When a team is no longer winning with regularity, there is a lot of blame to toss around.
In the case of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have missed the playoffs in two consecutive seasons, much blame rests on the shoulders of mismanagement. A sequence of regimes – beginning with the late seasons of the Jim Rutherford saga and continuing in the early years of the Kyle Dubas one – have led to underachievement by what should have been competitive teams.
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have played every game the past two years and the Penguins missed the playoffs in both seasons. A testament to some awful roster management around them.
— Adam Gretz (@AGretz) April 17, 2024
Yes, roster mismanagement is the biggest culprit. Yes, it’s inexcusable that an older core of players still competing and producing at a very high level haven’t been given the peripheral support they’ve needed to contend. And yes, players have simply failed to execute.
But what it ultimately comes down to is results. And the first person to go when teams don’t get results is typically the head coach, fair or not.
And for some reason, these Penguins seem allergic to change.
Going back through the Penguins’ coaching history, there were two different times in the Crosby era – in 2009 and in 2016 – when the Penguins made a midseason coaching change and went on to win the Stanley Cup. Dan Bylsma, now the head coach of the Seattle Kraken, took over for Michel Therrien in February 2009 after Therrien led the team to the Stanley Cup Final in 2008. And Mike Sullivan assumed coaching duties in December 2015 in place of Mike Johnston.
Nine years later, Sullivan is still the man at the helm for the Penguins. But given what has transpired for the past two seasons, most other NHL teams likely would have already called for change.
Take the Edmonton Oilers, for instance: The Oilers hired Jay Woodcroft on February 10, 2022, at a time when they were not qualifying for the playoffs. Woodcroft ended up leading Edmonton to the Western Conference Final that season.
And just 21 months later, after a 3-9-1 start from the Oilers in 2023-24, Woodcroft was relieved of his coaching duties:
The #Oilers announced today that head coach Jay Woodcroft & assistant coach Dave Manson have been relieved of their coaching duties.⁰
Hartford Wolf Pack head coach Kris Knoblauch will assume head coaching duties with the Oilers & will be joined by assistant coach Paul Coffey.
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) November 12, 2023
The result? New coach Kris Knoblauch helped lead them to the Stanley Cup Final. Even though Woodcroft helped turn his team around initially, the failure of his team to perform immediately in 2023-24 – just two seasons later – cost him his job.
There is no denying what Sullivan has done for this franchise, but after winning back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017, the Penguins have underachieved. And, worse, the refusal of the organization to make a coaching change at any point during the past two seasons presents itself more as denial than it does practicality.
Dubas and the Penguins have gone halfway into the coaching solution this offseason, as they fired assistant coach Todd Reirden and replaced him with former San Jose Sharks and New York Rangers head coach David Quinn. The Penguins’ shortcomings on the power play and in 3-on-3 overtime – two areas that Reirden was responsible for – have likely cost them playoff spots for two seasons in a row.
The Penguins have parted ways with Associate Coach Todd Reirden, it was announced today by President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Kyle Dubas. Reirden is relieved of his duties immediately.
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) May 3, 2024
But just like the head coaching situation, it may be too little, too late.
There is a very real sentiment that this Penguins’ team is beyond the point of trying to win within the next couple of years, so maybe a coaching change is futile at this point. Maybe Dubas and the organization really believe Sullivan is the guy to lead them through a retool or a rebuild. The Penguins are in uncharted territory here with regards to the Crosby era, so that may well be the case.
And, hey, there is no exact science to the effect coaching changes have on teams. But, for teams capable of winning hockey games that simply aren’t getting it done – like the Oilers and, perhaps, like the Penguins the past few years – it is the first, most logical measure to take if the goal is actually to win.
The Oilers acted immediately and showed an urgency to win hockey games when they fired a coach they had, just one year earlier, signed to an extension. In contrast, by waiting to pull the trigger on a coaching change mid-season, the Penguins actively chose to pass on an opportunity to light a fire under the roster to help propel them to the playoffs.
The story of the season isn’t that they turned it on at the end & made a good push for the playoffs. The story is that the Caps got in with only 91 points & had the Pens just made a coaching change, they could’ve easily made the playoffs.
Kyle Dubas failed them in this regard.
— Ben Feller (@BenFeller) April 17, 2024
And for a core whose days in the NHL are numbered, that’s something you can’t fumble. The prime time to make a change was then. But that doesn’t mean change shouldn’t still happen if the situation warrants it.
Winning consistently is hard in this league. Fans know it. Players know it. Coaches know it, too. But at the end of the day, winning is all that matters. Those results are what matter.
If the Penguins find themselves subverting expectations again this season – even if those expectations are lower – they can’t hesitate this time around. The leash should be very short.
Otherwise, Penguins fans could be in for another very long season – and, quite possibly, several long seasons.
Related: Penguins Dubas Admits Crucial Managerial Mistake With Toronto Maple Leafs
Related: Three Prospects Who Could Make the Penguins’ Roster in 2024-25
Related: Opinion: Yes, Dubas should keep his draft picks – but not all of them
