On Day 9 of president and general manager Chris Drury’s hunt for a new head coach of the Rangers, Mike Sullivan’s departure from the Penguins changed everything.
The “eyes wide open” coaching search that Drury said he wouldn’t have any “preset dispositions” on suddenly turned into immediately targeting and aggressively pursuing one specific coach.
Someone who the organization felt was the no-brainer choice to appoint behind the Blueshirts bench.
Knowing Sullivan would be in high demand with seven other teams in need of a head coach, Drury made sure not to delay in locking up the guy he probably would’ve hired if he were available two head coaches ago in 2021.
The Rangers made it official first thing Friday morning, naming Sullivan the 38th head coach in franchise history just two weeks after dismissing Peter Laviolette and just four days after Sullivan left Pittsburgh.
“Mike Sullivan has established himself as one of the premier head coaches in the NHL,” Drury said in a press release. “Given his numerous accomplishments throughout his coaching career — including two Stanley Cups and leading Team USA at the international level — Mike brings a championship-level presence behind the bench. I’ve gotten to know Mike very well over the years, including as teammates in the 1997 World Championships, when he coached me as a player in New York and through our shared time working together with USA Hockey.
“As we began this process and Mike became an available option for us to speak with, it was immediately clear that he was the best coach to lead our team.”
The rest of the Rangers coaching staff will be discussed in the coming days, per a source, but goalie coach Jeff Malcolm and skills coach Christian Hmura are expected to remain in their posts.
Though ESPN initially reported ex-head coach John Tortorella was a “strong possibility” to rejoin the Rangers, the ex-Flyers coach spoke with the team but will not be rejoining.
Last season’s assistants, Dan Muse and Michael Peca, are also in the running to continue with the team.
Sullivan is back on the Rangers bench for the first time since he served as an assistant from 2009-2013, when Tortorella was in charge.
The team went as far as Game 6 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Final — in which they lost to the Devils — during Sullivan’s time as an assistant.
His first job with the Rangers counted as his third time serving as an assistant, after he was previously in that role for a single season with the Bruins and Lightning.
Sullivan then joined the Canucks’ staff as an assistant for the 2013-14 season before landing a head coaching job with Pittsburgh’s AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, for the 2015-16 season.
That ultimately turned into a 10-year gig as the Penguins’ head coach.
Sullivan also served as the development coach for the Blackhawks in 2014-15, when Chicago won the Stanley Cup.
On an international level, Sullivan’s extensive résumé continues.
Not only was he the head coach of Team USA at the 4 Nations Face-off, but he was also named head coach for the U.S. Olympic Team at the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.
Sullivan, who was an assistant at the 2006 Winter Olympics and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, was supposed to coach Team USA at the 2022 Winter Olympics before NHL players were unable to compete.
The 57-year-old brought two Stanley Cups to Pittsburgh, becoming just the second head coach in NHL history to win it all in each of his first two seasons with a team.
In addition to becoming the winningest coach in Penguins history, Sullivan is the only American-born head coach who has won the Stanley Cup multiple times.
After the Penguins missed the playoffs for a third consecutive season last month, multiple reports said Sullivan and Pittsburgh general manager Kyle Dubas didn’t see eye-to-eye on the team’s timeline back to success.
That’s how this reunion became possible, but it should come as no surprise due to the preexisting relationship between Sullivan and Drury.
Drury was not only coached by Sullivan during the last two seasons of his playing career with the Rangers, but the two also share a Boston University heritage.
They worked together as recently as February at the 4 Nations Face-off, with Drury serving as assistant GM.
“I would like to welcome Mike back to the Rangers organization,” owner James Dolan said in the press release. “Mike’s track record and success in the NHL and internationally speaks for itself, and I look forward to seeing him behind the Rangers bench.”
The Rangers drafted a 19-year-old Sullivan 69th overall in 1987, but he never ended up playing any games for New York.
The former centerman skated in 709 career NHL games over 11 seasons with the Sharks, Flames, Bruins and Coyotes.
The Rangers believe in Sullivan’s championship pedigree.
They believe his leadership and hands-on style will bring the best out of both their veteran and young players.
Management doesn’t appear to have any concern about Sullivan’s ability to nurture young talent, which was a knock on the Massachusetts native during his time in Pittsburgh — even though the Penguins only made three first-round picks during Sullivan’s decade with the organization.
When two of the organization’s top prospects — Rutger McGroarty and Ville Koivunen — came up toward the end of this past season, Sullivan plugged both right into the top six.
He put McGroarty on a line with Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust. Koivunen got time on the second line with Rickard Rakell and Connor Dewar.
Sullivan also inserted Koivunen into the top power play and McGroarty into the second.
One could argue the Rangers are overdue in ushering the next generation of players into bigger roles on the team.
Players such as Will Cuylle and Braden Schneider headline that pool, while Matt Rempe, Adam Edstrom, Brett Berard, Brennan Othmann and Gabe Perreault have also joined the mix.
It’s just one of several aspects of this Rangers lineup that Sullivan will have to evaluate.
For now, however, Drury finally has his top choice behind the Rangers bench.
