“He Needs To Decompress A Bit”: Bruins Coaching Search Already Zeroing In On Mike Sullivan

Mike Sullivan parts ways with Penguins and immediately becomes the Bruins’ top target (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

On Monday morning, the Pittsburgh Penguins announced that they and head coach, and two-time Stanley Cup champion, Mike Sullivan, had agreed to part ways.

According to a well-connected source, the Boston Bruins did not waste any time in working the proper channels and letting the new coaching free agent and former Bruins bench boss know that they’re interested in making him their head coach once again.

“They’ve already reached out on [Sullivan], but as you might expect, he needs to decompress a bit,” the source told RG on Monday night. “I was told, though, he has immediately moved straight to the top of their list and they would love to start talking with him ASAP! If he’s ready, I would think they’re talking to each other by Wednesday. …Friday at the latest."

Sweeney’s Wait Pays Off

Ironically, another source had informed RG over the weekend that Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney was waiting on another coaching situation to be solved before he took his search to the next level and potentially closed in on a candidate.

“Sweeney is waiting for another situation to resolve itself,” this source said to RG.

The aforementioned source could not confirm whether or not that situation was Sullivan and the Penguins. However, this source was not surprised that the Bruins are about to give their best shot to bring back the Marshfield, MA native for a second go-around with the Bruins 20 years later.

“There’s been plenty of chatter since it was clear Jim Montgomery’s days were numbered in Boston that they were hoping for and waiting for this to happen with Sullivan,” the source said.

Montgomery was fired by the Bruins on Nov. 19, with Joe Sacco taking over as interim head coach.

Sullivan’s Bruins Reunion?

Sullivan began his pro coaching career in the Bruins organization as head coach of the Providence Bruins for the 2002-03 season. He helped lead the P-Bruins to a 41-17-9-4 record before being elevated to become the assistant coach of the Boston Bruins when the Bruins fired head coach Robbie Ftorek and assistant coach Jim Hughes. Sullivan was then promoted to the head coaching job in Boston that offseason. In his first season as head coach of the Bruins, Sullivan led the Original Six franchise to the second-best record in the Eastern Conference.

However, the Bruins were bounced by their bitter rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, in seven games in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Sullivan coached one more full season for the Bruins in 2005-06, but the team missed the playoffs, and Sullivan was then fired by incoming general manager Peter Chiarelli.

Since then, Sullivan spent six seasons as an assistant coach for the Tampa Bay Lightning (2007-08), New York Rangers (2009-10 to 2012-13), and one with the Vancouver Canucks in 2013-14. After spending the 2014-15 season as a player development coach for the Chicago Blackhawks, Sullivan became head coach of the Wilkes-Barre Penguins (AHL) for the 2015-16 season, and after leading the Baby Penguins to a 19-5-0-0 record, was promoted to the head coaching job for the Pittsburgh Penguins in December of 2015. Sullivan went on to lead the Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017. Since 2017, though, the Penguins have not won a playoff series and have not made the postseason for the past three seasons.

Besides the Bruins and Rangers, many around the NHL are speculating that the Blackhawks and Seattle Kraken will also look at Sullivan to see if there’s a fit for their head coaching vacancies.