Mike Sullivan Far From Blameless

 

Pittsburgh Penguins' general manager Jim Rutherford has taken quite a beating this off-season when it comes to criticism of his transactions, and deservedly   so. Rutherford's signing of Johnson, giving away assets like he's Michael Jackson, and constantly moving guys in and out of Pittsburgh even led to some of the players on the team criticizing him anonymously. And while I agree that Rutherford is at the forefront when it comes to blame, he's far from alone. The players have a share, since they are the ones actually playing, but also we need to look at Penguins' head coach Mike Sullivan as well. 

Sullivan replaced Mike Johnston as head coach about 1/3 through the 2015-2016 season and instantly turned things around. Not only did the Pens have the best record in the league from the date Sullivan was hired until the end of the season, they steamrolled their way to a Stanley Cup, then won it all again in 2017, while using two goalies, and playing without their number-one defenseman. Winning goes a long way, especially in Pittsburgh. Sullivan's two cup wins will have a long-lasting legacy and will age like fine wine. 

While Sullivan pressed all of the right buttons in 2016 and 2017, the last two years haven't been as peachy. Like Rutherford, I think Sullivan needs to check the ego a bit when it comes to making decisions. Sullivan's player usage reeks of "I know best" and it has absolutely hurt the team the past two seasons. His habit of playing favorites worked in the past, but that philosophy, as well as his inability and/or refusal to change his team's style of play has caught up to him. 

Let's start with the goalies. It was obvious that Tristan Jarry outplayed Matt Murray this season, and while I agreed with Sullivan using Murray over Marc-Andre Fleury in 2017 (based on performance) the same logic should have been used this season as well, considering that Jarry finished better in every single goaltending statistic in the playoffs and regular season. While I don't think Murray and his .914 save % was the main factor in the Pens' first-round loss to Montreal, Jarry would have given the team a better chance. By the team Sullivan switched goalies it was too late. 

Speaking of sticking to horses that can't run, that brings us to Jack Johnson and Justin Schultz. I have many questions, starting with why did they play, and following up with why did they play as much as they did? Mathematically, if the Penguins just don't play Johnson and Schultz, they would have won their series against Montreal. They were that bad, with the Penguins being outscored 5-1 when Johnson was on the ice, and 4-6 with Schultz on the ice. It would be nice to know what Sullivan sees in Johnson. We know what Rutherford sees "Size and grit" but the on-ice results show that Johnson is one of the worst players in the league, and his ice time (15 minutes + per game in the playoffs, 17 minutes+ per night in the regular season) hurt the Penguins.

Last season, Sullivan scratched Johnson for a playoff game, marking the second straight season that he was scratched in the playoffs. This year, not only was Johnson not scratched, Sullivan trotted him out there in 1-goal games with less than three minutes left in two games this series. Same with Schultz, who for some reason was the team's extra-skater with the goalie pulled. Why? What had Schultz done to warrant that kind of reward over the team's leading goal scorer Bryan Rust, who was tied to the bench.

You have to wonder if Sullivan is being told to play Johnson every night by management. If so, that's understandable. He's simply the fall guy, if not and he has free-reign over his player usage and deployment, then he has some explaining to do. It doesn't just end with Schultz, Johnson, and the goalies. Why did Sullivan continue to trot out Patrick Marleau, who looked like he was skating in quick sand, over someone like Evan Rodrigues who was acquired in the Dominik Kahun trade and showed lots of versatility and speed? Sullivan scratched Jared McCann for performance reasons, but everyone else was safe, in a series where hardly anyone performed well? Not to mention that Sullivan made zero adjustments to yet another team playing a trap/counter-attack style, which was the same strategy that the New York Islanders used the year before, where the swept Sullivan's Penguins. 

Winning back-to-back Cups gives you a big leash and I'm not calling for Sullivan to be fired. And unless the team is in last place in December or misses the playoffs I don't see that happening, especially with Sullivan being signed until 2024. That said, Sullivan's hands are far from clean and he deserves just as much blame for the team's recent failures as Rutherford does. I'd also like to add that the star players, Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel, and Kris Letang have a big share of blame as well, considering they combined for 0 goals and 4 points. That said, I think Sullivan needs to check his ego, and realize that it's not 2017 anymore.