What we learned from Mike Sullivan’s first Rangers press conference

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TARRYTOWN, N.Y. — This may be a new job for Mike Sullivan, but it is not new territory. After 10 years coaching the Pittsburgh Penguins, Sullivan is at home behind an NHL bench and in front of a microphone.

He was doing the latter on Thursday for the first time as the New York Rangers’ coach, talking up the job he’d taken six days earlier — and that was just four days after he’d left Pittsburgh. General manager Chris Drury said Thursday what we’d known for years, that Sullivan was the coach Drury always wanted. And Drury wasted no time last week tearing up whatever coaching search plans he’d made after firing Peter Laviolette to make a beeline for Sullivan.

Two league sources said that Sullivan signed a five-year deal worth $6.5 million per season, making him by far the highest-paid coach in the league.

There weren’t many specifics from Sullivan in his intro news conference, of course, but we did learn a few things about what to expect as his Rangers tenure begins.

This was a one-man search

Drury was likely prepared to do a thorough coaching search that would have included some veteran NHL coaches and some potential first-timers when word came down last Monday that Sullivan was a free agent. That Plan A went in the bin, and it was Sully-or-bust.

The five-year contract shows that the Rangers were focused on Sullivan only and owner James Dolan and Drury were not going to be beaten out by any other team seeking the top coach on the market.

“The second Mike was available, we quickly and aggressively pursued him,” Drury said. “We’re thrilled those efforts led us to this moment today. There’s a lot of work to be done.”

Chris Drury’s coaching list was one name long after Mike Sullivan became available. (Peter Carr / USA Today)

He knows this group well — and the challenge

The Penguins and Rangers faced each other 41 times during Sullivan’s time behind the Pittsburgh bench and then seven more during the 2022 first round. Even if you left out Sullivan coaching four current Rangers (Adam Fox, Vincent Trocheck, J.T. Miller and Chris Kreider) at February’s 4 Nations tournament, that’s a lot of familiarity with this Rangers team.

Sullivan didn’t say anything about what went on this past season with the Rangers since he wasn’t with them, but he seemed to understand the hill to climb in getting this group to pull back together after such a fractious season.

“There’s a lot of talent in the dressing room, but as we all know, talent alone doesn’t win championships,” he said. “Teams win championships, and I think that’s going to be our challenge from day one, is to become a team in the true sense of the word.”

Relationships are key to Sullivan

Sullivan said he’s already talked to just about every Rangers player currently on the roster in the past few days, introducing himself to those he doesn’t know and getting better acquainted with the ones he does know. Kreider is the only holdover from Sullivan’s stint as a Rangers assistant from 2009 to ’13, and there are no guarantees that he will still be a Ranger when training camp begins in September. But if any coach can bring Kreider back into the fold, Sullivan may be the one.

Sullivan’s relationships with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and the rest of the core Penguins were keys to them winning back-to-back Stanley Cups in Sullivan’s first two seasons there. They were also big parts of the reason he lasted so long after the Cups, even as the Penguins started to fall down the standings.

So it’s not just about the 4 Nations Rangers. Sullivan has to figure out what makes Alexis Lafrenière and K’Andre Miller tick, has to find a place for Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad to produce without sacrificing the defensive side and has to make sure the young depth forwards the Rangers may need feel included.

All that, plus he has to get the full buy-in and have all the holdovers from last season put that awful run to bed for good.

And with the GM is key, too

Drury told a personal story of his first time really sitting down with Sullivan, from a bus ride in Finland during the 1997 World Championships.

“I was a junior at (Boston University), sitting in the second or third seat on the bus, scared out of my mind,” Drury said. “I’m thinking, ‘Am I good enough to be here?’ And on comes Mike Sullivan, who sits down next to me and spends the hour bus ride with me, talking to me about my life at BU, my goals. So to me, that’s a little bit of the sense of what I thought of him for a long time.”

Drury was Rangers captain when Sullivan was John Tortorella’s assistant coach, but that may not be time that’s remembered fondly by Drury. It was the end of his NHL career, and Tortorella sat Drury for most of his final season. But Sullivan and Drury reconnected through U.S. hockey, with Sullivan named 4 Nations and 2026 Olympic coach and Drury among the NHL GMs on the executive staff.

Drury hasn’t had that connection with either of his previous coaches. Gerard Gallant and Peter Laviolette were NHL veterans, but neither had a prior relationship with Drury; Sullivan does, and that may end up being important as they navigate the wreckage of last season.

If the Rangers do not return to the playoffs in 2025-26, the dynamic between GM and coach could set up an interesting situation 12 months from now. Sullivan will have just begun his tenure and, despite his recent extension, Drury could be taking heat from Dolan — especially if the Rangers opt to keep their first-round pick this June and send an unprotected first to the Penguins in 2026.

So Sullivan might be the one with little to worry about next summer despite a team still struggling to play well. That dynamic played out similarly in Pittsburgh in 2023, when Sullivan survived a purge but GM Ron Hextall and team president Brian Burke did not.

No news yet on assistant coaches

A league source said Sullivan may not fill out his staff just yet and could be waiting to see who’s available as teams drop out of the playoffs and new coaches are hired around the league. There are still five teams with coaching vacancies at the moment.

Mike Vellucci, Sullivan’s assistant the past five seasons in Pittsburgh, could be an option. David Quinn, the former Rangers coach who was Sullivan’s assistant this past season, might also be an option, even though there could be some obvious reluctance for Quinn to return to the Rangers under Drury, who fired Quinn upon getting the GM job four years ago.

There will be other candidates too, though Tortorella will not be one of them.

(Photo: Peter Carr / USA Today)

This news was originally published on this post .

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