The New York Rangers believed that hiring Mike Sullivan as their head coach last year was the missing piece to get them back to the playoffs after a tough 2024-25 season. The Rangers won the President's Trophy in the 2023-24 season before their shocking downfall the following season left them searching for a new coach and a new identity.
No one expected Sullivan to turn it around in one year, but falling eight spots and finishing 30th in the league was a shock to most. It isn't time to say that Sullivan isn't the answer for New York, but it might be time to realize that the roster Chris Drury hired him to lead isn't in the head coach's wheelhouse.
Sullivan prides himself on a responsible team that is deep down the middle. When he won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins, he had Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin leading the team down the middle, with an offensive defenseman in Kris Letang, along with some solid stay-at-home defenders, and a breakout goaltender in Matt Murray.
I’m starting to think Mike Sullivan coasted on Sidney Crosby and might not be that good of a coach https://t.co/eysFnoNcTE
— Nick (@NickZararis) February 11, 2026
The Rangers do offer Sullivan some similar traits to that team. They have Adam Fox playing the Letang role, and Igor Shesterkin is a much better goaltender than Murray even was during those two Cup runs. The only place the Rangers fall short in Sullivan's system is down the middle, and good luck replicating what Crosby and Malkin were able to do in the mid-2010s.
How can Chris Drury set Mike Sullivan up for success with Rangers?
The rebuild plans for the Rangers don't make a ton of sense, which is why the newest rumors that Vincent Trocheck may stay with the team might be the correct move. New York doesn't want to enter a complete rebuild after hiring a coach like Sullivan, and if they trade Trocheck away, that would be yet another hole they'd have to fill in their lineup to be a contender.
Trocheck, J.T. Miller, and Mika Zibanejad fell a bit short as a three-headed center monster, and one of Zibanejad and Miller moving to the wing might be the correct move for Drury if he can land one of the centers currently making the rounds in trade rumors. Could Dylan Larkin listen to the idea of uniting with his Olympic coach to add more depth to the center-ice position and give Sullivan the type of two-way center that thrives in his system?
Sullivan didn't sign on in New York to finish in 30th place. The head coach hasn't had a ton of success after his back-to-back Stanley Cups, but he did make the playoffs in five straight seasons after those championships. He fell short over his remaining three seasons in Pittsburgh, but that doesn't mean he can't lead New York back to the playoffs with the right personnel.
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