Would you fire Dubas right now??

[KG]

I could see Dubas bringing in a GM this off-season. Rumor was he was eyeing Toronto's Brandom Pridham when he was hired.

[IntangibleBeer]

I'm not necessarily a Sully hater, but he does need to go. He just doesn't have the room anymore, and his track record for damned near a DECADE has been abysmal. NO coach, with a roster that has had 3 for sure HOF'ers, if not maybe one or two more over that time span, should be able to get away with ONE PO series win since 2017. I appreciate what he has done here, but... dude... it's time. Hockey coaches don't live all that long.

It's just not the players. And if it's not the players, it's the coach.

I wouldn’t expect him to be fired during the season. There’s really no reason to either.

While I want Sully gone, I agree with Cow_Master66 that now is not the time. Let the dumpster fire burn. Let the Pens get closer to a great lottery pick. Let the other draft picks sort themselves out. Make the selections once the chips fall. And then when the dust has cleared, release Sullivan and begin the rebuild.

I really think this is Dubas' plan. And unlike Rutherford, none of his cards are on table.

I'm not happy with the Pens failing to make the playoffs and wasting a spectacular year's performance from Sidney Crosby, but here we are. And the best thing to do is to play the cards dealt and see what the off-season gets us. Dubas is making the best of this bad situation, at least so far.

[jeffshly]

A couple of points from my perspective:

I'm not necessarily a Sully hater, but he does need to go. He just doesn't have the room anymore, and his track record for damned near a DECADE has been abysmal. NO coach, with a roster that has had 3 for sure HOF'ers, if not maybe one or two more over that time span, should be able to get away with ONE PO series win since 2017...It's just not the players. And if it's not the players, it's the coach.

Agreed with everything here except "it's just not the players." You've got a "generational talent as a 2C who doesn't play defense 90% of the time, who is the master of turning pucks over at the blueline, who is the NHL's all-time leader in stupid, unnecessary, and ill-timed penalties, and who has a 6'3" frame but won't hit anyone unless his Dr. Jekyll turns into Mr. Angry Geno Hyde. You've got a top defenseman who blindly whips pucks from behind his goal line that inevitably get picked off, and who blindly whiffs on defensive assignments that inevitably end up in the back of the Pens' net. Now, I fully understand that it's up to the coach to hold these players accountable, but the players - especially those with letters on their shoulders - have to have some self-accountability as well.

Not doing shiite since 2017 is NOT acceptable with 2 generational talents on this roster. It's just not. And I don't know who else to point the finger at than the coach. I mean, he has OPENLY stated that he let's the players run the power play... well, dude, it's the worst in the league.

No playoff wins since 2018, when Sid would've been 30 and Geno 31 - in their primes. Let's not forget that they BOTH took hometown discounts to allow for the team to be built around them. And now there's a power play that has three first-ballot HOFers on it and it's near the bottom of the league. If the players ran the power play, at some point, the decision had to be made to change that given the results. I don't see how an argument can be made that Sullivan has performed to an acceptable level since the 2017 Cup parade.

In the off-season, I want the old guys he brought in last summer gone, get what you can get and move on. The team needs to be younger.

Reirdan is gone. I'd rather leave the power play without a coach than to watch that mess again next season.

Do what you can to figure out WTH happened to Graves. Was it this coaching staff? Does he have dementia and forgot how to play? If you determine he is what we saw, then you have to move that contract somehow, some way.

Agreed on most of this. The problem with the "old guys he brought in last summer" is that many of them have no/limited movement clauses. I'm sure they love the country club atmosphere within this team and likely would only approve trades to teams with a) very little cap space, or b) no fit for a player of their skill set. In other words, they'd make it difficult to trade them.

Reirdan is in charge of the power play. The power play blows with the most talent on it than we've seen in Pittsburgh since the early-90's. Therefore, Reirdan is ineffective at his job. See ya!

Regarding Graves, he's playing to the speed and skill style that doesn't require finishing checks, that favors clogging passing lanes and "good sticks" and opposes things like knocking an opponent on his arse. In other words, Sullivan is asking Graves to play a style of game that is much different than the way Graves would be best implemented.

And that, in a nutshell, is my issue with Sullivan. A good coach will formulate a style of play that will allow his team to be most successful. He'll build a system around the tools he has in his arsenal. Sullivan forces his players to play his style, squeezing square pegs into round holes. He's trying to enter a 1987 Yugo into a Formula One race! You can't play a speed game if you don't have team speed. The Pens haven't had team speed for quite a few years.

Penguins skill players get abused. The Pens had a guy here years ago who would keep that from happening. Unfortunately, Sullivan kept Ryan Reaves in the press box. That's a prime example of having a necessary tool and not using it, and that one sits squarely on Sullivan.

But, in all fairness, Rutherford tried to trade Malkin and/or Letang, and Mario shut it down. That's what got Rutherford out of here in a huff. I realize Mario is a god around here, but hindsight tells me Mario blew that one. Then Hextall comes in and does the inexplicable over and over again. Dubas has a lot to fix. We shouldn't be talking about whether he's kept, because he was signed for seven years, so he's not going anywhere. But this fix job needs to start with the team culture, and the team culture starts with Sullivan.

[Guinness]

Regarding Graves, he's playing to the speed and skill style that doesn't require finishing checks, that favors clogging passing lanes and "good sticks" and opposes things like knocking an opponent on his arse. In other words, Sullivan is asking Graves to play a style of game that is much different than the way Graves would be best implemented.

And that, in a nutshell, is my issue with Sullivan. A good coach will formulate a style of play that will allow his team to be most successful. He'll build a system around the tools he has in his arsenal. Sullivan forces his players to play his style, squeezing square pegs into round holes. He's trying to enter a 1987 Yugo into a Formula One race! You can't play a speed game if you don't have team speed. The Pens haven't had team speed for quite a few years.

Nailed it. And it's one of the most frustrating things about Sullivan. He INSISTS on his players playing a certain way, instead of letting them play to their strengths. That's one of the things that made Badger the best coach this team has ever had - it's only a great day for hockey if you're enjoying playing it!

[Badger Bob]

If Sully isn't gone soon, I lean more and more to Dubas getting the boot.

[FLPensFan]

If Sully isn't gone soon, I lean more and more to Dubas getting the boot.

If "they" think Sullivan is great and won't fire him because of his recent extension, I don't think FSG is going to want to fire Dubas after one season of a 7 year deal.

[DelPen]

If Sully isn't gone soon, I lean more and more to Dubas getting the boot.

If "they" think Sullivan is great and won't fire him because of his recent extension, I don't think FSG is going to want to fire Dubas after one season of a 7 year deal.

At some point the loss of revenue from ticket sales and not making the playoffs will be worse than just the potential of no one hiring Sulllivan or him choosing to set out for three years.

The only way FSG gets burned is if he devotes all his time to getting ready for the Olympics in 2026. But that man is too proud and stubborn to not take another job to prove he’s still the smartest man in the world of hockey so he won’t be unemployed long but he needs to be fired as soon as we finish the season.