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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Mike Sullivan coaching record
Here is a look at Sullivan’s season-by-season results as Pittsburgh’s head coach.
| Season | Wins | Losses | OT Losses | Playoffs? |
| 2015-2016 | 33 | 16 | 5 | Won Stanley Cup |
| 2016-2017 | 50 | 21 | 11 | Won Stanley Cup |
| 2017-2018 | 47 | 29 | 6 | Lost in second round |
| 2018-2019 | 44 | 26 | 12 | Lost in first round |
| 2019-2020* | 40 | 23 | 6 | Lost in qualifying round |
| 2020-2021* | 37 | 16 | 3 | Lost in first round |
| 2021-2022 | 46 | 25 | 11 | Lost in first round |
| 2022-2023 | 40 | 31 | 11 | Missed playoffs |
| 2023-2024 | 38 | 32 | 12 | Missed playoffs |
| 2024-2025 | 34 | 36 | 12 | Missed playoffs |
| Totals | 409 | 250 | 89 | 7 appearances, 2 Stanley Cups |
*COVID-19 shortened season
What’s next for Sullivan?
Sullivan is 57 years old. He has had enough success coaching that he could look at retiring, but that doesn’t seem to be the most likely. Sullivan has plenty of experience coaching in the AHL, but it feels like with the other openings around the NHL that he will land somewhere.
The Bruins, Rangers, and Flyers are among the teams needing a new head coach. Boston feels like a possible option since Sullivan has already had a stop there. He went 41 wins, 19 losses, 15 ties and seven overtime losses in his first season with the Bruins in the 2003-2004 season. Sullivan took a step back in his second season, and Boston finished with a 29-37-16 record. The franchise brought in a new GM, and he decided to bring in a new regime, resulting in Sullivan getting fired. He is also from Marshfield, Massachusetts, played for Boston University from 1986-1990, and then for the Bruins in the 1997-1998 season.
