Penguins GM Kyle Dubas makes his expectations clear for next HC after parting ways with Mike Sullivan

In the wake of the Pittsburgh Penguins parting ways with their coach, Mike Sullivan, on Monday, the team’s general manager, Kyle Dubas, made his expectations clear about filling the vacancy.

Sullivan was the coach of the Penguins for 10 seasons (2015-2025) and led the club to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017.

Dubas, who is also the Penguins’ president of hockey operations, met with the media shortly after the decision was announced. The Pittsburgh Penguins’ YouTube channel streamed the GM explaining what he is looking for in a potential new hire.

“What we’re looking for now is, we’re looking to hire a great head coach,” Dubas explained (21:36). “Someone that could come in, continue to partner with us on all that we’re undertaking– understands that the job ahead is going to be a time of transition.”

Dubas went on to explain that much of the focus will be on player development as well as maximizing the time left for veterans on the team.

“It’s going to be continuing to maximize the prime or the end of careers of some of the players that we have, and it’s going to be expeditiously developing some of the young players that have already come onto the roster, and that are about to come onto the roster,” Dubas said (21:50).

Dubas also touched on how he wants to preserve the franchise’s ideology while also moving forward.

“We want to protect the core ideology of the team while continuing to stimulate the outside,” Dubas said (22:13). “And there’s a lot of great things about the Pittsburgh Penguins, and we want to preserve those while continuing to move the team ahead and move the team forward.

“And we’ll cast the wide net on the search. You know, long-time head coaches, coaches from Europe, coaches from junior college. We will turn every page to find the best person for the job.”

Sullivan was the longest-tenured coach in the Penguins’ franchise history and he coached Team USA during the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off.

The Penguins (34-36-12) finished the 2024-25 season seventh in the Metropolitan Division with 80 points. For the third straight year, Pittsburgh failed to qualify for the postseason.

Penguins thank Mike Sullivan for his time in Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh Penguins organization parted ways with Mike Sullivan on Monday, who was the team’s coach for the last 10 seasons. Sullivan was under contract until the end of the 2026-27 campaign.

Shortly after the news was announced, the Penguins paid homage to Sullivan on Instagram. The organization posted a photo of the 57-year-old and a “Thank You.”

The caption read: “Thank you, Sully.”

Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas issued a statement along with the post.

“I would like to thank Mike Sullivan for his unwavering commitment and loyalty to the team and the City of Pittsburgh over the last decade,” Dubas said in the statement.

Sullivan stands as the franchise’s all-time wins leader, with 409 victories to his resume, along with consecutive Stanley Cup championships (2016 and 2017).

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alt=”Sharisse Cohee” height=”72″ width=”72″>

Sharisse Cohee is an NHL and PWHL journalist at Sportskeeda with an associate degree in Media Communications with an emphasis in Cross-Media Journalism. While earning the degree, Sharisse was the Editor-in-Chief of the campus newspaper and also became the school’s resident sports reporter.

Sharisse earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Arizona State University’s online campus, graduating with magna cum laude honors. Both degrees influenced her career as an NHL and PWHL writer, allowing Sharisse to weave together her passions for writing and sports.

Sharisse was a sports copywriter/editor at The Upper Deck, a trading card company in Southern California, for two and a half years. She wrote creative and informative copy about hockey players and athletes from various sports, printed on the backs of the trading cards.

Her favorite teams are the Anaheim Ducks, because she was born and raised in Southern California, and also the Pittsburgh Penguins because Sidney Crosby is her all-time favorite NHL player.

When not writing about hockey, Sharisse loves fantasy sports. She plays in hockey, basketball and football fantasy leagues. She lives in San Diego, California, so has the luxury of going to the beach often. She also enjoys working out and watching true crime documentaries, game shows, and binge-worthy TV series.

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Edited by Akshay Saraswat