Back to the Drawing Board

The Mike Johnston-era in Pittsburgh is over after just a season and a half.  With a record of 58-37-15 and seeing a formerly powerful Penguins team go from Stanley Cup contenders to fighting for their playoff lives, someone had to fall on the sword for a team that features Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Phil Kessel.  Taking over is Mike Sullivan, who was in his first season as head coach of the AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre.  Sullivan also coached in Boston for a couple of seasons, and will be tasked with turning around the fortunes of a team that couldn't get their power play going under Johnston.

So, what went wrong with Johnston?  To figure it out, his system while in Portland was based on defensemen getting into the action, as players such as Derrick Pouliot (who still couldn't crack the Penguins' NHL roster even with his former junior coach there) and Seth Jones thrived.  With the right defensemen, the forwards would fly around and cause problems, as players such as Nic Petan and Ty Rattie proved in Portland.  The general hope was that the system would carry over with the Penguins, which was obviously not the case.  Of the Penguins this season, only Malkin has produced anything resembling average (for him) numbers.  Meanwhile, the blueliners haven't done a heck of a lot this season, as Kris Letang has just one goal to go with 13 helpers while only Olli Maatta has played to expectations among the rest of the group.  Marc-Andre Fleury needs help, and it will be up to Sullivan to help push the offensive needle in the right direction with a system that will benefit the Penguins.