The Pittsburgh Penguins parted ways with longtime coach Mike Sullivan Monday morning in a move many observers have predicted was coming for quite some time. With the Penguins missing the Stanley Cup playoffs for the past three seasons, the writing was on the wall for Sullivan, who now is on the free agent market.
However, Sullivan won’t be out of work for very long. As a two-time Cup-winning coach, Sullivan has the pedigree every team is looking for. And wouldn’t it be great for Buffalo Sabres fans if the Sabres blew their competition out of the water by hiring Sullivan as a replacement for current coach Linday Ruff?
It might take a serious overpayment for Sullivan to join the Sabres, but there’s no salary cap on NHL coaches, and if Buffalo GM Kevyn Adams gave Sullivan some input on roster moves, that might be enough to make the Sabres the preferred destination for Sullivan.
At one point, Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula looked fondly on former Penguins management members, hiring former Pens GM Craig Patrick as a special advisor and Jason Botterill as GM. So making a splash by hiring Sullivan shouldn’t be completely out of the realm of possibilty for the Pegulas now.
There will be many competitors aiming to sign Sullivan as quickly as possible. The Boston Bruins, New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers all need a new bench boss, and that makes it all the more intriguing for the Sabres to outbid them for Sullivan’s services. The Bruins, Flyers and Rangers are teams Buffalo will be battling for a playoff berth next season, and spending extra money to acquire Sullivan would be a huge coup for the Sabres.
That said, Buffalo will have to move fast to land Sullivan. In our estimation, Sullivan will be off the market in a matter of weeks, if not days. And if that means the Sabres have to bid farewell to Ruff, so be it. The St. Louis Blues wasted no time in firing coach Drew Bannister in November when Jim Montgomery came available, and that’s the type of aggressive move a team needs to make when a quality coach hits the open market.
Nobody will expect the Sabres to win the battle for Sullivan, and that’s exactly why Buffalo ownership needs to do it. If it’s true that fortune favors the bold, the Sabres need to heed that truth and bring in a proven champion to effect a major culture change on and off the ice. That’s exactly what Sullivan has the skills to do.
Sullivan is a winner, and no team needs more winners than the Sabres right now. A motivated owner would and should spare nothing to add a difference-maker behind the bench, and Sabres fans would be rightfully-delighted if Buffalo did outbid the rest of the field and came away with Sullivan on board.
If the Sabres want to be considered as a destination for players, they need to show it’s a destination for management members, and that process can start by hiring Sullivan. It won’t be easy, but moves of consequence rarely are. And that’s why Buffalo should shock the league and make Sullivan a key component for many years to come.
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