New York Rangers Hire Former Cup-Winning Coach
Chris Drury, New York Rangers president and general manager, has announced today that the Rangers have officially hired Mike Sullivan as the next Rangers head coach. Sullivan is a former Boston Bruins head coach and is mostly known for his long stint as the head coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2015 to 2025. In that timespan, Sullivan helped win two Stanley Cups for the Penguins. Sullivan has posted a 479-311-15-112 record in 917 games as head coach with the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins. His record with Pittsburgh is 409-255-89. His record with Boston is 70-56-15-23.
Chris Drury gave the following quote regarding the hiring, stating, “Mike Sullivan has established himself as one of the premier head coaches in the NHL. Given his numerous accomplishments throughout his coaching career, including two Stanley Cups and leading Team USA at the international level, Mike brings a championship-level presence behind the bench,” Drury continued, “I’ve gotten to know Mike very well over the years, including as teammates in the 1997 World Championships, when he coached me as a player in New York and through our shared time working together with USA Hockey. As we began this process and Mike became an available option for us to speak with, it was immediately clear that he was the best coach to lead our team.”
Sullivan is the Penguins’ all-time leader in several coaching categories, including regular-season games coached, regular-season wins, postseason games coached, and postseason wins. In addition to his head coaching experience in the NHL, Sullivan has been a part of coaching staffs for several NHL teams. He has eight years of experience as an assistant coach with four different NHL teams. These teams are the Boston Bruins from 2002 to 2003, the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2007 to 2009, the New York Rangers from 2009 to 2013, and the Vancouver Canucks from 2013 to 2014. Sullivan was also the development coach for the Chicago Blackhawks during the 2014-15 season when they won the Stanley Cup. Sullivan also served parts of two seasons as a head coach in the American Hockey League. He was a top candidate for the role, and the hiring comes four days after he and the Pittsburgh Penguins mutually decided to part ways. This hiring also comes shortly after the Rangers fired former head coach Peter Laviolette.
