What many of us got wrong on the Mike Sullivan situation was Sidney Crosby’s influence on never wanting to play for another coach in Pittsburgh would hold a lot more weight than it did and the belief that if Sullivan exited, it would more on his terms like the situation last spring where Pittsburgh gave him the option to explore opportunities if he wanted to see what’s out there. Instead it was Kyle Dubas who did the nudging on leading to an ‘amicable’ divorce between the two.

TIOPS Plus + Among the Developments behind the scenes:

Sullivan and Dubas did see eye to eye on the Penguins needing to get faster and add more skill this summer. Where major differences existed was style of play and lack of embrace from Sullivan towards physicality, heavy style of play in certain areas of the roster. This became a growing issue throughout the season and a new head coach will be sought out in having a better willingness to adapt to the roster Kyle Dubas gives him.

This is being denied internally but there is a suspicion around the league Pittsburgh plans to go cheap To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

More Ownership Buzz: Questions have also emerged that ownership until a new minority group is brought in, To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Kyle Dubas had his say on why he believed a coaching change was needed and he was very thorough. The spin from City Hall, though, always has to be taken into account here. With the roster Mike Sullivan believed the Penguins were going to hand him in 2025/2026, they were going to have to give him some assurances with a contract extension for him to be 100% on board or he’d be opening himself up. It never got that far but the Penguins knew this. The roster Dubas handed Sullivan this season was certainly news to Sullivan’s inner circle that Pittsburgh’s coaching staff was being judged on wins and losses. Multiple sources say Sullivan was onboard last year of 2024/2025 being basically a punt season, but the messaging was a pause in the 2024 summer approach would see a much more aggressive approach in the 2025 off-season towards helping the aging core. However, in meetings last week between the two sides, that became even less clear to To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

If Denver head coach David Carle leaves for the NHL, the speculation for months has been he’d be looking to stay west. Think Anaheim or Seattle……..

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More Coaching Buzz: Could the New York Rangers put an $8 million a year price tag on Mike Sullivan? There is certainly a belief in Rangers circles that the Boston family pull for Sullivan is legit and others should take the Bruins seriously here. New York has prioritized trying to finalize a deal for Sullivan this week……..NHL executives in the early 2020’s were often critical of Rick Tocchet privately in that he badly misjudged his price on the market. He got serious looks from a number of clubs like Buffalo, Columbus and even Seattle where he viewed himself as a $4 million a year+ head coach, while the league saw him in the $2’s and it led to him getting by-passed. Fast forward to 2025 and while Tocchet is by no means regarded as a Top-5 coach in the NHL, Vancouver making him an offer that would have made him the 4th highest paid coach in the NHL has now set the Tocchet market at $5 million per season. Sullivan’s decision To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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