Letter from Mike Sullivan

[Louis Lipps Service]

https://www.nhl.com/penguins/team/a-message-from-mike-sullivan?partnerId=pit-twt-penguins

Love it.

Definitely reads like something Sully wrote himself and not something the PR department dreamt up.

[Legacy User]

class act..still cant believe we lost..thought somehow sully find the magic to prevail again..

[fractalsteel]

We can't wait to see you in September. 120 days. Just over 17 weeks. It seems long, but the echo of your cheers will be loud enough for me to hear until we meet again."

As lucky as we are to have the core of the team we do, we are as lucky to have this guy as our leader behind the bench.

[COR-TEN]

What should be highlighted is the fact that Sully pointed to community, not individualism. Pgh, the fans, team work. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Nothing can be done without looking out for your team mate. Humility and sacrifice for the greater good. This cannot be emphasized enough. It's what lead to the success of the team. Without it, you have a collection of individuals that only look out for themselves instead of community and the ultimate goal. Sacrifice is what lead to back to back Stanley Cups, and a run for a threepeat. This much is clear. It cannot be debated.

Looking out for yourself is only a detriment to the progress of the team.

Others should look to this as an example.

[Louis Lipps Service]

We can't wait to see you in September. 120 days. Just over 17 weeks. It seems long, but the echo of your cheers will be loud enough for me to hear until we meet again."

As lucky as we are to have the core of the team we do, we are as lucky to have this guy as our leader behind the bench.

And, conversely, I came away from this thinking that Sully understands just how great he has it to be in Pittsburgh. He has what almost has to be the best ownership in the business for a head coach, an all time great as his Captain, another generational talent as his Assistant Captain, and a fan base that just wants him to succeed while also understanding just how bad Penguins hockey was just 15 years ago.

I think he understands the best way to succeed in this town is to become part of it, and it's a message he pushes to his players as well.

[Ice]

Nice to hear him mention Phil's season.

[Donnie Brasco]

"They almost became too confident in late comebacks and their resilient nature. "

Truth

[Legacy User]

Already legendary in his third year.

Then there is Tomlin.

[Ice]

"They almost became too confident in late comebacks and their resilient nature. "

Truth

It is. If you've played a game every three days for 1,000 or so days straight (including a ridiculous amount of back-to-backs this season, considering), though, it's easy to fall into that trap simply out of the fact that you physically can't play 100% for whole games. More times this season than any of the Sullivan tenure, I found myself saying "if only we could play that way for 60 minutes." There's a reason nobody's done it in 35 years, and never in the salary cap era. Hell, until this team (I know, it is known), nobody had gone back to back with a cap.

[fractalsteel]

We can't wait to see you in September. 120 days. Just over 17 weeks. It seems long, but the echo of your cheers will be loud enough for me to hear until we meet again."

As lucky as we are to have the core of the team we do, we are as lucky to have this guy as our leader behind the bench.

And, conversely, I came away from this thinking that Sully understands just how great he has it to be in Pittsburgh. He has what almost has to be the best ownership in the business for a head coach, an all time great as his Captain, another generational talent as his Assistant Captain, and a fan base that just wants him to succeed while also understanding just how bad Penguins hockey was just 15 years ago.

I think he understands the best way to succeed in this town is to become part of it, and it's a message he pushes to his players as well.

Like most professionals, I'll wager that Sullivan learned early on in his NHL career that if you embrace the community and are a solid part of its citizenry then that community will embrace you back as well.
Sullivan probably got his first taste of the Pens organization when he became the HC at WBS. When he took the HC position with the big team he saw first hand what a top-notch organization Mario and Burkle have built.

In place already where the foundations that Fleury, Crosby and Letang, to name a few had built. I know that Flower was a big part of the Pittsburgh community. Letang as well. And how many kids have Sid put in hockey gear over the years? Thousands.
Like Mario, Crosby has helped the youth push for hockey development in Western PA now for the past decade. Ditto for Letang and Fleury as well.

Sullivan was an excellent person to add to what is already a top-notch organization in the NHL.

[AZ Stiller Fan]

We can't wait to see you in September. 120 days. Just over 17 weeks. It seems long, but the echo of your cheers will be loud enough for me to hear until we meet again."

As lucky as we are to have the core of the team we do, we are as lucky to have this guy as our leader behind the bench.

And, conversely, I came away from this thinking that Sully understands just how great he has it to be in Pittsburgh. He has what almost has to be the best ownership in the business for a head coach, an all time great as his Captain, another generational talent as his Assistant Captain, and a fan base that just wants him to succeed while also understanding just how bad Penguins hockey was just 15 years ago.

I think he understands the best way to succeed in this town is to become part of it, and it's a message he pushes to his players as well.

Like most professionals, I'll wager that Sullivan learned early on in his NHL career that if you embrace the community and are a solid part of its citizenry then that community will embrace you back as well.
Sullivan probably got his first taste of the Pens organization when he became the HC at WBS. When he took the HC position with the big team he saw first hand what a top-notch organization Mario and Burkle have built.

In place already where the foundations that Fleury, Crosby and Letang, to name a few had built. I know that Flower was a big part of the Pittsburgh community. Letang as well. And how many kids have Sid put in hockey gear over the years? Thousands.
Like Mario, Crosby has helped the youth push for hockey development in Western PA now for the past decade. Ditto for Letang and Fleury as well.

Sullivan was an excellent person to add to what is already a top-notch organization in the NHL.

I read the other day that Sid gave away his ten thousandth set of equipment to a kid who lost everything in a house fire. Class act.