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Mike Sullivan Wants To Remain With Penguins Long-Term

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Josh Yohe of The Athletic recently spoke with Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan and the long-time Penguins bench boss pledged his loyalty to the franchise saying that he doesn’t want to coach anywhere else except Pittsburgh. Sullivan has seen a ton of success with the Penguins, leading them to back-to-back Stanley Cup Championships in 2016 and 2017, but the franchise has fallen on hard times in recent seasons, missing the playoffs in two consecutive years and set to make it a third this season, unless they pull off a historical run. Despite all of this, Sullivan remains committed to the Penguins and by all accounts, it appears that Pittsburgh remains committed to him as he has two years left on his contract and there has been no talks of moving on from the most successful coach in franchise history.

Sullivan took over the Penguins back in December of 2015 as they were spiralling out of control. Despite having a roster full of superstars, the team was out of the playoff picture. Sullivan righted the ship and took the Penguins on two straight playoff runs that resulted in championships. But since defeating the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round of the 2018 postseason, Pittsburgh has yet to win a postseason series. They were swept in 2019, eliminated in the play-in series in the pandemic bubble in 2020, and then knocked out of the first round by both New York franchises in 2021 and 2022.

Despite the lack of success over the last eight years, the Penguins have stuck by Sullivan, and he by them. There have been calls for Sullivan to be fired since at least 2021, if not sooner, but none of Jim Rutherford, Ron Hextall, or Kyle Dubas made the move to replace him.

Yohe has long spoken of the bond between Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and Sullivan, and they no doubt have a desire to turn the Penguins around while both men are still in Pittsburgh. The Penguins haven’t called their current situation a rebuild, but it certainly appears like one. Pittsburgh has made moves with an eye toward the future, but Dubas has stated that he wants to turn the Penguins back into a winner as quickly as possible. Given that is Pittsburgh’s mandate, it would make sense that a winner like Sullivan would want to stick around with Crosby, and as Sullivan put it in his chat with Yohe, “I have a certain loyalty to all of the people who are a part of it here, and all I want to do is help this team win.”

West Notes: Trouba, Foligno, Utah, Biakabutuka

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Ducks defenseman Jacob Trouba will not face any supplemental discipline from his hit on St. Louis forward Jordan Kyrou on Sunday, notes Matthew DeFranks of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Twitter link).  The hit occurred in the first period and no penalty was assessed on the play while Kyrou remained in the game.  While it looked as if contact was made with Kyrou’s head, the league determined that the head was not the principal point of contact, and Trouba connected with Kyrou’s arm and shoulder as well.

More from the West:

  • The Wild announced (Twitter link) that winger Marcus Foligno was scratched from tonight’s game against Los Angeles due to an upper-body injury. The 33-year-old leads Minnesota in hits with 219 through 67 games this season but his offensive production has been limited once again as he has just 11 goals and 11 assists while logging a little over 14 minutes a night.  There’s no word yet on how long Foligno might be out for.
  • It appears that Utah Hockey Club has settled on its team name moving forward, according to CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd (Twitter link). However, there’s no timeline just yet for when that name will be revealed.  The latest fan vote on the name came in late January with Mammoth, Outlaws (replacing Wasatch), and Hockey Club as the three options.
  • The Ducks have reassigned defenseman Jeremie Biakabutuka to ECHL Tulsa, per an announcement from their AHL affiliate in San Diego. He was promoted to the Gulls last month, getting into 11 games but with Stian Solberg recently being sent to the AHL, Anaheim decided that they were best off getting Biakabutuka more playing time at the lower level.  The 23-year-old has 15 points in 21 outings with Tulsa and has one year left on this one on his entry-level contract.

East Notes: Hurricanes, Penguins, Sabres

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The Hurricanes have taken some big swings on the trade front the last couple of years, landing Jake Guentzel at the 2023 trade deadline and Mikko Rantanen earlier this season.  But they weren’t able to sign either one with Rantanen subsequently being flipped.  Despite not being able to sign either one, GM Eric Tulsky indicated in an interview with Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic (subscription link) that he is more than willing to take another big swing on a prominent pending UFA should the opportunity present itself down the road, even without an extension in place.  Tulsky believes that the team is usually able to keep the players that they want to and more often than not, the interest is mutual so in his mind, the odds should be good that they can get something done whenever they make a move to add another key rental in the future.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:

  • Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette provided updates on a few injured Penguins. Defensemen Pierre-Oliver Joseph (upper body) and Ryan Shea (upper body) both skated before practice today while center Thomas Novak (lower body) has yet to hit the ice after being injured last week.  Joseph was injured at the beginning of the month and quickly landed on IR while Shea was injured last week.  Both blueliners have week-to-week designations while a timeline for Novak’s return remains uncertain.
  • While the Sabres didn’t have JJ Peterka back in the lineup tonight against Boston, he’s on track to return on Thursday versus Utah, reports Lance Lysowski of The Athletic (Twitter link). Peterka has been one of Buffalo’s top scorers all season with 51 points in 61 games and while a playoff chase isn’t going to happen, the 23-year-old is a pending restricted free agent and will undoubtedly be hoping for a strong finish heading into contract talks.  Meanwhile, Lysowski added that blueliner Jacob Bernard-Docker should make his Buffalo debut at some point on their four-game road trip.  He was acquired at the trade deadline but only recently received his work visa to start skating with the team so he’ll need a few practices to get up to speed first.

Evening Notes: Svechnikov, Brodin, Capobianco

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A new week rolling around has brought updates on injured and absent players to teams around the league. The most impactful news lands in Carolina, where the Hurricanes welcomed top-line winger Andrei Svechnikov back to the practice sheet after he missed the last three games with an upper-body injury. It was Svechnikov’s first multi-game absence of the season.

Svechnikov has built a tendency for long-term injuries. He’s only played more than 70 games in a single season twice in his seven-year NHL career – first in his rookie season, when he played in all 82 games, and then in the 2021-22 campaign, when he appeared in 78 games. The other five years of his career have been marred by injury, including a torn ACL that required an extended absence. Those missed games have held Svehcnikov back from reach top scoring totals, despite the fact that he tallied 72 goals and 176 points in 201 games between 2022 and 2024. That scoring pace would equate to 71 points across an 82-game season – a pace Svechnikov falls just shy of with his 43 points in 63 games this year. Still, his ability to stick in the lineup this year has been encouraging. Now back to full health once again, he’ll look to jump back up the scoring charts with 15 games left in Carolina’s season.

More notes from around the league:

  • Top-pair Minnesota Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin also returned to practice on Monday per Joe Smith of The Athletic. Smith adds that head coach John Hynes dubbed Brodin as day-to-day and out for Monday night’s game. The top shutdown defender has missed Minnesota’s last seven games with a lower-body injury, pulling him deeper into the well of absences this year. He’s now played in just 38 of the Wild’s 67 games on the year. Those routine absences have held Brodin to just 18 points on the season. That mark stands as the highest points-per-game average of Brodin’s career (.474), just narrowly beating out his previous career high set when he scored 27 points in 62 games last season (.435). But without a clean bill of health, Brodin hasn’t had a chance to relish in a newfound scoring gear. For yet another time this season, he’ll now be tasked with getting back to full speed so he can support Minnesota’s top defense pair with a tough streak coming up.
  • The Dallas Stars have reassigned depth defenseman Kyle Capobianco after recalling him on Saturday to fill in for the ill Lian Bichsel. Capobianco served as Dallas’ seventh man in their Saturday night matchup against the Colorado Avalanche, while Brendan Smith filled Bichsel’s role. This was only Capobianco’s second call-up since joining the Dallas Stars organization this summer. He appeared in his only NHL game of the season on January 31st – and set no scoring, four penalty minutes, and a minus-two in 11:23 of ice time. He’s otherwise been a fixture of the AHL lineup, where he’s managed an impressive 35 points in 49 games. That mark leads the AHL Texas Stars’ blue-line in scoring, though it is slightly below the scoring pace that led Capobianco to 54 points in 69 games with the Manitoba Moose last season.

Penguins Prospect Ville Koivunen Breaking Out In Second Half

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The NHL season has not gone according to plan for the Pittsburgh Penguins. They have the third-oldest lineup in the league, but land in the bottom-10 of the standings with just 13 games left on the schedule. Staff and fans alike have started to turn their attention towards the future, evidenced by the team’s sale of Anthony Beauvillier, Luke Schenn, and Cody Glass for future assets at this year’s Trade Deadline. The moves have trained a bright spotlight on the Penguins’ deep prospect pool – and lucky for hopeful fans, wing prospect Ville Koivunen has shined.

Koivunen has been one of the hockey world’s hottest players in 2025. Playing for the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, he has amassed 31 points in 31 games since the calendar turned over. That hot streak gives Koivunen 53 points in 58 games this season – most among any AHL rookie and fifth in the league as a whole. No other rookie ranks in the top 15 of scoring. Koviunen has blossomed into a star producer, on the back of a confidence that seems to grow every single game.

The Penguins certainly knew to have high hopes for Koivunen. He was the primary future asset in the 2024 Trade Deadline move that sent star scorer Jake Guentzel to the Carolina Hurricanes. Pittsburgh also acquired NHL winger Michael Bunting, fellow prospects Vasiliy Ponomarev and Cruz Lucius, and a second-round draft pick in the trade. But with Bunting traded to the Predators one year later and Lucius missing the season to injury – it has been up to Koivunen and Ponomarev to prove general manager Kyle Dubas didn’t blunder in dealing away his 40-goal scorer.

That’s certainly a lofty bill to place on a 21-year-old forward. But Koivunen has answered the bell and then some. He’s found his AHL spark after spending the last three seasons dominating ice time with the Liiga’s Karpat, part of Finland’s top pro league. Koivunen scored 29 points in 53 games of his rookie Liiga season in 2021-22. That mark set him as the 20th-highest scoring U19 player in Liiga history behind a list full of NHL talent – including Joel Armia, Sami Vatanen, and Artturi Lehkonen directly ahead of him. Koivunen nearly matched that total again in the next year, netting 28 points in 52 games. But his struggle to cross the 30-point threshold was matched by just one goal in 12 AHL games at the end of the season.

Koivunen returned to the Liiga at the start of last season, with many holding their breath around his long-term scoring upside. Even as he started to find his footing at a pro level – netting 14 points in 20 games to start the season – fans still held back. But Koivunen’s wheels only got faster. He went on a spree of multi-point games through February and March of the 2023-24 season, ultimately ending the year with 56 points in 59 games – the most of any U22 Liiga player since 2000.

A breakout in Finland wasn’t going to be convincing on it’s own – but Koivunen is now nearly lapping his totals in the AHL. His ability as a spot shooter and fast-break scorer defined his draft-year excitement. He earned attention as a first-round candidate in the 2021 class, and ultimately fell to the Carolina Hurricanes with the 51st overall selection. Those defining traits have continued to grow in the years since – Koivunen has become a great sniper, with the ability to pick corners while flat-footed or moving at full speed. But, more excitingly, Koivunen has gone to lengths to round out his style. He’s become far more physical and confident when driving into space. And he’s found his poise as a playmaker – taking the time to slow down when entering the zone, and using strong stickhandling and skating to get the puck into a passing lane.

There are certainly long strides between Koivunen and the NHL. But he’s become a lethal asset in the offensive zone. His shot can’t be left alone, but his ability to connect with his teammates is what has sparked a near point-per-game season. That ability held strong in the difficult move from Liiga to AHL, and should it hold through to the NHL – it’d be hard to think Koivunen couldn’t continue to dominate the scoresheet next on a top-six NHL line. After years of finding his footing, growing his role, and adapting his skills to a pro scene – Koivunen has fully broken out. He’s scoring at a point-per-game pace since the start of 2025, with no signs of slowing down as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton approaches a confident playoff bid. Koivunen hasn’t yet received the first in-season NHL call-up of his career – and at this rate, it appears he’ll be in the minors through the end of the season. But with a strong playoff performance, he could enter Pittsburgh’s 2025-26 training camp with his sails at full mast.

Tomáš Klouček Passes Away

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The NHL Alumni Association announced this afternoon that former NHL player Tomáš Klouček died Sunday in a skiing accident. He was 45 years old.

A Czechia native, Klouček spent his junior days in his hometown of Prague. He generated enough buzz there to get selected by the Rangers in the fifth round of the 1998 draft. He immediately made the jump to North America, playing a year of major junior hockey with the QMJHL’s Cape Breton Screaming Eagles before turning pro in the Rangers organization for the 1999-00 season. The heavy-hitting lefty made an impact out of the gate, posting 113 PIMs and a +22 rating in 73 games with AHL Hartford en route to a Calder Cup championship and an All-Rookie Team nod for his standout defensive play.

Klouček made the Rangers for the first time in 2000-01, and it ended up being the best season of his career. Making 43 appearances after an early-season recall, he averaged a career-high 16:43 per game and posted 1-4–5 with a minus-three rating – a respectable figure on the league’s worst defensive team that season – and 74 PIMs. After subsequent trades to the Predators and Thrashers, he totaled 2-8–10 with a minus-nine rating in 141 career appearances by the time his NHL career drew to a close in 2006.

Klouček remained in high-level leagues for another decade after playing his last NHL game. He spent 2006-07 with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, then affiliated with the Blue Jackets, before jumping back over the Atlantic to play with Czechia’s HC Zlín and then Barys Astana in the Kontinental Hockey League. He spent three years with the Kazakh club – more time spent with any team in his career other than Hartford – and posted 7-26–33 in 111 career KHL games.

The last few years of Klouček’s career were spent in his home country with HC Oceláři Třinec and the Jaromír Jágr-owned Rytíři Kladno, but also in neighboring Slovakia, where he won an Extraliga title with HC Kosice in 2014. He closed the book on his stint in pro hockey with France’s Epinal in the top-circuit Ligue Magnus in 2015-16 and 2016-17.

PHR sends our condolences to Klouček’s family, friends, and former teammates.

Gabriel Landeskog Ramping Up Participation In Avalanche Practice

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Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog continues to work toward a return from the lingering knee injuries that have kept him out of the lineup since the team’s 2022 Stanley Cup win. While the 2024-25 campaign has seen a lot of mixed messaging on his future, Landeskog skated with the team in practice today and was notably more active than he has been in previous attempts to return to the ice, Guerilla Sports’ Jesse Montano relays.

Landeskog has had multiple surgeries on his right knee, the most recent one being a last-resort cartilage transplant in the 2023 off-season. That procedure immediately ruled him out for the entire 2023-24 campaign with hopes he could return for 2024-25.

He began his on-ice rehab from that surgery over a year ago, returning to the ice for the first time in January 2024. Since then, he’s had multiple minor setbacks that have forced him to pause his recovery, including one early this season that nixed his optimism for a return.

Landeskog’s on-and-off participation this season has included a few practices and morning skates. Still, today’s session carried a noticeably higher level of engagement from the Swede than what he’s shown in recent months. The 32-year-old has said in the past his knee issues originated from a minor skate laceration from teammate Cale Makar in the 2020 bubble, which caused more damage to his interior cartilage and ligaments than initially diagnosed.

Of course, he’s still at least weeks away from returning – meaning his only option for a return this season will be in the playoffs. The Avalanche’s deadline activity made clear they’ve ruled out Landeskog for the remainder of the regular season, as his $7MM cap hit staying on long-term injured reserve is necessary for them to remain cap-compliant.

Overseas Notes: Raanta, Gélinas, Cramarossa

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Longtime NHL netminder Antti Raanta is in talks to join Swedish Hockey League club Linköping HC for 2025-26, Mattias Persson of Hockeynews.se reports. The 35-year-old Finn suited up for Genève-Servette in Switzerland this year after retiring from the NHL, posting a 2.74 GAA and .902 SV% in 24 games. The 2022 Jennings Trophy winner last played with the Hurricanes in 2023-24, a disastrous campaign that saw him land on waivers amid posting a .872 SV% in 24 games behind one of the league’s better defenses.

Here’s more on the international market:

  • Former Avalanche and Devils defenseman Éric Gélinas is staying in Finland with Liiga club Luuko for another season, the team announced. Gélinas, now 33, will suit up for the same team in back-to-back years for the first time since a four-year run with Sweden’s Rögle BK from 2018 to 2022. The 6’4″, 227-lb lefty with a booming slapshot was limited by injury to 21 games with Lukko this season but managed 6-11–17 for his best per-game offensive showing in quite some time. A second-round pick of New Jersey in 2009, Gélinas had 14-41–55 in 189 career NHL games with them and Colorado from 2013 to 2017.
  • Austria’s Vienna Capitals will not be renewing the contract of NHL veteran Joseph Cramarossa, the club announced earlier this week. Cramarossa, 32, signed on with the ICEHL club last offseason after parts of two seasons in Germany and posted 8-15–23 in 32 games. The center last touched NHL ice in 2022-23, suiting up four times for the Wild before they mutually terminated his contract for a mid-season move overseas. He has 5-8–13 in 68 NHL appearances with the Ducks, Canucks, and Wild – 59 of which came in the 2016-17 campaign.

Blue Jackets Notes: Greaves, Merzļikins, Christiansen, Gudbranson

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The Blue Jackets will start recently recalled netminder Jet Greaves in tonight’s key home game against the Devils, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports. Starter Elvis Merzļikins remains away from the team on personal leave as his wife is expecting a child, the team’s Jeff Svoboda confirmed over the weekend.

The 23-year-old Graves sat on the bench for Saturday’s shutout loss to the Rangers while watching Daniil Tarasov surrender three goals on 20 shots. The youngster temporarily supplanted Tarasov as Columbus’ No. 2 option behind Merzļikins earlier this year, earning a performance-based recall while the struggling Tarasov was sent to AHL Cleveland for conditioning.

Things have gone much better for Tarasov since the reset, although he still hasn’t gotten much playing time behind Merzļikins as the Jackets aim to grab a wild-card spot. His .850 SV% against the Blueshirts was his worst in his seven appearances since returning to the NHL squad. Greaves, who actually leads Columbus netminders with a .906 SV% and 2.98 GAA in five starts, will get the call instead as the Jackets look to end a three-game skid. A win against New Jersey puts them back into playoff position, knocking the Rangers down to ninth place in the East.

Here’s more on the Jackets:

  • As Svoboda relays from head coach Dean Evason, defenseman Jake Christiansen has been ruled out of tonight’s game and will miss his second straight contest with an upper-body injury. He remains day-to-day but practiced this morning, so he should be considered questionable to return Thursday against Florida. The 25-year-old has seen his minutes slashed recently, skating under 10 minutes on three occasions in nine games since the 4 Nations break. In his first season as an NHL full-timer, the 6’0″ lefty has 1-7–8 and a plus-eight rating in 65 games with underwhelming possession numbers and minimal special teams deployment.
  • Fellow rearguard Erik Gudbranson remains close to a return from shoulder surgery but also remains sidelined tonight, Svoboda said. Evason said last week the 33-year-old is on the verge of playing for the first time since October. His and Christiansen’s looming returns should help shore up a Columbus defense that’s allowing 33.6 shots per game since March 1, the worst in the NHL.

Five Key Stories: 3/10/25 – 3/16/25

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The stretch run is now in full swing with the playoffs just a little more than a month away.  Even with the trade deadline in the rearview mirror, there was still some news of note which is recapped in our key stories.

One More Year: Jonathan Quick’s career isn’t coming to an end just yet.  The Rangers are keeping the goaltender around for another year after they signed him to a one-year contract extension.  The deal will carry a cap hit of $1.55MM while it contains an additional $300K in performance incentives tied to starts, games played, save percentage, and wins.  Quick earns a raise for the second straight year as his initial year in New York saw him make $825K before bonuses while his guaranteed salary this season is $1.275MM.  The 39-year-old has a 3.14 GAA with a .896 SV% in 21 appearances in 2024-25, a notable drop-off in his numbers from a year ago.

Bad News For Hamilton: The week-to-week injury that Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton is dealing with may be better off being termed as month-to-month.  It was revealed that the veteran will miss the remainder of the regular season and at least the first round of the playoffs due to a lower-body injury sustained earlier this month.  That means he’ll miss at least two months with the issue.  The 31-year-old had an injury-riddled campaign last season that saw him play in just 20 games.  This season, Hamilton made it into 63 contests, notching 40 points in a little under 20 minutes a night of playing time.  With Jack Hughes also out for the year, New Jersey’s push for the playoffs will see them have to get in without two of their top-five scorers.

Ekblad Gets 20: Aaron Ekblad’s 2024-25 regular season came to an end much earlier than expected.  However, it wasn’t due to an injury.  Instead, the Panthers blueliner was given a 20-game suspension for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance.  The length of the suspension is fixed at 20 games for a first offense.  Ekblad released a statement indicating that the positive test stemmed from taking something to help him recover from recent injuries that he didn’t clear with team personnel first.  He will miss the final 18 games of the regular season as well as Florida’s first two playoff appearances.  Ekblad finishes the first part of the campaign with 33 points in 56 games as he gets set to test unrestricted free agency for the first time this summer.

Kovalchuk Calls It A Career: Veteran winger Ilya Kovalchuk has hung up his skates, announcing his retirement at the age of 41.  In his prime, he was an elite winger with Atlanta before signing a long-term contract with New Jersey; the original 17-year agreement was deemed cap circumvention but a revised 15-year pact was approved.  (New Jersey’s final cap charge for salary cap recapture comes off the books after this season.)  But he left that contract after three seasons, going to the KHL for six seasons before a brief NHL return.  All told, Kovalchuk collected 443 goals and 423 assists in 926 NHL games over parts of 13 years along with 352 points in 334 contests in eight KHL campaigns.

Hill’s Sticking Around: The goaltending position in Vegas has been solidified for the long haul as the Golden Knights signed Adin Hill to a six-year, $37.5MM contract extension.  The deal, which carries a $6.25MM cap charge, is a nice raise from his current $4.9MM AAV while it also checks in a little ahead of former teammate Logan Thompson, who signed for $5.85MM per season in Washington on a new deal that starts next season.  Initially acquired as injury insurance back in 2022, Hill has worked his way from being a platoon netminder to a full-fledged starter and has posted a .910 SV% in his three seasons with the Golden Knights.  Hill received a partial no-trade clause as part of the contract, one that kicked in immediately.

Photo courtesy of Imagn Images.

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