PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – You may have issues with Mike Sullivan. You might think a coaching change would shift the direction of this team. It’s not going to happen.
“I don’t think there needs to be any discussion about Mike,” said Pens GM Kyle Dubas emphatically on Wednesday.
Dubas called some of the criticism of Sullivan ‘low-hanging fruit’. Said he can become the target of everything based on where this team is currently. The Pens GM says he meets with Sullivan every day and it only increases his confidence in him.
The results haven’t just been missing this season, the team currently 24-29, last year they finished 40-42 and out of the postseason. The last playoff series win was 2007-18.
“We have a team that means a great deal to him,” Dubas said. “I think he’s very open about that. He takes this very seriously and takes the ups-and-downs very seriously. I think that’s the respect I’ve developed for him, you know that from afar, but when you get in it with somebody, it only helps you.”
Dubas said Sullivan and his coaching staff have the ability to focus on the development of individual players along with the day-to-day activities. That this group is not just one that can win, but can also develop players.
As general manager, Dubas said you can put some of the power play issues on him. He danced around a question of potentially changing power play coach Todd Reirden. Adding again it’s on all of them to play better.
He said there will be year-end discussions as he has with everyone on staff, but says the only reason there is any question of Sullivan is because of the lack of recent results.