Penguins have failed to make the Stanley Cup playoffs in the past three seasons — their last playoff appearance was a first-round loss to the Rangers after leading the series 3-1 — finishing seventh in the Metro division this past season.
In fact, Sullivan has just a single playoff series win since hoisting the chalice. It was a first-round win in 2018, the season after his last Stanley Cup win. For those not of a mathematical inclination, that means Sullivan has zero playoff series wins in the past seven seasons.
Despite boasting a roster with first-ballot Hall of Famers in Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, as well as some seriously high-end supporting talent including Jake Guentzel, Phil Kessel, Bryan Rust, Erik Karlsson and Brian Dumoulin, Sullivan has proven unable to craft a group that could consistently challenge the best in the NHL. Yes, it’s fair to put some of that on former Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford and those who have followed his tenure in the big chair, but Sullivan certainly hasn’t overachieved.
In fact, it might be argued that even his cup victories could largely be attributed to the work done by Dan Bylsma, who molded the Penguins' talented core into a championship-level roster before being let go in 2014.
The Rangers have a raft of youngsters vital to their present and future in Will Cuylle, Alexis Lafreniere, Braden Schneider, Brett Berard, Brennan Othmann and Gabe Perreault. Does Sullivan boast any significant track record of turning youngsters oozing with potential into stars? Yes, Guentzel immediately comes to mind, but is there anybody else? Rust might qualify. Matt Murray, perhaps? It’s not an overwhelming roll call.
GM Chris Drury was a player with the Rangers when Sullivan was an assistant over 15 years ago. The two certainly have a great relationship, which is no bad thing. But is this another play-it-safe hire?
If Drury gets this coaching hire wrong, he surely won’t get another one. In that light, it’s understandable that he looked at Sullivan as a trusted, steady hand. But did he miss the forest for the trees?
If Sullivan can set up his team d to get the Rangers from 31st in giving up high quality chances to middle of the pack they will easily make the playoffs with the high quality goalies. He is already starting the season with better top 2 centers than Lav had to start last season and with Trouba and Lindgren out of the picture, the d is better than it was at the beginning of last season. If Zib plays like he did during the last 1/3 of the season and can play the 3c spot with Carrick #4 the Rangers will be decent up the middle. Also, Rempe improved greatly during the course of the season and should have more minutes and hopefully Edstrom recovers from his injury. A real 4th line can take a lot of pressure off the top 9.
Lav stuck with his failure of a D system and went down with the ship. He did have to deal with Goodrow/Trouba and all the trades/ rumors/complaining. Sullivan will not have to deal with much of this crap.
As for the Cup - doubtful, but, with some good team D and goaltending, never say never.
1 Cup in 84 years
2048
To suggest the Rangers D is better now than at the start of the 2023-2024 season has no basis of fact. In fact numbers suggest the opposite. Better goals for and Goals against. Personally give me a healthy Trouba and Lindgren, along with Fox, Schneider, Miller, Gustaffson any day of the week over Fox, Schneider, Miller, Borgen, Soucy and Vaakanainen. The 2023-2024 to the Stanley Cup semi finals, the 2024-2025 group didn't even make the playoffs.
This quote from Sullivan I don't like.
"""Sullivan worked closely with four Rangers — Kreider, Adam Fox, Vincent Trocheck and J.T. Miller — as recently as February when he served as head coach of Team USA during the 4 Nations Face-Off.
He described the aforementioned players as “fierce competitors,” saying they “have an insatiable appetite to win.” They are the types of guys, he said, that he gets excited about."""
He must mean when they feel like it.
Just going to have to agree to disagree. Neither Trouba or Lindgren is capable of playing top 4 minutes night after night on a team that thinks they can compete for a cup, especially on the same team.To suggest the Rangers D is better now than at the start of the 2023-2024 season has no basis of fact. In fact numbers suggest the opposite. Better goals for and Goals against. Personally give me a healthy Trouba and Lindgren, along with Fox, Schneider, Miller, Gustaffson any day of the week over Fox, Schneider, Miller, Borgen, Soucy and Vaakanainen. The 2023-2024 to the Stanley Cup semi finals, the 2024-2025 group didn't even make the playoffs.
Trouba is not a good skater and is getting worse. Also, you cannot ignore the giant contract millstone around his neck. I am happy he is gone. As for Lindgren, his name and healthy do not go together. His sacrificing the body style has worn him down and he cannot be counted on for big minutes anymore. I will not miss him failing to handle big forwards in the corners and around the crease. He will be overpaid by someone. I am glad it is not the Rangers.
Fox, Schneider (fixed shoulder now), Miller (who's numbers improved playing with Borgen and Fox), Borgen are a better Rangers top 4 than with Trouba and Lidgren. Can it be improved? Yes. But we are talking about Trouba and Lindgren.
Although Gustafsson played well for the Rangers, but he is now 33 and is there really that much difference between him and Vaakanainen (age 26)? As for the rest - Soucy, Robertson, Jones?, and the large number of bottom pair guys floating around the waiver wire/AHL, we shall see. Soucy has shown he can play steady d in the past. I would not put that much weight in the mess at the end of the Rangers last season when rating Soucy.
The real difference will be if Sullivan puts in a d system that the forwards and d men can actually operate and buy into.
1 Cup in 84 years
2048
X so no lengthy posts quoting everything so I'm not. A large part of Trouba and Lindgren's issues were running around playing a man on man system. Trouba's game went off the rails under Laviolette and Lindgren's to, no secret there. Even Fox spent all last season three strides behind his check chasing him around the d zone. Trouba, Lindgren, Fox, and even Miller have been there done that, as a top four, anchoring some very successful teams. Of which Schneider, who I think very highly of was also a member. Your group Borgen, Miller, Fox, and Schneider has it to do. And without Schneider 5th or 6th Soucy and the rest of the scrubs basically suck. Vaakanainen the best of the bunch, but Stanley Cup caliber defenseman ( which is the goal) I'm not so sure. Teams need six D going every night. Rangers at present do not have that. You can bet changes are coming.
Reality Check: This team is a long ways away from being a Cup contender.
As long as the Rangers have $9.5M of cap tied up in Richard Simmons on D there will be no Cup.
Erik Karlsson will never win a Cup either....
Tonya Harding would kick both their asses.
If they need me to bleed, then I'll bleed for my team
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