Opinion: Penguins can’t be shy about coaching change

When a team no longer wins regularly, there is a lot of blame to go around.

In the case of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who missed the playoffs in two consecutive seasons, much of the blame falls on the shoulders of mismanagement. A sequence of regimes — beginning with the final seasons of the Jim Rutherford saga and continuing into the early years of the Kyle Dubas saga — led to the failure of what should have been competitive teams.

Yes, poor roster management is the biggest culprit. Yes, it is inexcusable that an older core of players who still compete and produce at a very high level did not receive the peripheral support they needed to compete. And yes, the players just couldn’t execute.

But ultimately, it all comes down to results. And the first person to go when teams don’t get results is usually the head coach, fair or not.

And for some reason, these penguins seem allergic to change.

Going back to the Penguins’ coaching history, there were two different moments in the Crosby era – in 2009 and in 2016 – when the Penguins made a mid-season coaching change and won the Stanley Cup. Dan Bylsma, now the head coach of the Seattle KrakenHe took over for Michel Therrien in February 2009 after Therrien led the team to the 2008 Stanley Cup Final. And Mike Sullivan took over coaching duties in December 2015 replacing Mike Johnston.

Nine years later, Sullivan is still the man in charge of the Penguins. But given what’s happened over the past two seasons, most other NHL teams would likely have already called for changes.

Take the Edmonton Oilers, for example: The Oilers signed 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, following a 3-9-1 Oilers start in 2023-24, Woodcroft was relieved of his coaching duties:

The result? New coach Kris Knoblauch helped lead them to the Stanley Cup Final. Although Woodcroft helped turn his team around initially, his team’s failure to perform immediately in 2023-24 – just two seasons later – cost him his job.

There’s no denying what Sullivan has done for this franchise, but after winning back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017, the Penguins have underperformed. And worse, the organization’s refusal to make a coaching change at any point during the past two seasons presents itself more as denial than practicality.

Dubas and the Penguins are halfway to a coaching solution this offseason, as they fired assistant coach Todd Reirden and replaced him with former San Jose Sharks and New York Rangers coach David Quinn. The Penguins’ deficiencies on the power play and 3-on-3 overtime — two areas Reirden was responsible for — likely cost them playoff spots two seasons in a row.

But as with the head coaching situation, it may be too little or too late.

There is a very real feeling that the Penguins team is beyond the point of trying to win in the next few years, so perhaps a coaching change is pointless at this point. Maybe Dubas and the organization truly believe Sullivan is the guy to lead them in a revamp or rebuild. The Penguins are in uncharted territory here as far as the Crosby era goes, so that could very well be the case.

And hey, there’s no exact science on the effect coaching changes have on teams. But for teams capable of winning hockey games that simply aren’t able to do so – like the Oilers and, perhaps, like the Penguins in recent years – it’s the first and most logical step to take if the goal is to truly win. .

The Oilers acted immediately and showed urgency to win hockey games when they fired a coach they had signed, just a year earlier, to an extension. In contrast, by waiting to pull the trigger on a mid-season coaching change, the Penguins actively chose to pass on the opportunity to light a fire under the roster to help propel them into the playoffs.

And for a core whose NHL days are numbered, that’s something you can’t miss. The prime time to make a change was then. But that doesn’t mean that change shouldn’t happen if the situation warrants it.

Winning consistently is difficult in this league. Fans know this. The players know this. Coaches know this too. But at the end of the day, winning is all that matters. These results are what matters.

If the Penguins subvert expectations again this season — even if those expectations are lower — they may not hesitate this time. The leash must be very short.

Otherwise, Penguins fans could be in for another very long season — and, quite possibly, several long seasons.

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