Opinion: Top 3 head coach candidates for the Pittsburgh Penguins

After failing to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the last three seasons, the Pittsburgh Penguins recently announced that they are “parting ways” with head coach of 10 years Mike Sullivan.

Mike Sullivan and his Penguins made the playoffs seven times in his 10 year tenure which included back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017. As this special era of Penguins hockey comes to a close, the biggest question is: what’s next for the Penguins?

It all starts with who they decide to hire in the coming months to take command of this veteran squad. Here are the top three candidates to coach the Pittsburgh Penguins:

Number 3: Rick Tocchet

Rick Tocchet is someone who is very close with the Penguins organization and makes sense to be one of the top candidates.

Tocchet won the Stanley Cup as a player with the Penguins in the 1991-92 season and was an assistant coach for the Penguins during the back-to-back Stanley Cups of 2016 and 2017.

Tocchet left the Penguins in 2017 to become the head coach of the Arizona Coyotes. Tocchet was then named head coach of the Vancouver Canucks where he won the Jack Adams Award for NHL coach of the year in 2024.

Tocchet won two cups with the Penguins current core of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. He was able to be the right hand man to Mike Sullivan and has had experience as a coach since 2017.

With so many ties to the Penguins and its history of Stanley Cup winning teams, this seems to be one of the best fits to take the Penguins in a better direction.

Number 2: David Carle

David Carle is basically getting NHL number one prospect treatment from the coaching side. Carle is just 35 years old and has taken the Denver Pioneers to back-to-back NCAA titles in 2023 and 2024.

Denver made the National Championship semifinal game this year before running into the eventual champions, Western Michigan.

Carle has a stellar record with Denver of 148-62-16 over seven seasons with the Pioneers. While college hockey slightly differs from the NHL, the Penguins should attack Carle because this is the time to try something new.

After years of sustained success and now the window is shut, this is the time to experiment for a couple of years until Crosby retires.

It may be a little weird for Crosby and others to be older than the head coach, but the Penguins and GM Kyle Dubas want to build for the future.

While Carle may not go to the NHL and it will take a lot of money to bring him to the Penguins, you can’t rule it out. This would be a big statement from the Penguins organization and Fenway Sports Group.

Number 1: Peter Laviolette

Laviolette was supposed to be one of the crucial pieces to bring the Rangers a Stanley Cup. After going all in and winning the Presidents’ Trophy in 2023-24, the Rangers fell short in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers.

This year the Rangers imploded and missed the playoffs completely. A Rangers team that was expected to be a cup contender come April, had a struggling season with Laviolette behind the bench. At the end of the season, the Rangers fired Laviolette.

The 60-year-old coach has 846 wins which is seventh all-time in the NHL. He has been a head coach for the Islanders, Predators, Flyers, Capitals, Rangers and Hurricanes. In 2005-06, Laviolette brought a Stanley Cup to Carolina.

This would be a great move for the Pittsburgh Penguins, especially with the core still on the team.

A well-respected head coach who wins could bring an entire culture change to the Penguins organization. Laviolette is getting interest from teams all across the league and it would be a big statement from the Penguins if they land him.

Matt Becker is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email mcb6250@psu.edu.