Penguins Coach Mike Sullivan Under Fire From All Sides: "You Got To Move On!"

The Pittsburgh Penguins wrap up a disappointing season Wednesday night with a meaningless game, having been vanquished from playoff contention for the second straight season. And more and more, the blame is starting to fall squarely at the feet of head coach Mike Sullivan. 

Sullivan took the Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017, but since then they've won just one playoff series. Now that they're officially eliminated, darts are starting to be thrown his way.

Adam Crowley of 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh calls it "unacceptable.

"You're repeating a lot of the same mistakes... The things they were bad at last year, in some cases they got even worse at this year. That's all on the head coach. 

"Mike Sullivan, you gots to go!... I think you got to move on. In fact, I know you have to move on... We have reached the expiration date on Mike Sullivan." 

If Kyle Dubas doesn’t fire Mike Sullivan and his staff, it’ll be a clear signal that Fenway Sports Group didn’t approve it. There is no justification for Sullivan keeping his job after 4 first round playoff exits and then 2 DNQ’s.

Bad losses
Blown leads
Terrible team D
Awful PP

— Bowser (@Bowser724) April 17, 2024

Jesse Marshall, Penguins beat writer in The Athletic, illustrates that there's a very low bar for finding a "better" coach than Sullivan at this point. 

Re: Sullivan: Many people wonder whether or not you can do better than him. I wonder this too. But “better than him” has to come with the scope of missing the playoffs two straight years and getting bounced early in a handful of years before that. It is not 2016 anymore.

— Jesse Marshall (@jmarshfof) April 17, 2024

Of course, what makes this a stickier situation is that Sullivan's three-year extension doesn't even begin until next season. 

For now, there doesn't appear to be any inclination from GM Kyle Dubas to make a change behind the bench, but we'll see how hot that seat gets. It's still very, very early in the offseason for the Penguins. 

In nine years at the helm in Pittsburgh, Sullivan has a 375-218-77 record, a .617 points percentage. In the playoffs, however, after starting off with those two Stanley Cup runs, his record is now 44-38, only a .537 win percentage. 

Photo: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports