Where the Penguins sit on the coaching search

The 2025 offseason saw the end of an era for the Pittsburgh Penguins, as long time head coach Mike Sullivan parted ways with the team. He was the most successful coach in franchise history, but as the team looks to begin a rebuild, it only made sense to give him a chance to succeed elsewhere.

Now, we’re almost a month removed from Sullivan moving on, and the Penguins still have yet to hire a replacement. General manager Kyle Dubas is clearly doing his due diligence to hire the right candidate, but where do the Penguins stand with their coaching search?

Rob Rossi from The Athletic joined Daily Faceoff Live to talk about what’s currently happening with the Penguins hunt for a new head coach.

Rob Rossi: I do think there’s a chance Dubas goes off the board in terms of a candidate that is certainly in the Mike Sullivan ilk. I don’t think this is going to be a candidate that, if it has NHL experience, I wouldn’t expect it to be a ton of successful NHL experience. I think, from what I’ve been told, he’s looking at guys that are in the mold of a teacher, somebody that can come in and work with some of their younger prospects, and going forward, with people that will be brought in that are younger-term players.

So to that regard, yes, I think it’ll be off the board. I wouldn’t rule out that he picks somebody from Europe, or at least somebody that’s coaching a European team right now. I think Kyle had an idea of what he wanted in terms of type. I think the coaching candidates he had in mind coming into this job, if he were going to replace Mike Sullivan early, aren’t the same candidates he’s looking at now for where this job is.

You can watch the full episode here…