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3 hours ago
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The Penguins and long-time head coach Mike Sullivan have decided to part ways, the team announced. Pittsburgh finished the 2024-2025 season with a 34-36-12 record in seventh place in the Metropolitan Division and missed the playoffs for the third consecutive year.
Sullivan took over as the Penguins' head coach in December 2015. He had been hired in June of that year to be the head coach of the organization's AHL Affiliate. After Pittsburgh fired Mike Johnston following a 15-10-3 start to the season. Sullivan took over and the franchise quickly turned around its fortunes. He not only led them to a Stanley Cup win that season, but followed it up with a second consecutive Cup in the 2016-2017 season.
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Here is more on Sullivan's firing.
Mike Sullivan fired
Sullivan started off his coaching career in Pittsburgh red hot. He set the bar extremely high with not only back-to-back Stanley Cup Final appearances, but with Stanley Cup wins. That ended up being the Penguins' best finishes under Sullivan. Pittsburgh made the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in the 2017-2018 season, but either lost in the first round or missed the playoffs in each of the last seven seasons.
The final straw came this season. The Penguins not only missed the playoffs for the third consecutive season, but finished seventh in the Metropolitan Division with a 34-36-12 record. It was the first time that a Sullivan-led team had a losing record, not counting overtime losses.
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This article will be updated.
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