May 2, 12:49 p.m.: It’s a five-year contract for Sullivan with an undisclosed AAV, per Emily Kaplan of ESPN. While the exact number isn’t known, the deal includes the highest annual salary for a coach in NHL history.
May 2, 8:00 a.m..: As expected, the Rangers will make Sullivan’s hire official on Friday morning, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. The team released a formal announcement a few moments after Friedman shared the news.
May 1: The New York Rangers are expected to hire Mike Sullivan as the 38th coach in franchise history, per Vince Z. Mercogliano of USA Today Sports. Sullivan spent the last 10 seasons as the coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins. He won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017 – his first two seasons as Pittsburgh’s head coach.
Pittsburgh missed the postseason for the third-straight season this year – but even despite that, news of Sullivan’s mutual departure sent shockwaves around the hockey world. He was the second-longest tenured head coach in the league at the time of his dismissal, behind only Jon Cooper with the Tampa Bay Lightning. In March, Sullivan reaffirmed his desire to stick in Pittsburgh long-term, telling Josh Yohe of The Athletic that he didn’t wish to coach anywhere but Pittsburgh. That sentiment seemed to hold true through the end of the season, with Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas even sharing that Sullivan was expected to return for 2025-26 just one week before he left the team. When all was said and done, the 57-year-old bench boss opted to explore free agency for the first time since 2015.
Should the news hold true, Sullivan will be returning to old roots by rejoining the Rangers organization. He served as an assistant coach to John Tortorella in New York from 2009 to 2013. His presence helped New York push back into the postseason in three straight seasons, after missing the playoffs in 2010. Sullivan parted ways with the Rangers before their run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2014 – instead joining the Vancouver Canucks as an assistant for the 2013-14 campaign, then heading to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for an AHL role in 2015-16.
Sullivan coached in just 24 AHL games before being promoted to the top flight, following the dismissal of Mike Johnston. What Sullivan was able to create in Pittsburgh over the subsequent 10 seasons was nothing short of incredible. Pittsburgh had no shortage of playoff experience when Sullivan took over – having made the postseason for nine-straight seasons. But aside from a Cup final loss in 2008, and a Cup win in 2009, the squad had fallen into a deep rut of dazzling regular season success followed by quick playoff exits. Sullivan was the one to change that, pushing the Penguins to the fourth and fifth Cup wins in franchise history and prolonging their playoff streak to an impressive 16 seasons – before they finally missed out in 2023. With Sullivan’s help, Pittsburgh’s playoff streak lasted longer than the Buffalo Sabres’ ongoing playoff drought – 16 seasons to 14 seasons – and the Rangers are certainly hoping he can continue that success across the Metropolitan Division.
The 2024-25 season was a historic low for the Original Six club. In front of Peter Laviolette, in his second year at the helm, New York posted a bleak 39-36-7
record – their worst win percentage since posting a 32-36-14 record in the 2018-19 season. The season was disappointing in every aspect, undercut by the fact that the Rangers posted a franchise record 114 points (55-23-4 record) last season. Career-long goal-scorer Chris Kreider managed just eight assists and 30 points in 68 games, while Alexis Lafreniere continued to underperform and the defense looked lost at sea. They were just three of the many headlines to pour out of New York over the course of the year – which culminated in New York missing the postseason for the first time since 2021.
But even on the heels of a bad year, the Rangers will offer Sullivan plenty to work with. They have franchise cornerstones locked up for the foreseeable future in former Norris Trophy winner Adam Fox and Vezina Trophy winner Igor Shesterkin. Star forwrad Artemi Panarin is also under contract through the 2025-26 season, while Kreider and Mika Zibanejad are signed through at least 2027. That forward group will look to lead an otherwise very young corps, headlined by top pick Lafreniere, emerging pieces like William Cuylle and Adam Edstrom, and top prospects Gabriel Perreault, Brennan Othmann, and Brett Berard. That should be more than enough firepower to make a playoff champion, especially under the guide of a head coach who got the most out of scorers like Rickard Rakell, Michael Bunting, and Philip Tomasino.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Mike Sullivan to the Rangers was the second option I saw Sullivan going to behind Boston. Sullivan would bring stability, credibility & help establish a culture that New York really lost this season. It’s a good signing for NY to correct course for the team next season.
Interesting.
I thought for sure he’d wind up in Boston.
Will not last that long gone in less then 2 years. Dolan is a bonehead..
Dolan has been hands off since Drury was made GM, and even before that he wasn’t meddling. Not a fan of Dolan, but not going to criticize the guy for the sake of criticism. He’s been hands off the Knicks since Rose moved in as well.
@padam — Seems a bit out of character for Dolan these days, doesn’t it? Maybe he has a new business interest or hobby that is consuming him?
The sphere I’m sure has taken some of that attention. I also believe he’s realized it’s best to let others do their work. He’s hired them for a reason.
i don’t know about this one, he seemed stale by the time his tenure was over in pgh
Not so long ago, many were making similar comments about Bruce Cassidy when he joined Vegas and Paul Maurice when he was hired by the Panthers.
He’s been stale for at least 3 years in Pittsburgh, but he can still coach. It was time to go, but he will probably be fine in a new environment
You may be right about his impact on the penguins roster and philosophy but you don’t get named HC of team USA 4 nations team without being well respected for your abilities
Yes, but will Sully have the blessing of Larry Brooks of the NY Post?
Probably not, which will make the hire that much more solid.
Forget about Brooks what does Stan Fischler think about this.
Who cares what Fischler thinks?
I was hoping for Torts to get the job just so he could give Brooks a regular beatdown. Dang shame.
Lou does. Can’t really name anyone else.
I was sure Sullivan would be headed to Boston, but it’s the Rangers instead. He certainly has players there that he likes from the 4 Nations team.
Now the second part of the plan is in motion. Tank the rangers so the penguins get a top pick. Good work Sully haha
So they fire Gallant after two years to hire Laviolette. Then they fire Laviolette after two years to hire Sullivan. Yet the majority of the roster is still the same, save for some fringe players. Just goes to show that Drury doesn’t have a clue. Keep up the good work Rangers management. Keep chasing that ever elusive Stanley Cup. Outside of the Maple Leafs, the biggest loser franchise in the NHL. Makes me happy.
That’s very schadenfreude of you.
Hadn’t really considered the coaching shuffle’s effect on our draft picks, but…that’s not actually my job. I wonder if Dubas did.
Because it seems likely that NYR will either be better or much better next year. I see little chance they are worse* under Sully.
So, now, they likely keep the #11 pick this year and send us a worse pick next year** so maybe the Pens should have “promoted” Sully to a special assistant to the GM role and kept him in house.
*Unless Sheshterkin is hurt long term.
**Unless the Rangers realize the Pens can just run Sheshterkin all year long to get that pick and decide to just send #11 now. Get some dude with a pipe to bash his knee until he cries “why me?”. No reason for Drury to risk it.
One step forward before 2 steps back?
Didn’t really expect him to apply for the Hawks job but hey it was nice to hope for a couple of days anyway. LOL
This was the move that needed to happen.
The real move needs to be be made in the Transactions column, trade the regressing Adam Fox to VAN as part of a Quinn Hughes deal, trade K’andre Miller for a prospect and car space and figure out a way to be harder to play against that doesn’t revolve around Matt Rempe leading a goon squad.
I would absolutely love to see them spend a huge package on Quinn the watch him walk across the river for nothing in FA. Would be amazing.
Fox forced his way to the Rags and has a NMC. He’s not going anywhere.