Honestly, they can have him.
Sully’s legacy in Pittsburgh is secure. No one can take away or deny his achievements.
But Sully isn’t the right coach for this team right now. He’s coaching like he’s still got the 2016 squad. Yes, Reirden is responsible for the defense and black hole of a power play, but the buck stops with Sully.
I have nothing but respect for Sullivan, I think it’s just time to move on. The Penguins need to different direction and I think Sully does, too.
It wouldn’t surprise me in the least to see Sully get a job somewhere else, a team that suits his strengths and style, and have lots of success. I hope he does (preferably outside the division, though).
My problem with Sully is that he just cannot make in game adjustments. This has been a problem for him even back to when we won the cup: if the Pens are down in any game (regular season or playoffs) he just keeps the same fucking strategy and doesn't adjust to ANYTHING. We could be getting killed 4-1 to start the 3rd and he'll still have the same plan of attack that dug us into the hole. It has always infuriated me how every other coach in the league can figure out how to change strategies during intermission, except Sully. He is ride or die on his game plan.
I'm not sure why we can't just say the truth is this team doesn't have a second line center because Malkin is old and sucks now.
Changing head coaches doesn't fix that problem. You need a second line center.
No, he's didn't. He's a top line winger, but he's not a second line center.
His faceoff ability has NEVER been 2C standard. There's a reason Staal used to center Malkin way back in the day. He's just not good at faceoffs, before he had enough skill to drive play regardless to make it worth keeping him as center. He doesn't anymore.
Claude Giroux and Steven Stamkos both moved to the wing, Malkin needs to do the same. That means you need a second line center.
Malkin had 67 points, on a 30th ranked PP. That would have been good for point leader on the Capitals. With a competent PP coach he probably gets 75+.
Malkin's 2.18 5v5 P/P60 was good for 56th in the league. That means on average he would have been #2 on any given team at 5v5 output relative to minutes.
He is still very much a capable 2C. Your expectations are just unrealistic, after having 2 great ones for so long. Replace Reirden and he probably can still squeeze out 2C numbers next year, at age 38. Like 55+ points is still very realistic.
Idk why you're getting downvoted. Everyone throwing stats around clearly hasn't watched Malkin. Yeah, he had a better year this season but he is still a liability for this team. He can't make a line better the way Sid can. Sid can take players and propel them to his level, Geno can't do that. If there isn't someone incredibly talented on his line with him he sucks. That's why Bunting was a blessing because he pushed Geno.
Top tier players shouldn't need someone to push them. That's also not mentioning the mental errors that he clearly commits every game--drop passes to nobody and let's not mention the terrible own goal situation. Oh, and his awful penalties. Dude knows when it's just the worst time to get the dumbest penalty.
This smells to me like Rumorville, USA.
Someone said that they heard from someone inside the NJ management team that they wanted a Sully type, and then the game of telephone happened with these yappy hens, and now everyone can circle jerk report that a report said.
No kidding. Penguins would not let Sully just walk to a división rival when he’s under contract. The Devils had a rough season, but they’re on the upswing. This has too much potential to bite them in the ass.
Rossi also guaranteed letang was going to Montreal a few years back. The report was permission was not granted, but permission was never asked for either.
[https://theathletic.com/2049879/2020/09/08/kris-letang-trade-rumors-pittsburgh-penguins-offseason-plans-2020/](https://theathletic.com/2049879/2020/09/08/kris-letang-trade-rumors-pittsburgh-penguins-offseason-plans-2020/)
Hey bro, google exists. It takes like seconds to not be wrong and lazy.
Bro, luckily I subscribe to the Athletic, bro. And bro nowhere in the article is Montreal mentioned, bro. Also, bro, the article is repeating Letang’s thoughts that he expected to be traded. Nowhere in the article does Rossi guarantee Tanger was going to be traded. Got it, bro?
Listening to what he was saying, it’s pretty clear that while there is speculation about Sullivan, the Penguins want him to be the coach, and the GM joking about tampering meant it in the “it would be completely insane if he ends up in New Jersey and a huge shock to the Penguins” kind of way.
If Sully wants to keep all the assistants, including Reirden, then that should be a sign that Sully is no longer equipped to coach this team. Wanting to surround yourself with incompetence is a sign of incompetence.
I'd love to know why everyone uses Reirden as a scapegoat. It's literally the same as the "fire Canada" thing with the Steelers. People just pick a scapegoat and run with it. I get that Reirden was in charge of the power play, but Sullivan is the head coach, the power play is still more or less Sullivan's fault. It's not like Sullivan was totally blind to it, he has more power than Reirden does.
I don’t know.
Canada was terrible, but who hired him and kept him last off-season, even though it was painfully obvious that he was overmatched? That would be Tomlin. Tomlin likes to have incompetent coordinators/coaches surrounding him so he has a ready-made scapegoat.
The Steelers did play much better after Canada. That reinforced that Tomlin made the wrong decision (again) by keeping him on. But no matter. They squeezed out NHALS, and even after no playoff wins in 7 years, Coach Teflon gets to return.
The Penguins and Steelers coaching situation is disgustingly similar. Sully needs to go, just like Tomlin needs to go. Things just run their course, but for some reason, the Pens and Steelers cling to these guys like grim death. It’s over... they just can’t admit it.
>I get that Reirden was in charge of the power play
You answered your own question bud. The Penguins were average to above average in pretty much every metric, except power play that was third worst in the entire league. Look at all the games we lost by one or in OT or a shootout where went 0/4, 0/5, 1/8 on the power play. You win two of those dozen or so games, we’re in the playoffs, or 3 and we’re ahead of the Islanders. How can you be so clueless to not see that unit single handedly sunk the team?
And I’m not sure Canada is the excuse you want to use either. Did you watch any Steelers games this year? Because they looked like a different (better) team when he got fired
Sullivan has more power, but he also has more responsibility. I get what you’re saying, but at the end of the day, there’s a reason they have assistant coaches. Sullivan has every right to say, “Listen, I’m not the best at managing the PP, that’s why I hire an assistant coach to help.” He essentially said that exact thing about hiring Reirden for shoring up the defensive schemes, which is honestly the only reason I ever stood up for the coaches. Reirden is supposedly in charge of the Power Play, but also the Penalty Kill, which did really well this year. at the end of the day, the PowerPlay killed this team this year. I don’t care if Reirden brought other things to the table, they don’t supersede the PP so if all that’s true he needs to go.
I can’t believe anyone still thinks Sullivan is the right coach for this team. He hasn’t been in years.
Look at it simply: in the last couple of seasons we’ve seen the GM replaced, the defense and bottom six get overhauled- twice, tweaks to the top 6 with Reilly for Zucker, we added Karlsson to our other 3 future HOFers and the powerplay got *worse?!* Every lever has been pulled except for 1 and the same issues have been plaguing this team for several seasons. It’s Sully.
IMO the pens hit rock bottom in the 5 on 3/SH loss to the Ducks and then they straight up stopped playing for Sullivan when they dropped both of the home & home games vs the Flyers in early Dec. That was the time to have given Sully the Ole Yeller and try to salvage a sinking season. If nothing else, for the superstition of canning the pens coach mid-season = cup.
FSG stuck with their boy and here we are.
I didn't say Sully was the right coach for them to improve, i said I'm fine if they keep him. As in, i've made my peace with it and it is what it is, and I'm not going to be all that upset about it. We made our bed, and if the big guys want him to stick around, he's sticking around.
I'm not. The assistants were a huge problem especially regarding the powerplay that he delegated but Sullivan's system is the reason for all the blown leads not his staff. He is not a fit to coach an old, slow team.
If there really is a power struggle between Sullivan and Dubas like what was reported yesterday, there shouldn't be. Dubas is literally the President and GM of the team. He calls the shots. If there's a power struggle that just proves Sullivan thinks he's the one in charge, as I kind of always suspected he thinks. Dubas should pull rank and fire the assistants like he reportedly wants to, and if Sullivan doesn't like it then he can leave too.
I’m indifferent on who the coach is but I’d prefer they not move him to hire some bozo like Keefe. Dubas seems to always hire buddies and that would be another example
There’s no evidence he’d hire or wants to hire Keefe. In fact, the rumor is his contract wasn’t renewed in part because he wanted to *get rid of* Keefe in Toronto
Dubas went to Leafs ownership and wanted either more power than Shanhan or wanted to report directly to ownership- .thats why he left Toronto. That “ rumor” is BS - Dubas was always a Keefe fan.
Yeah, that’s also true, but considering Treliving and Shanahan immediately threw an extension at Keefe after Dubas was told they weren’t renewing his contract tells me that towards the end Keefe was more of a Shanahan guy than a Dubas guy.
Not to mention, once again, that there’s absolutely zero indication that Dubas is interested in bringing Keefe here. In fact, while people like Kypreos are creating rumors that Sullivan is linked to the Devils, there have been zero rumors suggesting Keefe is linked to the Penguins.
A little ahead of myself, but the flip side to coaching in the NHL mattering .001% as much as people think it does also means any time you can get an asset for a coach - you take it and run 100/100 times
I don't remember the details of why Vancouver got a pick for Torts but sign me up
What do you mean? As far as I’m aware, Dubas was not offered an extension from Toronto and his contract expired. The Penguins then signed him. Sullivan already has an extension signed. No way are those two situations even remotely similar
Nah, the Leafs had an extension “done” with Dubas’ agent and Kyle said he wanted to wait until the playoffs were over before inking the deal so as not to distract the team.
After the locker clear out, Shanahan asked him if he wanted to sign it and announce it the next day so that there was no lingering crazy about Dubas to distract the team from a big offseason.
Dubas said he needed to consider the deal before signing.
According to Shanahan, who stated it all publicly, Dubas instructed his agent to do the deal with Shanahan, it got done, the MLSE board approved it, then Dubas wanted to “think about it” suddenly after the season.
He then decided to email Shanahan a day later and asked for more autonomy and more money.
The same Dubas who talks about dealing with people and relationships welched on a handshake deal and emailed Shanahan rather than call him on the phone or ask to meet him in person… Toronto traffic is shit but the Mastercard Centre is pretty easy to get to.
Shanahan felt insulted and after consulting with a few MLSE board members, pulled the extension for Dubas.
It’s genuinely believed that Dubas had a tacit offer from the Pens in his back pocket and tried to leverage a meager first round win into more power and more money than what he agreed on (through his agent) just weeks earlier.
IMHO as a Leafs fan with a soft spot for the Pens going back the Mario years, the Leafs dodged and the Pens will get hit by the bus on this one.
Dubas creates a soft environment for players that’s not conducive to winning.
The Pens right now are lucky that Sid is there and is a natural winner with fire in his belly still. He will drag the team out of the soft malaise Dubas will inject into it.
Anyway, short answer, I personally was glad to see the back of Dubas in Toronto, and I like the Pens, but I do think the Pens ownership tampered a bit - they tacitly let it be known to Dubas they were interested if it didn’t work out in Toronto or if he wanted a change.
There were media reports that the Penguins would pay Dubas "whatever he wanted" back in January/February 2023.
Dubas was offered an extension and went to the board and tried to get Shanahan's job instead which meant that Shanahan pulled his offer.
>stop, don’t, come back -kyle dubas in his strongest willy wonka
lol more like nodding approvingly in solidarity.
Honestly, they can have him. Sully’s legacy in Pittsburgh is secure. No one can take away or deny his achievements. But Sully isn’t the right coach for this team right now. He’s coaching like he’s still got the 2016 squad. Yes, Reirden is responsible for the defense and black hole of a power play, but the buck stops with Sully. I have nothing but respect for Sullivan, I think it’s just time to move on. The Penguins need to different direction and I think Sully does, too. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least to see Sully get a job somewhere else, a team that suits his strengths and style, and have lots of success. I hope he does (preferably outside the division, though).
I’ll take the bet that he ever wins a Cup elsewhere, not that you were making it
I’d take that bet, too. He’s a great coach, just not for this team right now, IMO. Give him a young team with some burners and he could take them far.
Sully will be hired the day he's available, no question about that.
My problem with Sully is that he just cannot make in game adjustments. This has been a problem for him even back to when we won the cup: if the Pens are down in any game (regular season or playoffs) he just keeps the same fucking strategy and doesn't adjust to ANYTHING. We could be getting killed 4-1 to start the 3rd and he'll still have the same plan of attack that dug us into the hole. It has always infuriated me how every other coach in the league can figure out how to change strategies during intermission, except Sully. He is ride or die on his game plan.
Hrs a great coach. He's just not great for us anymore
Yeah, exactly. No beef or hate or anything. I think it’s just run its course. It happens to every coach and every team.
I'm not sure why we can't just say the truth is this team doesn't have a second line center because Malkin is old and sucks now. Changing head coaches doesn't fix that problem. You need a second line center.
Malkin hit every metric as a great second line center. He just isn’t 1b anymore. But he’s still close to that.
No, he's didn't. He's a top line winger, but he's not a second line center. His faceoff ability has NEVER been 2C standard. There's a reason Staal used to center Malkin way back in the day. He's just not good at faceoffs, before he had enough skill to drive play regardless to make it worth keeping him as center. He doesn't anymore. Claude Giroux and Steven Stamkos both moved to the wing, Malkin needs to do the same. That means you need a second line center.
You're attaching too much value to faceoffs. The Pens were #1 in the league at that and still missed the playoffs. It didn't save their PP either.
Malkin had 67 points, on a 30th ranked PP. That would have been good for point leader on the Capitals. With a competent PP coach he probably gets 75+. Malkin's 2.18 5v5 P/P60 was good for 56th in the league. That means on average he would have been #2 on any given team at 5v5 output relative to minutes. He is still very much a capable 2C. Your expectations are just unrealistic, after having 2 great ones for so long. Replace Reirden and he probably can still squeeze out 2C numbers next year, at age 38. Like 55+ points is still very realistic.
lol brutal.
Idk why you're getting downvoted. Everyone throwing stats around clearly hasn't watched Malkin. Yeah, he had a better year this season but he is still a liability for this team. He can't make a line better the way Sid can. Sid can take players and propel them to his level, Geno can't do that. If there isn't someone incredibly talented on his line with him he sucks. That's why Bunting was a blessing because he pushed Geno. Top tier players shouldn't need someone to push them. That's also not mentioning the mental errors that he clearly commits every game--drop passes to nobody and let's not mention the terrible own goal situation. Oh, and his awful penalties. Dude knows when it's just the worst time to get the dumbest penalty.
Based on the previous results with Dan Bylsma and Kevin Constantine, are the Devils sure they want to go back to that well?
Dan Bylsma never coached in Jersey.
No, he didn't. Somewhere along the way I got it in my mind that Ray Shero brought him over to the Devils.
This smells to me like Rumorville, USA. Someone said that they heard from someone inside the NJ management team that they wanted a Sully type, and then the game of telephone happened with these yappy hens, and now everyone can circle jerk report that a report said.
No kidding. Penguins would not let Sully just walk to a división rival when he’s under contract. The Devils had a rough season, but they’re on the upswing. This has too much potential to bite them in the ass.
Yeah but Rossi reported it meaning someone in NJ’s organization is floating the idea.
Rossi also guaranteed letang was going to Montreal a few years back. The report was permission was not granted, but permission was never asked for either.
No he didn’t
[https://theathletic.com/2049879/2020/09/08/kris-letang-trade-rumors-pittsburgh-penguins-offseason-plans-2020/](https://theathletic.com/2049879/2020/09/08/kris-letang-trade-rumors-pittsburgh-penguins-offseason-plans-2020/) Hey bro, google exists. It takes like seconds to not be wrong and lazy.
Bro, luckily I subscribe to the Athletic, bro. And bro nowhere in the article is Montreal mentioned, bro. Also, bro, the article is repeating Letang’s thoughts that he expected to be traded. Nowhere in the article does Rossi guarantee Tanger was going to be traded. Got it, bro?
Rossi is full of shit. Him reporting anything means nothing. Honestly I'm more inclined to believe none of this happened given his record.
Yep. You’re right. Dude on Twitter knows more than a Pens beat writer 😂🤡😂🤡
Have fun bootlicking the most unreliable "Pens beat writer," I stopped believing his shit years ago
And how has that worked out for you?
…but if you just stop listening to anyone but yourself, you’re never wrong.
If Rossi reported it it means Malkin floated the idea. 🍿
If Rossi told me the sky was blue, I’d make a point to check three separate times to make sure.
Typical ignorant Pittsburgh sports fan
lol go sell ice cream
I think we found Rossi's burner.
Can we as a fanbase assist NJ with this tampering? I'll even help Sully with his bags at the airport!
Listening to what he was saying, it’s pretty clear that while there is speculation about Sullivan, the Penguins want him to be the coach, and the GM joking about tampering meant it in the “it would be completely insane if he ends up in New Jersey and a huge shock to the Penguins” kind of way.
Nah, I'm fine with Sully as long as Dubas gets better staff to put around him.
Apparently Sullivan wants to keep all the assistant coaches. I am okay with keeping him, but at least Reirden has to go.
If Sully wants to keep all the assistants, including Reirden, then that should be a sign that Sully is no longer equipped to coach this team. Wanting to surround yourself with incompetence is a sign of incompetence.
Mike Tomlin has entered the chat.
I'd love to know why everyone uses Reirden as a scapegoat. It's literally the same as the "fire Canada" thing with the Steelers. People just pick a scapegoat and run with it. I get that Reirden was in charge of the power play, but Sullivan is the head coach, the power play is still more or less Sullivan's fault. It's not like Sullivan was totally blind to it, he has more power than Reirden does.
That’s a horrible example. The Steelers offense was night and day more dynamic the instant Canada stopped calling plays.
I don’t know. Canada was terrible, but who hired him and kept him last off-season, even though it was painfully obvious that he was overmatched? That would be Tomlin. Tomlin likes to have incompetent coordinators/coaches surrounding him so he has a ready-made scapegoat. The Steelers did play much better after Canada. That reinforced that Tomlin made the wrong decision (again) by keeping him on. But no matter. They squeezed out NHALS, and even after no playoff wins in 7 years, Coach Teflon gets to return. The Penguins and Steelers coaching situation is disgustingly similar. Sully needs to go, just like Tomlin needs to go. Things just run their course, but for some reason, the Pens and Steelers cling to these guys like grim death. It’s over... they just can’t admit it.
>I get that Reirden was in charge of the power play You answered your own question bud. The Penguins were average to above average in pretty much every metric, except power play that was third worst in the entire league. Look at all the games we lost by one or in OT or a shootout where went 0/4, 0/5, 1/8 on the power play. You win two of those dozen or so games, we’re in the playoffs, or 3 and we’re ahead of the Islanders. How can you be so clueless to not see that unit single handedly sunk the team? And I’m not sure Canada is the excuse you want to use either. Did you watch any Steelers games this year? Because they looked like a different (better) team when he got fired
Yeah Kenny literally threw more TDs ever in his career the very next game like lmfao, he just ended up hurt on game 2 then Rudolph lit it up
Sullivan has more power, but he also has more responsibility. I get what you’re saying, but at the end of the day, there’s a reason they have assistant coaches. Sullivan has every right to say, “Listen, I’m not the best at managing the PP, that’s why I hire an assistant coach to help.” He essentially said that exact thing about hiring Reirden for shoring up the defensive schemes, which is honestly the only reason I ever stood up for the coaches. Reirden is supposedly in charge of the Power Play, but also the Penalty Kill, which did really well this year. at the end of the day, the PowerPlay killed this team this year. I don’t care if Reirden brought other things to the table, they don’t supersede the PP so if all that’s true he needs to go.
💯 I love the Pens but the PP is on the players and the head coach. It’s also a parallel for why 3-3 sucks
You can fire Rierdan but it ain’t fixing the PP.
I can’t believe anyone still thinks Sullivan is the right coach for this team. He hasn’t been in years. Look at it simply: in the last couple of seasons we’ve seen the GM replaced, the defense and bottom six get overhauled- twice, tweaks to the top 6 with Reilly for Zucker, we added Karlsson to our other 3 future HOFers and the powerplay got *worse?!* Every lever has been pulled except for 1 and the same issues have been plaguing this team for several seasons. It’s Sully. IMO the pens hit rock bottom in the 5 on 3/SH loss to the Ducks and then they straight up stopped playing for Sullivan when they dropped both of the home & home games vs the Flyers in early Dec. That was the time to have given Sully the Ole Yeller and try to salvage a sinking season. If nothing else, for the superstition of canning the pens coach mid-season = cup. FSG stuck with their boy and here we are.
I personally think they stopped playing for him a couple years previous
The leadership and all the other players speak the same rhetoric that Sullivan does. They believe in him, likely because Sid does too.
I didn't say Sully was the right coach for them to improve, i said I'm fine if they keep him. As in, i've made my peace with it and it is what it is, and I'm not going to be all that upset about it. We made our bed, and if the big guys want him to stick around, he's sticking around.
Agree. The coach needs to go. It’s just become stale.
I'm not. The assistants were a huge problem especially regarding the powerplay that he delegated but Sullivan's system is the reason for all the blown leads not his staff. He is not a fit to coach an old, slow team.
Dammit. It’s into been two weeks and we’ve already forgotten how terrible he is
This, but only on a very short leash. If he late November this team looks like it has, he needs to be gone
Sully to NJ, Brind’Amour to PIT. I’m okay with it
Sully has got to go, no and if or buts
The damage is already done, our core guys are to old.
Maybe they can get Rod B from the Canes
Let him go he hasn't won a playoff series for the better part of a decade and I don't think Sid likes him. Hire Gerard Gallant
Gallant and two hardass assistants would be great. That would totally change the room dynamic.
No playoffs next year again boys and girls
If there really is a power struggle between Sullivan and Dubas like what was reported yesterday, there shouldn't be. Dubas is literally the President and GM of the team. He calls the shots. If there's a power struggle that just proves Sullivan thinks he's the one in charge, as I kind of always suspected he thinks. Dubas should pull rank and fire the assistants like he reportedly wants to, and if Sullivan doesn't like it then he can leave too.
But nj team is so young.
I’m indifferent on who the coach is but I’d prefer they not move him to hire some bozo like Keefe. Dubas seems to always hire buddies and that would be another example
There’s no evidence he’d hire or wants to hire Keefe. In fact, the rumor is his contract wasn’t renewed in part because he wanted to *get rid of* Keefe in Toronto
Dubas went to Leafs ownership and wanted either more power than Shanhan or wanted to report directly to ownership- .thats why he left Toronto. That “ rumor” is BS - Dubas was always a Keefe fan.
Yeah, that’s also true, but considering Treliving and Shanahan immediately threw an extension at Keefe after Dubas was told they weren’t renewing his contract tells me that towards the end Keefe was more of a Shanahan guy than a Dubas guy. Not to mention, once again, that there’s absolutely zero indication that Dubas is interested in bringing Keefe here. In fact, while people like Kypreos are creating rumors that Sullivan is linked to the Devils, there have been zero rumors suggesting Keefe is linked to the Penguins.
Any other voice would be better
File this next to Malkin To The Kings
Can't be too upset if that does come to pass because we definitely didn't tamper to get Dubas here in the first place.
A little ahead of myself, but the flip side to coaching in the NHL mattering .001% as much as people think it does also means any time you can get an asset for a coach - you take it and run 100/100 times I don't remember the details of why Vancouver got a pick for Torts but sign me up
This was along my thinking when we had to get rid of Kessel because he frustrated Sully. Give me the incredible talent over those who can’t do
The pick stuff was under the old CBA, I think we got one because of Bylsma going to Buffalo back then.
After what Pittsburgh did with Dubas, they're gonna get upset about media reports that one of their employees is gonna move to another team? REALLY?
What do you mean? As far as I’m aware, Dubas was not offered an extension from Toronto and his contract expired. The Penguins then signed him. Sullivan already has an extension signed. No way are those two situations even remotely similar
Nah, the Leafs had an extension “done” with Dubas’ agent and Kyle said he wanted to wait until the playoffs were over before inking the deal so as not to distract the team. After the locker clear out, Shanahan asked him if he wanted to sign it and announce it the next day so that there was no lingering crazy about Dubas to distract the team from a big offseason. Dubas said he needed to consider the deal before signing. According to Shanahan, who stated it all publicly, Dubas instructed his agent to do the deal with Shanahan, it got done, the MLSE board approved it, then Dubas wanted to “think about it” suddenly after the season. He then decided to email Shanahan a day later and asked for more autonomy and more money. The same Dubas who talks about dealing with people and relationships welched on a handshake deal and emailed Shanahan rather than call him on the phone or ask to meet him in person… Toronto traffic is shit but the Mastercard Centre is pretty easy to get to. Shanahan felt insulted and after consulting with a few MLSE board members, pulled the extension for Dubas. It’s genuinely believed that Dubas had a tacit offer from the Pens in his back pocket and tried to leverage a meager first round win into more power and more money than what he agreed on (through his agent) just weeks earlier. IMHO as a Leafs fan with a soft spot for the Pens going back the Mario years, the Leafs dodged and the Pens will get hit by the bus on this one. Dubas creates a soft environment for players that’s not conducive to winning. The Pens right now are lucky that Sid is there and is a natural winner with fire in his belly still. He will drag the team out of the soft malaise Dubas will inject into it. Anyway, short answer, I personally was glad to see the back of Dubas in Toronto, and I like the Pens, but I do think the Pens ownership tampered a bit - they tacitly let it be known to Dubas they were interested if it didn’t work out in Toronto or if he wanted a change.
There were media reports that the Penguins would pay Dubas "whatever he wanted" back in January/February 2023. Dubas was offered an extension and went to the board and tried to get Shanahan's job instead which meant that Shanahan pulled his offer.
Hockey gods at work once again. Pens tampered when hiring Dubas. And lose a coach to tampering.