Tim Benz: For a guy who always talks about 'moving forward,' Mike Sullivan's Penguins keep moving backward

A favorite crutch for Penguins coach Mike Sullivan is “moving forward.”

He uses it as a transition. As punctuation. As a point of emphasis.

All the time.

Unfortunately, his team has spent the last three years moving backward.

Badly.

From Stanley Cup champion in 2017. To a second-round exit in ‘18. To getting swept in the first-round of ‘19. Then getting upset by the 24th-seeded Montreal Canadiens in the 2020 NHL qualifying round.

I heard a few “moving forwards” from Sullivan during his season-ending teleconference Wednesday. Can you blame him? Would you want to look back at that disastrous playoff series?

But he was forced to do so by reporters on the other end of the line.

I can’t blame them either.

They were still trying to figure how the fifth-seeded Penguins could’ve lost to a Montreal club that never would’ve been in the playoff hunt were it not for the league’s expanded qualifying format.

Sullivan didn’t have many answers. He was asked whether he found the results “puzzling” because the team got off to a great start in the regular season despite having lots of injuries.

“For sure it does,” he said. “Because for such a significant portion of the season, we felt really good about our team, the direction it was going and the results we were getting.”

Once again, though, that direction became backward.

Sullivan leaned into another refrain during his 12-minute Q&A: He’s the head coach. So blame him.

“We fell short this year. And we all need to take responsibility for that. It always starts with the head coach. And it starts with me,” Sullivan said.

Hmmm. Wednesday was a weird day to pound that drum, seeing as how Sullivan’s three assistants — Mark Recchi, Sergei Gonchar and Jacques Martin — were informed they won’t be back next season.

I counted at least four “the-buck-stops-here” type of references from Sullivan. But he’s still employed, and they are out of work.

So I guess the buck stopped somewhere else when it came to decisions about coaching accountability.

Perhaps that occurred because there are too many bucks remaining on Sullivan’s contract. He just got a four-year extension prior to last season whereas the contracts of his three assistants were up the moment the season ended.

Maybe the buck stops with him in the middle of next season — if there is a next season. Because that’s when the Penguins seem to do their best at making coaching changes.

Michel Therrien, Dan Bylsma and Sullivan were all promoted during bad campaigns after their predecessors were fired. So getting off to a fast start is crucial for Sullivan.

Yet another reason roster changes promised by general manager Jim Rutherford will likely be less impactful than you may have expected after his saber-rattling “state of the franchise” address Tuesday.

My guess is Sullivan will be against a full teardown. Unless it is so obvious — so massive — that he has the built-in excuse of 2020-21 being a full rebuilding year.

And for a Penguins franchise that hasn’t had fans in the stands or playoff revenue beyond the first round for two straight years now, that cements my skepticism that the organization will reboot with a vastly new roster.

So Sullivan has to make it work with most of the same guys that he has failed with over the past two postseasons.

Goalie Matt Murray will likely be gone. Defenseman Justin Schultz, too. Veterans who never should’ve been acquired at the trade deadline in the first place — such as Patrick Marleau and Conor Sheary — shouldn’t be retained.

In those spots, the Penguins can go cheaper, younger and faster. If they want to do so.

It’s a good idea. One seemingly embraced on the record by Sullivan and Rutherford. The GM advanced that notion earlier in the week. Sullivan cosigned Wednesday.

“Jim and I have always been believers in a combination of youth with our veteran leaders,” Sullivan said. “Usually those guys are hungry and enthusiastic and trying to prove themselves and establish themselves. That enthusiasm can be contagious. When you look at our teams that have had success, we’ve had that combination. That’s something that we talk about a lot as a hockey operations staff.”

Will Sullivan and Rutherford actually follow? And will they make the right moves to get there?

“Moving forward,” they better. Because Sullivan doesn’t have much more room to fall back.

That next step back would be completely out of the playoffs. And, for Sullivan, potentially out of a job.