Top five moments of Mike Sullivan's coaching career

The Mike Sullivan chapter in the book of the Pittsburgh Penguins officially ended when he was let go by the franchise on Monday. In his decade run as the man behind the bench in the steel city, he won over 400 games and won two Stanley Cups for the franchise.

Here are some of the greatest moments he had in his coaching career.

2020-21 division title

Since Mike Sullivan had taken over the Penguins, he was able to accomplish just about everything he could as a hockey coach.

Except for one thing.

Under his leadership, the Penguins never won a division title. Not even in the two championship seasons.

A good reason for them not claiming a Metropolitan crown was the Washington Capitals winning five of them in a row from 2015 to 2019.

But during the pandemic season of 2020-21, they beat Washington by tiebreaker after winning 37 games to win the short-lived East Division.

Unfortunately, the success did not translate to the postseason as the Penguins would fall in six games to the Islanders in the first round of the NHL playoffs.

400 Wins

Being a long-tenured coach in the game of hockey is something not many people in the sport can say. Being a long-tenured coach with one team is something very few can say.

In one of his last handful of wins in Pittsburgh, Sullivan reached a feat that only 13 other men had before his time with the Penguins.

Win 400 games in a single stint with a team.

With the feat, he became the ninth fastest and first ever American-born coach to ever reach this record.

Now, wherever he chooses to go next would allow him to chase another 400-win record.

Become the first coach since Scotty Bowman to win 400 games with two different franchises.

Penguins' all-time wins leader

The Penguins have had plenty of successful head coaches, but the success was short-lived for many of them.

But back in 2021, with a win over the Chicago Blackhawks, Sullivan became the all-time leader in wins for the Penguins.

It surpassed the previous mark set by Dan Bylsma who had 252 wins behind the bench for Pittsburgh.

Since that point, he tacked on over 150 more before his final tally was stopped at 409 wins. Going back to his stint in Boston, where he was coach for a couple of seasons, he has 479 wins in the NHL. 21 more wins wherever he goes next would have him become the 30th man to ever win 500 career games in the league.

Cup No. 1

On December 12, 2015, the Penguins sat 15-10-3 and decided a change was needed.

Out with Mike Johnston and in with Mike Sullivan.

After being fired from Boston, Sullivan floated around as an assistant in the league until the Penguins hired him to coach their AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

He went 18-5 before getting called up to run the parent club and once that happened, the Pens took off.

The season turned around quickly in Pittsburgh as the Penguins roared into the postseason with a 33-16-5 record after Sullivan’s arrival, which gave them a postseason berth after finishing second in the Metro Division.

From there, they blew through the Rangers, knocked off the President’s Trophy-winning Capitals, came back from a 3-2 series deficit to best the Lightning and fought off the Sharks to win their fourth Stanley Cup as a team.

Ironically, all four of their cups were won by coaches who were in their first season in Pittsburgh. While that record is good for short-term success, it is not great for sustained success for anyone who coached hockey in the city.

Cup No. 2

Until Sullivan broke that trend into smithereens.

It was going to be tough to top his first season with the Penguins in his first full season but he managed to do just that.

He won more games and secured another cup.

Pittsburgh took home 50 wins and 111 regular-season points in 2016-17 and entered the postseason once again as the second-place team from the Metro Division.

After dispatching the Blue Jackets, they survived a comeback attempt against the Capitals, outlasted the Senators in double overtime of game seven and survived a hard-fought cup final against the Predators.

Sullivan is one of sixteen coaches to have won the cup in multiple seasons and to accomplish such a feat in his first two with a franchise makes that even more impressive.

It quickly built up his reputation as one of the best coaches in the game and that reputation holds up today. He will go down as one of the best coaches in the 2000s and only has the opportunity to make his reputation greater in the future.

Chase Fisher is a first-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email ctf5198@psu.edu.