lost, 6-5, to the Penguins<\/a>. \u201cAnd although they are aging, there\u2019s still elite-level play in their game. It\u2019s driven by Sid, their captain. Does it surprise me? No, it doesn\u2019t. I think they\u2019ve done a great job as far as becoming a team, and some of the young guys they added, and some of the pieces they added along the way.<\/p>\n![\"Pittsburgh](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/pittsburgh-penguins-head-coach-dan-119999629.jpg\")
Dan Muse is pictured during the Penguins\u2019 Jan. 29 game. AP<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you look at the top line, they drive, they\u2019re the heartbeat of the team and have been for a number of years. All the elements are in play. Their special teams have been really good. They\u2019re getting saves. It\u2019s a good recipe.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Rangers job now looks a lot different than it did just under four months ago. <\/p>\n
It could be some time before the team starts experiencing consistent success again, and that\u2019s not exactly what Sullivan signed up for.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
He has already made it clear he is still coaching to win.<\/p>\n
Sullivan is not a development coach, but he is a player\u2019s coach.<\/p>\n
Perhaps it could be beneficial for Sullivan to have this time to not only shape the organization\u2019s youngsters into his system, but also foster the types of relationships that he has built his reputation on.<\/p>\n
Considering the switch-up, there is understandably some doubt surrounding Sullivan\u2019s fit for what\u2019s ahead.<\/p>\n
But he is the coach that president and general manager Chris Drury has wanted at the helm of his team.<\/p>\n
One of the loudest criticisms of Sullivan\u2019s tenure in Pittsburgh was his management of youth. <\/p>\n
Though there really wasn\u2019t much for him to work with back then. <\/p>\n
An abundance of rookies have already infiltrated the Rangers lineup, some of whom Sullivan has entrusted more and more.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead the expert take on the Blueshirts\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Rangers, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
There is belief that Sullivan\u2019s preexisting relationships with the Wilkes-Barre players who were promoted to the Penguins in 2016 played a major factor in the team\u2019s ascension to Stanley Cup champions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll explore our lineup for sure, and we\u2019ll move people around,\u201d Sullivan said when asked if he can experiment in ways he maybe wouldn\u2019t have if the Rangers weren\u2019t in their current situation. \u201cWe already have, and we\u2019ll continue to do so based on what we see, and where we think we can put players in positions to be successful and give an opportunity to play to their strengths. That\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to do. Gabe Perreault is a perfect example right now, and the opportunity he\u2019s getting in the position that he\u2019s in. But he\u2019s not the only one. There\u2019s a number of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to continue to try to get to know this group even more so than we know them now. We\u2019ll continue to assess and we\u2019ll continue to learn and grow together as a group, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to try to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sullivan later added: \u201cI\u2019m going to do my best to meet those challenges to try to help this organization move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 There is something perversely ironic about the current state of the Rangers and Penguins, after the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5113],"tags":[5,2310,35,4,118,1469,100,5216,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-439129","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-penguins","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-mike-sullivan-nhl","10":"tag-new-york-rangers","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-penguins","13":"tag-pittsburgh","14":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","15":"tag-pittsburghpenguins","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115993286739317689","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/new-york-rangers-head-coach-120130247.jpg\")
Mike Sullivan reacts during the Rangers\u2019 6-5 road loss to the Penguins on Jan. 31, 2026 in Pittsburgh. AP<\/p>\n