The way Mike Sullivan operates as head coach of the Penguins, at least for the short-term with the Penguins battling for a playoff spot, is with his eye only on getting points. As those close to the situation say, he doesn’t give a damn about the politics.
He could care less that Ian Cole was just given a three year contract this past summer and is sitting in the press box with a $2.1 million cap hit, or that management is disappointed, some say furious, with his handling of Sergei Plotnikov in putting Plotnikov in exile by coming to the decision early into his coaching tenure that Plotnikov was not an NHL caliber player and would not be part of his lineup under any circumstances.
“Sully is in complete control of lineup decisions,” as one team source said.
Sullivan has dictated who comes up and who plays on a game-by-game basis, getting his way with every decision, the latest being the Penguins callup of Matt Murray to dress today vs the Buffalo Sabres.
However, here’s where things get interesting.
Sources say Sullivan is pushing [hide] hard for Matthew Murray to stay with the NHL club for the rest of the regular season, getting around six starts, but it’s a decision management is not on board with, at least not yet.
As of this evening no firm decision has been and it’s one reason why the Penguins did not place Jeff Zatkoff on waivers today.
Sullivan has won every lineup battle to this point, we’ll see where this one goes. Some among the management group are going to be a bit more contentious in keeping Murray up with the big club.
SULLIVAN ON COLE
Ian Cole played for the first time in 12 games, playing 13:48, including 1:36 on the PK.
βI thought Ian was solid,β Sullivan said. βHe kept his game simple. I think he’s good on the penalty kill. He’s a good shot blocker. He was solid down low. I thought he brought a lot to the table for us.β[/hide]
New article boys
Let’s play a fun little name that all-time great goalie game, who can be the first to correctly name all 4 goalies?
Goalie #1: 2.54 career GAA, .910 career sv%, 28.9 wins per year, 3.5 shutouts per year
Goalie #2: 2.57 career GAA, .912 career sv%, 31.1 wins per year, 3.7shutouts per year
Goalie #3: 2.24 career GAA, ,912 career sv%, 34.2 wins per year, 6.2 shutouts per year
Goalie #4: 2.20 career GAA, .922 career sv%, 25.7 wins per year, 5.4 shutouts per year
#1 Roy
#2 Fleury
#3 Brodeur
#4 Hasek
Vokoun
Conklin
Greiss
Wregget
JS Aubin
Sabourin
Caron
Jim Rutherford
Andy Chiodo has to be in there somewhere.
haha I forgot about him!
I don’t see Ron Tugnutt or Jocelyn Thibault, list invalid.
I really wanted to add Sawchuk and his 2.51gaa, 24.3wins/yr, 5.6so/year to the list but since sv% wasn’t recorded when TS played I didn’t think he would make a fair comparision.
Alex Pechurskiy >>>>>>>>>>>>> everyone
Montreal is expected to fetch a second,third round pick for Weise. What does that mean?
Seems pretty apparent that they hope to get a 2nd or 3rd round pick for Weise.
HA
Or that they want a 3rd round pick, that would be their 2nd third round pick for their draft? I would think our expert writer here would be more clear.
so now pens sent back Murray to the AHL ? so what was the point they called him up when he wasnt going to play vs sabres ,. What a Circus Clowns
Currently Penguins, Capitals, Florida Panthers Predators and Anaheim Ducks are among the teams reportedly interested in Weise.
I don’t know why Montreal is dumping players when their coach is so good. Shouldn’t they be adding to make a run? #Therrien4Life
Polak for 2 second rounders? No way, (San)Jose!
Its no surprise that Sullivan is getting friction from management, because management has no clue. He clearly doesn’t think that Zatkoff can help them gain points down the stretch and I tend to agree with him. I am 50/50 with some of the stuff Ryan Wilson preaches, but I do agree that Murray will be taking NHL caliber shots in practice every day at the NHL level. Maybe not game speed, but this little bit won’t HURT him long term while our team gains ground on the East. Past this year is up for debate, though. Unless he is our… Read more »
MAF will never be the backup, there will come a time when it makes sense to trade MAF and hand the reins over to Murray if his progression continues on it’s current path but Fleury will never be Murray’s backup for financial reasons.
they will only trade Fleury on his last year of his contract and all depending how Murray is.
You guys are thinking logically. With Mario repaying players that ‘once were,’ I could see the Pens keeping Fleury on the team in a limited capacity with 1 x year contracts at $4-5mil when his career is on the downward spiral. Its a way that will have Fleury retire a Penguin. Or they could trade him, but by that time, he won’t be worth a whole lot.
usually you trade a goalie end of his career when team going nowhere and they want him to havea chance to win the cup but with pens having stars like sid and geno fleury cant be traded and see more like a backup end of his carreer and retire best pen goalie of all time
What effect does playing Murray with the big club the rest of the way have on his elc? If it doesn’t change anything with his elc then I’m in favor of him playing in the NHL. Also speeds up Jarry’s development as he becomes a full time NHL player.
It doesn’t do anything to his ELC – all ELCs are two-way, and amortize the same whether he’s in the minors or the NHL. The only difference is what he’s being paid between the two leagues. And of course, it’ll effect the available cap space that they have come deadline time.
Then I would promote Murray. 6-8 NHL games this year plus playing with the big team shouldn’t hurt his development and should help Jarry a lot getting the extra pt.
the pens are going to trade murray. they don’t need another goalie for a decade because they have a 1st ballot hall of famer on the team now. st.blurry is the most clutch playoff performer ever and he is a series stealing maching. hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
He’s really turned a corner though – you know – in the new 2 year old trap NHL – I think the bulk of his struggles came in the old 2014 NHL where more guys scored “off the rush.”
Probably going to finish in the top 10 or maybe top 5 all time with a cup- i would say, yes def a hall of famer based on the guys in those categories
hahahahahahahahaha! he posted a sub .900% in the 3 years the pens should have made the finals and was replaced by vokoun because he had a mental breakdown. not to mention he is in the middle of the pack in stats every year. yeah sure sounds like a hall of famer.
The fact that he’s been in the league for over a decade and you bring up a handful of games over a 3 year span shows how much merit your argument has. Pretty on par with the rest of your stuff.
If playoff performances were the barometer for getting in or not, Im sure there would be a mass exodus for guys that never won a cup. Never said the guy was the best ever, however hes been to 2 finals and won a cup. Allot of players can never lay claim to that. What has volkoun ever won?
Polak and Spaling just trade to Sharks for 2nd Rd pick in 2017 and 2018 and Raffi Torres
Boost the Kessel return unless you thought Polak was bringing in close to 2 2nds by himself. Glad we didn’t do this trade. This sounds like Douglas Murray trade all over again. I don’t think the Sharks are true contenders this year so 2 2nd picks for a 5/6 d and a 4th liner seems idiotic.
Spaling scored his first goal of the season in his last game with the leafs
Rutherford will not matter Mario behind Sullivan
So Sullivan is a bad guy for wanting points to make the playoffs?
Only because we made a misstake in signing Cole to a 3 year deal, doesnt mean Sullivan has to play him so management doesnt look stupid.
Regarding Murray. My god, theres like 20 games left. He wont be ruined staying up for the rest of the season.
Word is that Winnepeg has an offer of a 1st and a prospect for Ladd. I would think knowing that, it would rule the Pens out?
I hope so. It sure doesn’t make them a stanley cup favorite. Would be kind of pointless.
I agree, Ladd or any other player isnt going to put them over the top, unless ladd can play in your top 4 D
Sully. You read that stan
Is that what Nathan calls him?
And a team source is someone that knows him personally. You have no sense of anything you dipshit.
Sam wants to court him. So he calls him Sully.
So Sully who has been here 2 months has more power than MJ had in player decisions? I’ll believe it when Rossi confirms it.
Seems like he won’t last his contract here either.
I do not expect Sullivan to last more than 2 years in Pittsburgh. I can see the team tuning him out next year…we’ll see.
In sully we trust!
Zzzzzzzzxx
Umm, if management wasn’t on board with it, I don’t think he’d be up here. How does this make sense?
You don’t score goals off the rush anymore.
Goals off the rush can’t melt steel beams
Michael Raffl is the name to look out for as a trade deadline target. Even if the Flyers are kind of in the race.
Because the management didn’t want to look more stupid that they are already are so they kept it intern