The Pittsburgh Penguins announced the ninth head coach of the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins on Thursday morning.
His name is Mike Sullivan.
Coming on the heels of the news that John Hynes departed for the New Jersey Devils on June 2 and took Alain Nasreddine with him on Wednesday, the search for a new man to lead the prospects on Coal Street was on.
Sullivan comes over from the Chicago Blackhawks organization where he served as a player development coach for the AHL affiliate of the Stanley Cup Champions, the Rockford IceHogs. Prior to that he served as an assistant coach with the Vancouver Canucks, the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning. He was an NHL head coach once with the Boston Bruins.
He’s got quite a resume coming in as a coach with work in the AHL and NHL. I think he may be the most experienced coach coming into the job in Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins history. Michel Therrien coached the Montreal Canadiens prior to coming into the job in Wilkes-Barre in 2003. The rest didn’t have much if any NHL / AHL coaching experience at all before taking over as head man of the prospects on Coal Street.
So I see it as a great hire.
Nothing announced as far as assistant coaches yet. I anticipate that something will be announced in the coming weeks. Sullivan will most likely be actively involved in the process.
Check back later in case the Penguins put up a podcast with the new coach. If they do I will link it in here.
Let’s Go Pens!
WBS News
Chirps from Center Ice 
Canucks’ players disliked Sullivan during his mercifully-short tenure with Torts. He was described as extremely arbitrary and played favorites, and didn’t communicate with the other assistants. I’ve heard he’s on the line as Therrien. Who knows maybe this is what this team needs Maybe crack down on the boozing and focus on hockey!