Position Center National team United States Name Mike Sullivan Height 1.88 m Education Boston University | Shot Left Playing career Role Ice hockey player Weight 84 kg Team Pittsburgh Penguins | |
Born February 27, 1968 (age 56)
Marshfield, MA, USA ( 1968-02-27 ) NHL Draft 69th overall, 1987
New York Rangers Team coached Pittsburgh Penguins (Head coach, since 2015) Played for San Jose Sharks, Calgary Flames, Boston Bruins, Arizona Coyotes | ||
Michael Barry Sullivan (born February 27, 1968) is an American former ice hockey player and current head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL. He was a fourth round selection, 69th overall, by the New York Rangers at the 1987 NHL Entry Draft and played 10 NHL seasons with the San Jose Sharks, Calgary Flames, Boston Bruins and Phoenix Coyotes. Internationally, he represented the United States twice, including at the 1997 World Championship. Sullivan turned to coaching upon his retirement in 2002 and served two seasons as the head coach of the Boston Bruins between 2003 and 2005. He was formerly an assistant coach with the Vancouver Canucks, a position he held during the 2013–14 NHL season.
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Playing career
Sullivan played high school hockey at Boston College High School and college hockey at Boston University where he scored a game-winning goal in the Beanpot Tournament. He was drafted 67th overall by the New York Rangers in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft. He elected to remain at BU to finish school, and in 1990, he began an 11-year NHL career in which he accumulated 54 goals, 82 assists, 136 points and 203 penalty minutes in 709 games.
Coaching career
Sullivan began coaching professional hockey during the 2002–2003 season, when he became the head coach of the Providence Bruins of the AHL. In his only season, his team had a 41–17–9–4 record.
Sullivan was hired as the 26th head coach of the Boston Bruins in 2003 by then-general manager Mike O'Connell. His first season with the Bruins was highly successful, as he led them to a 41–19–15–7 record, 104 points and a first-place finish in the Northeast Division. They were eliminated however, in the first round of the playoffs to the Montreal Canadiens. After the lockout, Sullivan and the Bruins struggled to win in the new NHL, as they ended the 2005–2006 season with a dismal 29–37–16 record, missing the playoffs and finishing last in the Northeast Division. He was subsequently fired by incoming general manager Peter Chiarelli on June 27, 2006 and was replaced by Dave Lewis.
On May 31, 2007, he was named assistant coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning. He has also served as an assistant coach of the U.S. Olympic hockey team at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy.
On July 16, 2009 he was named assistant coach of the New York Rangers.
On July 3, 2013 he was named assistant coach of the Vancouver Canucks.
On January 20, 2014, Sullivan was named interim head coach of the Canucks, while head coach John Tortorella served a six-game suspension. On January 21, in his first game as acting head coach, the Canucks would go on to record a 2–1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.
On May 1, 2014, Sullivan, along with head coach John Tortorella, were relieved of their respective duties in the Canucks organization. Sullivan subsequently joined the Chicago Blackhawks as a player development coach.
On June 18, 2015, the Pittsburgh Penguins named Sullivan as the new head coach of their American Hockey League affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
He was named Head Coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins on December 12, 2015, upon the firing of then-head coach Mike Johnston.
On June 12, 2016, Sullivan became just the sixth head coach in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup after being hired mid-season. He did so when the Penguins defeated the San Jose Sharks in the 2016 Stanley Cup Final. Sullivan joined both Scotty Bowman (1992) and Dan Bylsma (2009) as the third coach in franchise history to win the Stanley Cup following a mid-season coaching change.
Personal
Sullivan and his wife, Kate, have three children, daughters Kaitlin and Kiley and son Matthew.