Penguins Update: It’s Sully’s Way…or the Highway
Fellow PenguinPooper Caleb Di’Natalie and I were discussing the merits of former Penguins defenseman Jeff Petry in the wake of his recent trade to the Red Wings. When I mentioned the fact that we had a pretty good record with Petry in the lineup, Caleb replied, “He didn’t do a bad job. He just didn’t fit (coach Mike) Sullivan’s system.”
No sooner did Caleb utter his truism than a light bulb turned on in my head.
I wonder how many other players were basically chewed up and spit out because they didn’t fit Mike Sullivan’s system (or weren’t Sully guys)? Off the top of my head, I can think of ten. For starters, there’s Petry and fellow recent departee Jan Rutta.
Reaching back a little farther, you’ve got Nick Bjugstad, Ian Cole, Erik Gudbranson, Sam Lafferty, Jamie Oleksiak and, of course, slugger nonpareil Ryan Reaves. I’ll toss in Phil Kessel, who Sully tolerated for a time, and sniper Daniel Sprong, who was basically run out of town.