Mike Sullivan

Mike Sullivan glad he’s not Peter Laviolette, Bruce Boudreau believes blind people voted on most handsome NHL head coach list

On Tuesday, Sportsnet freelancer and former Kings of Leonsis founder, Adam Vingan, tweeted what appears to be The Definitive list for the most handsomest head coaches in the NHL. Put together by researchers from gambling.com, the sports betting website used the beauty measurement app, Golden Ratio Face, to determine who was the sexiest coach and who was the most looks-challenged.

Despite the list’s vast reach and discussion on Twitter, I thought giving coverage to something so superficial, ridiculous, and kinda mean was beneath even our non-lofty standards of coverage. Yet, NHL beat writers started asking head coaches about the list and inadvertently gave it a Capitals angle, thus making it in bounds for YA BOI IAN OLAND.

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By Ian Oland 6 months ago

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Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and head coach Mike Sullivan removed from COVID-19 protocols before game against Capitals

The Penguins suffered a COVID-19 outbreak in their locker room last month. Saturday, the team finally got some good news. Sidney Crosby and several other Penguins players will return to the team from their protocol-related absences.

Head coach Mike Sullivan will also be back behind the bench too. With Sullivan out, former Capitals head coach Todd Reirden had been manning the Pens bench.

The Penguins play the Washington Capitals in DC on Sunday night.

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By Chris Cerullo 1 year ago

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Mike Sullivan challenges Department of Player Safety to ‘do something’ about Tom Wilson

Game Three of the Caps and Penguins second-round series had just about everything a hockey fan could want: big saves, epic momentum shifts, and a late game-winning goal. It also had tension. Lots of tension.

Those hard feelings boiled over for the second straight game, as a borderline Tom Wilson hit left a Penguins player injured. While Brian Dumoulin returned Tuesday for Pittsburgh after the Game Two collision that took him out of action, Zach Aston-Reese will not be so lucky.

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By Brendan Doyle 5 years ago

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This is possibly the all-time dumbest question posed by media to an NHL coach

Tom Wilson has a habit of angering anyone associated with the city of Pittsburgh and that habit was on full display in DC Sunday night. During the second period of Game Two, Wilson made contact with the head of Pens defenseman Brian Dumoulin. The hit knocked a woozy Dumoulin out of the game.

Further drawing the ire of Pens fans everywhere, the NHL’s Department of Player Safety ruled that Wilson would not be receiving a hearing for the head contact.

At the Penguins skate Tuesday morning, head coach Mike Sullivan was asked quite the interesting question by a member of the hockey media.

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By Chris Cerullo 5 years ago

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Despite going 37 minutes without a shot, Penguins take Game One of Stanley Cup Final

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins won the opening game of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday with a dominating performance over the Nashville Predators. They controlled play almost the whole night, going up 3-0 before the first period was over. The Predators managed a power play goal midway through the second frame, but that was all they got. It’s clear Pittsburgh is heading for a quick series win after finishing off Nashville 5-3 in Game One.

“We got a favorable result tonight,” Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said after the game.

But there is one small problem: the first paragraph is a lie, save for the score.

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By Chris Gordon 6 years ago

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Sidney Crosby and Conor Sheary pass concussion testing, are game-time decisions for Game Five

On the verge of eliminating the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Washington Capitals from the playoffs, the Pittsburgh Penguins may have two of their top scorers back in the lineup. According to Pens head coach Mike Sullivan, forwards Sidney Crosby and Conor Sheary are game-time decisions for Game Five on Saturday night. This is an upgrade of their status Friday when their head injuries were termed “day-to-day.”

“He’s had a number of really positive days,” Sullivan said of Crosby, who has been skating since Wednesday. “He’s just going through his normal game day routine like he always does.”

Both Crosby and Sheary passed concussion testing on Friday. (more…)

By Chris Gordon 6 years ago

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With the Caps down 3-1, Barry Trotz challenges Capitals stars to be better — but is that fair?

When the buzzer sounded at PPG Paints Arena on Wednesday night, the Washington Capitals made their way back to the locker room. The Pittsburgh Penguins had beaten them 3-2, putting them on the brink of elimination in the second round.

Inside the locker room, the Capitals gave trite answers to reporters about never giving up on a series and how the team could play better. There was one issue with this company line: the Capitals had played well enough to win. They’ve done it in all four games that have been played against Pittsburgh yet trail in the best-of-seven series 3-1. On Wednesday, Washington outshot Pittsburgh a remarkable 38-18.

The Capitals are now going to be staring the end of their season in the face on Saturday night at Verizon Center. After dropping Game Four by a close margin, the Caps began searching for something to blame. Like every other game in this series, their criticisms were self-directed.

“I would say I didn’t play my game at all tonight,” Alex Ovechkin told reporters. “I think me personally have to play much better.”

“I think I didn’t control the puck well and make stupid decisions,” he added.

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By Chris Gordon 6 years ago

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After going down 2-0 to the Penguins, the Capitals held a team meeting that is ‘none of your business’

As the media stirred outside Washington Capitals the locker room for over 10 minutes, the team leaders came up to head coach Barry Trotz and told him they would handle the postgame talk in the locker room. The team had just lost 6-2 in front of their home fans — or at least the small number that were left when the final horn sounded — to go down 2-0 in their second round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Nicklas Backstrom, the quiet Swede whose quiet demeanor hides his world-class skill, spoke to the team. Backstrom came to the team almost 10 years ago after being a fourth overall pick, eventually rising to be one of the team’s biggest locker room presences and an alternate captain. The rest of the team then opened up.

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By Chris Gordon 6 years ago

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NHL Fines Tom Wilson for Kneeing Conor Sheary

Knee-on-knee.

Once again, Tom Wilson is being talked about for all the wrong reasons. On Friday afternoon, the NHL fined Wilson $2,403.67, the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, for kneeing Pittsburgh’s Conor Sheary.

Sheary missed a few shifts after the hit but stayed in the game.

Speaking before the fine was levied by the Department of Player Safety, Capitals head coach Barry Trotz admitted Wilson should have avoided the hit, though he described it as “shin-on-shin.”

“We’ll leave it up to the league,” Trotz said. “Whatever they decide, I think we’re fine with it. That’s what their job is. You gotta respect. Player Safety with the NHL has done, I think, a good job.”

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By Chris Gordon 7 years ago

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