Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan needs to be the Jack Adams Trophy favorite, as he’s helped the team win despite countless injuries.
He’s back. Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby returned in last night’s 7-3 blowout of the Minnesota Wild. During Crosby’s 28 game absence, the Penguins went 18-6-4. The Boston Bruins (41 points) were the only team to garner more points than the Penguins 40 over that time period.
Throughout the first half of the season, the Penguins have gotten hammered with injuries. Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel, Patric Hornqvist, Nick Bjugstad, Brian Dumoulin, and Justin Schultz have all missed significant time. Alex Galchenyuk got bit by a spider. With the exception of Galchenyuk, these are all key players for this team. Pittsburgh has dealt with just about everything through 46 games.
This tweet from Dimitri Filipovic of ESPN and Yahoo! Sports sums it up. Following last night’s game, Pittsburgh’s +36 goal differential is now the best in the league.
The Penguins have the 4th best point % and 3rd best goal differential. Here are the only players on their team who have not missed at least 5+ games:
— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) January 13, 2020
Marcus Pettersson
Teddy Blueger
Brandon Tanev
Zach Aston-Reese
Dominik Simon
Dominik Kahun
John Marino
Jared McCann
Jack Johnson
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Under the guidance and enhanced structure under Mike Sullivan’s watch this season, the Penguins’ underlying numbers have been very good. All of the data is rated for every 60 minutes of even-strength ice-time and is courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.
- Scoring Chances For: 26.45 (14th)
- Scoring Chances Against: 23.25 (2nd)
- Expected Goals For: 2.56 (9th)
- Goals For: 3.2 (6th)
- Expected Goals Against: 2.08 (1st)
- Goals Against: 2.49 (8th)
It is time that Sullivan begins to receive the credit he deserves for the Penguins’ success to this point. He has pressed all of the right buttons. He recognized that John Marino was immediately an NHL talent out of Harvard. The coaching staff appears to be keeping the electric duo of Malkin and Bryan Rust (who have a 59% expected goals for percentage together) intact. When the defense core has been healthy, Jack Johnson has been sheltered in a third pair role.
Wild forward Zach Parise had a quote after last night’s game that explains why these Penguins are so difficult and relentless to play against.
Parise on #pens: "Their puck support all over the ice was crazy. It’s like they always had three guys on the puck offensively and defensively. They’d make small, little short passes up the ice together, and they come at you 100 miles an hour."
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) January 15, 2020
Parise is not the only player in the league who has taken notice of well the Penguins are coached. Ottawa Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki offered his evaluation a few weeks ago.
Borowiecki on #Pens: "As objectively as I can look at it, probably the best coached team in the NHL. ... They put pucks behind D. Their gaps are great. They just look really responsible. They kind of wear you down and you have breakdowns, and it turns into these fancy Grade-As."
— Wes Crosby (@OtherNHLCrosby) December 31, 2019
Sean Tierney of Charting Hockey is a staple in the hockey analytics community. His daily charts have shown how dominant the Penguins have been in limiting the offense of their opponents. As Tierney’s hashtag indicates, he also feels Sullivan is currently the best coach in the NHL.
Factoring in the injuries, the resilience and “sticktoitiveness” that the Penguins have shown has been remarkable. Sullivan’s message is clearly getting through to his players. Last week, they swept their three-game road trip against Vegas, Colorado, and Arizona. Two of which were come from behind victories. All three of those teams will likely qualify for the playoffs.
In a 2017 Bostonia article, Sullivan’s brother Brian describes the Penguins head coach as “constantly analyzing X’s and O’s. He eats it and sleeps it.” That is exactly what you want in a coach.
You may recall that Sullivan sat Matt Murray in Game 5 of the 2016 East Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning. In that same article, Murray recalls Sullivan calling him into his office to explain his decision, saying “He talked for like 10 minutes. I couldn’t get a word in.”
Sullivan has been and continues to be an excellent communicator. He values the thoughts and input from his players. It certainly appears he uses data and analytics when evaluating the Penguins roster. There are very few flaws in him as a head coach.
Mike Sullivan is an elite coach. That has been on display more than ever this season. The Penguins are very lucky to have him as their bench boss. Despite being very deserving and the leader in the clubhouse for the Jack Adams Trophy, I suspect Sullivan has his eyes set on another trophy this spring. Thanks for reading!