Mike Sullivan will be in an unaccustomed spot, on the visitors bench, Saturday night when his new team, the New
Mike Sullivan will be in an unaccustomed spot, on the visitors bench, Saturday night when his new team, the New York Rangers, faces the Pittsburgh Penguins, the club he coached for the past 10 years at PPG Paints Arena. He’ll undoubtedly receive a video tribute and plenty of applause for his time with the Pens – a decade that included back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017 but ended with three straight non-playoff seasons.
However, he said after the morning skate that his eyes are on the future, not the past.
“When I saw the schedule in the summertime, I hoped you wouldn’t see us until March,” he joked, drawing laughter from the assembled media. “But it is what it is. It’s something I can’t control, and it’s an inevitability. It’s just part of the process. When the puck drops tonight, it’s going to be another hockey game, and we’re going to do our best to win it.
Mike Sullivan is back at PPG Paints Arena. #Pens#NYRpic.twitter.com/phecf3njg5
— Wes Crosby (@OtherNHLCrosby) October 11, 2025
“I’m excited about the group of players we have here. They’re a great group of guys. I’ve really enjoyed the time I’ve had to work with them, up to this point. We have a lot of enthusiasm around our team right now, and we’re excited about what we can potentially do moving forward.”
When asked about his return and everything that will accompany it, Sullivan replied that “It’s probably a better question for after the game. Right now, I’m just trying to focus on beating the Penguins.”
The Penguins had lost their way when Sullivan took over for Mike Johnston in December 2015. A few months later, they were Stanley Cup champions. The Rangers, who hired Sullivan on May 2, less than a week after he and the Penguins parted ways, lost 3-0 to Pittsburgh on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden in Sullivan’s debut before blanking the Buffalo Sabres 4-0 on Thursday, would love to see that kind of success next spring.
Mike Sullivan sees similarities between 2025 Rangers, 2015 Pens
Sullivan said there “might be some similarities” between the 2015 Penguins and this season’s Rangers.
“You could probably draw some correlation,” he said. “What I’ll tell you is that when I took the team over in Pittsburgh, when I looked at the roster, I felt like it was a roster that was deep with talent and had an opportunity to become a good team. When I look at this Rangers team, I think we’ve got a roster that has a lot of talent, and our challenge is to become a good team. And so, that’s the journey that we’re going on right now.
“I think it starts with building an identity, and that’s something that we’ve talked a lot about, as far as how we want to play and what, we’ll use the phrase Rangers hockey, looks like when it’s at its best. And we’re trying to define that and refine that every single day when we work with these guys. I think that’s an important aspect of what I do as the head coach. And so from that standpoint, I think there might be some similarities.”
The Rangers were flatter than yesterday’s pancakes in the season-opening loss to the Penguins. They were better in Buffalo, though goaltender Igor Shesterkin had to bail them out on more than one occasion. They also lost center Vincent Trocheck, who’s week-to-week with an upper-body injury.
“I don’t think our group was at its best, that’s for sure,” he said of the loss to the Pens at the Garden. “We know there’s a whole better version of this group. We were a much better team in Buffalo. The reasons for that – sometimes it’s hard to put a finger on, but whenever there are home openers, my experience is that there’s a lot of emotion around those things, and you never know how they’re going to impact the group.”
While Sullivan is focused on the team he’s coaching now, he’s very much aware that this isn’t just any game. He’ll be facing Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang – the longtime core of the Penguins – in the building where he was their coach for 10 seasons.
“It’s a lot different, obviously, being on the opposite side,” he said of coaching against players who were a huge part of his success in Pittsburgh. “It’s not something I’ve given a whole lot of thought to. But obviously I’m so grateful for the opportunity I had here to coach the Penguins for the amount of time I was able to do it. We had a lot of good memories, and I’m grateful for that.
“I think the opportunity and the experience I was given here in Pittsburgh changed my life in so many ways from a career standpoint, what we were able to accomplish as a group, was a career-changing experience. I’m so grateful for the opportunity I was given here to work with that group of players. You know how I feel about that core group that’s been here over the years. Those relationships last a lifetime.”
Pittsburgh Penguins correspondent Wes Crosby contributed to this report
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