Mike Sullivan bid farewell to the Pittsburgh Penguins in April 2025 as the franchise’s all-time leader in regular-season wins and Stanley Cup Playoffs. He led the Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017, and now finds himself hoping to achieve something similar with the New York Rangers.
In what is undoubtedly a brutal coincidence, his new team will take on the Penguins twice within the first three gamedays. The Rangers begin their campaign on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden against the Penguins, before playing them again on Saturday at PPG Paints Arena.
“I'm sure there will be a lot of mixed emotions. The relationships that I built with those guys were strong,” Sullivan said about the game, per nhl.com.
In addition to the two championships, Sullivan led the Penguins to the playoffs five more times, parting ways on mutual agreement.
“We had the privilege of winning a couple of championships together, and I think when you go through experiences like that it certainly galvanizes relationships that last a lifetime,” he said. Sullivan may be expecting emotions, but he is still focused on the task at hand.
“What I will tell you is my focus will be on the Rangers and doing our very best to set this group up for success,” he explained.
The 57-year-old replaced Peter Laviolette, who oversaw a disastrous season last year that finished with a 39-36-7 overall record. Offensively, the Rangers had a major drop-off, dropping to 12th in goals-for, with stars such as Artemi Panarin, Adam Fox, Mika Zibanejad, Vincent Trocheck, and Alexis Lafreniere all struggling for points.
The task is by no means easy, especially considering that the Metropolitan Division looks heavily contested this season. For now however, the Rangers coach appears intent on starting the season on the right foot. After the Penguins, the Rangers will take on the Buffalo Sabres on Friday, October 10.
