PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Todd Reirden won 89 out of 151 games as head coach with the Capitals ending just over a year ago. Now after a season as Mike Sullivan's assistant, he's taking over as acting head coach as Sullivan is dealing with COVID-19 symptoms and in protocol.
"Mike Sullivan does such a great job of empowering us as assistant coaches, especially me in my particular areas with the team and with the defense," Reirden said. "I don't think that it will be that different. It won't be much of a surprise for the players."
"Coach Sullivan and I connect on a number of different levels. I think we were able to have a common vision last year."
"It will be Mike Sullivan's message and I will be delivering it just as I always do on the bench. It will just be in a different capacity."
A day after key top-pair defenseman Brian Dumoulin and the franchise's second-best player all-time, Sidney Crosby, were ruled out due to COVID-19. The head coach will miss for the upcoming future.
"These are the cards we are dealt for tonight," Reirden said. "It's been something that's happened relatively quickly. There have been a lot of unpredictable times. I think everyone is prepared for certain situations that come our way. We will have our coaching staff in different roles. We will miss Mike Sullivan, hope the best for him and his family."
Reirden said it all happened quickly, the team called off morning skate on Thursday to give players more time away from each other. Then the news of Sullivan joining several players in protocol.
The good news is the Pens get defenseman Kris Letang back, although they will have to cobble together a defensive unit around him. Reirden doesn't believe it's as big a distraction for the players as may be thought.
"NHL players and NHL staffs have become a lot more hardened to in the last year, two years," Reirden said. "I think when things do come up and hiccups do happen or there are players that are missing. I think players are getting better at dealing with this is the reality we are dealing with now."
"How do they do their job? Are they able to take advantage of opportunities that may not come again? You see examples of it all the time, we are hoping for that from our team tonight."
"As we work through it here, the focus is going to be on us continuing to find some of the hockey that we were playing at the beginning of the year. Getting back to some of the things we were doing well, the details and habits we had in place that slipped a little bit lately."
They will try and handle all of this while playing their biggest rival, hosting the Flyers Thursday night.
