Ranking the Best Landing Spots for Former Penguins Coach Mike Sullivan

The Pittsburgh Penguins officially parted ways with head coach Mike Sullivan on Monday morning, ending a 10-year run that saw the team win back-to-back Stanley Cups and more than 400 regular-season wins.

Even though their success had dried up in recent years with three consecutive non-playoff seasons and no playoff series wins since 2018, it is still a surprising decision given how long he had been there and how much of a connection there still seemed to be between Sullivan, ownership and captain Sidney Crosby.

It was probably time for a change, especially given the nature of head-coaching changes in the NHL and how quickly they happen. But it is still surprising to see it happen.

With the Penguins now in a rebuild, it's clear that they needed a new direction. Now that Sullivan is available, let's take a look at some of his potential landing spots.

A lot of teams will be talked about as obvious candidates for Sullivan, which we'll get into shortly. But what about a team that already has a head coach?

Perhaps a playoff team goes out earlier than it feels like it should. Maybe a team is mostly satisfied with its head coach but sees Sullivan as an upgrade. Could some team pull a St. Louis and fire their coach because Sullivan is available?

What if the Los Angeles Kings go out in the first round again? What about a team like Nashville that badly underachieved this year but still has a roster built to win right now?

The Chicago Blackhawks' rebuild is still a long way from completion, and it needs a lot. Talent is high on the list of needs, as is credibility and a mindset. Losing breeds more losing, which is all anybody on this team knows right now.

Even though Sullivan's teams haven't had a ton of playoff success recently, he is still a two-time Stanley Cup champion with a system that could work on a younger, faster team that needs a spark.

However, Sullivan may not have been OK with going through a rebuild in Pittsburgh, a team that he won two Stanley Cups with and had a seemingly strong relationship with one of the greatest players of all time. Why would he want to start over with a different rebuilding process on a team that he has no connection with?

The presence of Connor Bedard and some of the Blackhawks' young talent could make this an attractive job for the right coach, but it probably isn't Sullivan.

University of Denver coach David Carle already turned them down, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman. It would be a long shot to imagine Sullivan having them the top of his list.

The Kraken already tried one former Stanley Cup-winning coach from Pittsburgh in Dan Bylsma, so why not try another?

If Seattle is looking to make a splashy hire and wants to inject some excitement into a franchise that has already become stale after only four seasons, Sullivan could help do that. But how much would that appeal to Sullivan?

The Kraken have a few intriguing young players in Matty Beniers and Shane Wright, but they also have two big-money goalies who may not be very good, while the roster is lacking in big-time offensive talent.

Sullivan joining the Philadelphia Flyers would be great just from a storyline and narrative perspective.

The Flyers should be ready to take the next step in their rebuild. They already have a solid defensive structure in place—don't laugh; their defensive metrics have been among the best in the NHL over the past two years—and a rising superstar in Matvei Michkov.

If they can figure out how to acquire a goalie who is not among the worst in the NHL, they may not be as far away from the playoffs as their place in the standings this year would suggest. This could be an intriguing job for an established head coach.

It would also be fascinating to watch Sullivan return to Pittsburgh as a visiting coach with the team's fiercest rival.

The Vancouver Canucks recently declined their option on the contract of head coach Rick Tocchet, although they're still negotiating a new deal with him. If they choose to move on (and they probably should), they would be an intriguing destination for Sullivan, mostly because there are already a ton of Pittsburgh connections in Vancouver.

Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin won Stanley Cups with Sullivan coaching in Pittsburgh, and the Canucks should still have some relatively high expectations despite a down year in 2024-25.

As bad as this past season was for the Canucks, this would not be an impossible situation to win in, especially they can get Elias Pettersson back on track as a top-line scorer. Along with that potential, they also have one of the league's best defenseman in Quinn Hughes and a very good starting goalie in Thatcher Demko (when healthy).

It could be an intriguing destination, but maybe not the best.

Sullivan got his head coaching start in the NHL with the Bruins, coaching them for two seasons in the mid-2000s. He made the playoffs one time and was let go following the 2005-06 season.

You might think that might make this a non-starter. Maybe in other sports. But this is the NHL, where head coaches move through a revolving door all the time, not only from team to team but also within the same team. It would not be unheard of for a team to rehire a previously fired coach, especially in a case like this.

Not only is Sullivan a different head coach than he was in 2006 with a much more impressive track record, but he is also from Boston and has always loved returning to the city.

The Bruins' head coaching job is up for grabs. One can only imagine there's at least going to be a phone call and some potential mutual interest.

At this point, it feels like it would be an upset if the New York Rangers didn't hire Sullivan. The New York media has been talking about this for what seems like two years, and they now have a chance to see it happen.

It would be intriguing for the Rangers because Sullivan is a big-name, high-profile coach with two Stanley Cup rings on his resume. And it would be intriguing for Sullivan because the Rangers are theoretically built to win right now and have something that he hasn't had for years—a proven starting goalie.

The only thing that might be a red flag for Sullivan is the fact that he would be going from a situation where he had incredible job security (until he didn't) to a team that is going to be on its fifth head coach in eight years (and third head coach in four years). Some people might not want to deal with that circus.