Rangers hire Mike Sullivan to be next head coach
Mike Sullivan has a new home. The New York Rangers have hired Sullivan to be the team’s next head coach, the team announced on Friday.
Mike Sullivan has a new home.
The New York Rangers hired Sullivan as head coach, the team announced on Friday.
New York fired head coach Peter Laviolette on April 19 after the team had a disappointing season and missed the playoffs.
Sullivan, 57, and the Pittsburgh Penguins agreed to part ways on April 28 after 10 seasons.
“Mike Sullivan has established himself as one of the premier head coaches in the NHL,” Rangers general manager Chris Drury said in a press release. “Given his numerous accomplishments throughout his coaching career — including two Stanley Cups and leading Team USA at the international level — Mike brings a championship-level presence behind the bench.”
Sullivan won back-to-back Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017 and owns a 479-311-15-112 over 917 games as a head coach between the Penguins and Boston Bruins.
He leads the Penguins franchise in regular season games coached, regular season wins, post-season games coached and post-season wins.
Drury made the move to get Sullivan not long after receiving a multi-year contract extension of his own.
“Mike’s track record and success in the NHL and internationally speaks for itself, and I look forward to seeing him behind the Rangers bench,” owner James Dolan said. “I would like to welcome Mike back to the Rangers organization.”
Sullivan spent four seasons as a Rangers assistant under then-coach and still close friend and confidant John Tortorella from 2009-13. He coached Drury during that time, and the two have worked together professionally through USA Hockey, most recently at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February, and are part of the U.S. contingent for the 2026 Milan Olympics.
Tortorella — who was fired as coach of the Philadelphia Flyers in late March — could be a candidate to join Sullivan on his staff, as he did at the 4 Nations, but no assistant hires were confirmed Friday and the organization is expected to discuss those openings in the coming days.
The Rangers failed to make the playoffs after reaching the Eastern Conference final last year.
The collapse was marked by two veteran players being unceremoniously shown the exit: Forward Barclay Goodrow put on waivers and claimed by last-place San Jose in June and captain Jacob Trouba threatened with the same before agreeing to waive his no-trade clause to get shipped off to Anaheim in December. Players who stayed appeared to regress, from top centre Mika Zibanejad and defencemen Adam Fox and K’Andre Miller to goaltender Igor Shesterkin, who posted by far his worst save percentage of his career in North America.
Laviolette was in his sixth head-coaching job in the NHL after getting hired in June 2023. He spent the previous three with Washington and also coached Nashville, Philadelphia, Carolina and the Islanders, winning the Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes in 2006.
Plenty of head-coaching vacancies still remain throughout the league with the Bruins, Penguins, Anaheim Ducks, Philadelphia Flyers, Chicago Blackhawks, Seattle Kraken and Vancouver Canucks all in need of a bench boss.
Multiple teams that initially reached out to Sullivan will now have to pivot to other experienced options, including Rick Tocchet, Joel Quenneville and Laviolette, as well as a couple of college coaches with recent national championships: Denver’s David Carle and Western Michigan’s Pat Ferschweiler.
–with files from The Associated Press
