Penguins commit to coach Mike Sullivan with 3-year contract extension

It was the middle of July, and the Pittsburgh Penguins were staging their prospect camp for players in the embryonic stages of their professional existences.

As usual, the organization’s minor-league coaches and development staffers were tasked with running the drills and the individual instruction.

Mike Sullivan was present, but was primarily in an observatory capacity.

Still, he couldn’t help himself.

Standing in the back of a group of young players, the majority of whom won’t rise to the NHL level, Sullivan began stressing the granular details of how to accept a pass, a fairly quotidian aspect of the sport, particularly for professionals.

Sullivan was simply being what he is to his core.

A coach.

“It’s part of my DNA, I guess,” Sullivan said. “I love coaching. I love getting on the ice. I love working with the players every day.”

Sullivan will get a chance to do that every day over the next half-decade

On Tuesday, the Penguins signed their head coach to a three-year contract extension through the 2026-27 season.

Sullivan, 54, has two years remaining on his existing contract.

“The fact that (management) has shown the faith and the trust in me to be the leader of the team in the head coach capacity means the world to me,” Sullivan said via video conference. “It’s an honor to coach this team. I don’t take one day for granted. This organization means so much to me.

“We’ve been able to accomplish a lot in my tenure here together with the coaching staffs that I’ve had the privilege of being a part of and the players that have been here. I’ve been surrounded by such great people. I had the luxury, I think, of inheriting a standard of excellence, a certain culture that has been developed here in Pittsburgh and quite frankly, I feel a certain responsibility to be the custodian of that.”

By most measures, Sullivan has been the most successful coach in the 55-year history of the franchise. Assuming the head coaching role in December 2015, Sullivan directed the Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in 2016 and 2017. Additionally, he has the most regular-season wins in club history, having amassed a 297-156-54 record in 507 games.

At the same time, Sullivan and the Penguins haven’t won a playoff series over the past four years, including a first-round loss to the New York Rangers in May.

Regardless, management offered a hearty endorsement of Sullivan through this transaction as well as an accompanying statement.

“We value the relationship we are developing with Mike and felt it was important to ensure that relationship would continue long term,” Fenway Sports Group chairman Tom Werner said via statement. “He’s one of the best coaches in the National Hockey League and we look forward to our continued collaboration with him and the entire Penguins organization to bring another Stanley Cup to Pittsburgh.”

Sullivan certain professed optimism the Penguins remain one of the league’s top contenders despite having gone a quadrennial without a playoff series victory while deploying a core group of players who are in their mid-30s.

“We’re getting a bit older, but we’re not old,” Sullivan said. “And there’s a big difference. There’s still elite play in these guys. They’ve shown it year-in and year-out. I believe we have an opportunity to win again. I believe in these guys. They’re that good, they’re that driven, and they’re willing to put the work in to do what it takes. We understand how hard it is to win (Stanley Cup titles). … We know what we’re up against. We know the challenge in front of us.”

Sullivan will take on that challenge along with associate coach Todd Reirden and assistant coach Mike Vellucci, each of whom received two-year contract extensions earlier this month. In Reirden’s case, he was promoted from his previous position as assistant coach.

“These guys, they challenge me every day,” Sullivan said. “They bring ideas. They have strong convictions. None of them that I’ve mentioned are yes men by any stretch. We have some heated discussions behind closed doors. And they’ve challenged me to be a better coach every day. … These guys are such great coaches. They’re such great hockey minds.”

Having been the Penguins’ coach for six-plus seasons, Sullivan has already enjoyed a longevity that is rare in hockey. Only Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning — who, along with Sullivan, is one of only two active NHL coaches who have won back-to-back Stanley Cup titles — has enjoyed a longer tenure with his current team at 10 seasons.

Should Sullivan serve out his extension, he will have been with the Penguins for 11 seasons.

“It’s always been a little bit of a head-scratcher for me that there’s been this, I guess, opinion that coaches have shelf lives,” Sullivan said. “And I’ve never subscribed to that notion. I believe that the best coaches build relationships. And when you build the right relationships with players and you’re able to have honest, candid conversations with them — and they know that you care first and foremost — I think that you can accomplish anything as a group.”

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