After a brief period of speculation and rumors, the New York Rangers landed their 38th head coach in franchise history, with former Pittsburgh Penguins bench boss returning to New York for the first time since he served as an assistant coach under John Tortorella during the 2012-13 season.
Sullivan rejoins a Rangers team that saw a spectacular fall from grace, missing the postseason in 2024-25 just a season after winning the President's Trophy with the best record in the NHL in 2023-24. Sullivan knows the Rangers well, he was their 4th round selection back in the 1987 draft, but never played with them, instead spending an 11-year career with Arizona, Calgary and San Jose from 1991-2002.
As for his coaching career, Sullivan started out with the Boston Bruins in 2003 and went until 2006, where he pinballed around in assistant coaching roles with teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Rangers, and Vancouver Canucks. He'd get his next NHL bench boss gig in Pittsburgh, where in his first two seasons he'd lead the Penguins to consecutive Stanley Cup championships, though afterwards he'd never make it past the second round until he was relieved of duty following Pittsburgh's third consecutive playoff contention elimination this season.
So what does Sullivan bring to a Rangers team desperate for a return to the postseason? Well, winning two consecutive Stanley Cups is certainly an impressive resume in and of itself. Additionally, being a draft choice of the team helps boost his worthiness given his long lasting ties to the organization. And the fact that New York was even able to make such a splash in finding their next head coach in Sullivan, nabbing him from a divisional rival no less, is all the more sweeter considering some of the other options the Rangers could've pursued. There's also the fact that he is a candidate the New Jersey Devils were previously interested in, and because he wasn't available at the time they settled on Sheldon Keefe.
A year ago, the Devils made a play for Mike Sullivan but he wasn’t ready to leave Pittsburgh yet. Timing is everything, as the rival Rangers get him a year later. Devils are happy with Sheldon Keefe, don’t get me wrong, but it’s still interesting how it played out.
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) May 2, 2025
Rivals having an interest in retaining and/or hiring Sullivan speaks to how he’s valued across the league, as also highlighted by the number of teams who wanted to interview him. Hiring Sullivan will fix some of the Rangers' problems, but not all of them. For one thing, President and GM Chris Drury recently got a major extension, putting him in New York's front office for at least the foreseeable future. As Rangers fans know, Drury isn't a popular guy as of late, especially given his handling of Barclay Goodrow, and a few other Ranger players that were unceremoniously shuffled out.
But that's where Sullivan steps in. He's the perfect new coach for the Rangers, because he's got more saying power in Drury's decisions compared to past coaches. Sullivan’s track record in hockey is proportionally more impressive than that of Peter Laviolette. Laviolette has won a ton of games and guided teams to the Final, but one ring in 2005-06 doesn’t have the same appeal or weight as what Sullivan has done recently.
On top of that, it feels like both are more likely to partner on decisions, given their past mutual experiences. While they didn’t overlap, there’s a long standing relationship through college hockey powerhouse Boston University. Both men played for the Terriers, Sullivan from 1986-1990 and Drury from 1994-1998. Clearly, this was a match made in heaven waiting to happen, and some may wonder why it didn't happen sooner.
Then you have the Team USA connection, something current assistant coach Dan Muse shares with them, with Sullivan and Drury’s most recent partnership coming at this year's 4 Nations Faceoff. Sullivan was the head coach of Team USA while Drury worked alongside Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin. That trio of individuals will also be involved for Team USA at the next Winter Olympics.
With Sullivan back in the fold the Rangers should have some consistency in coaching, and what comes next is the hard part of roster tweaking and building, something Sullivan hopefully has major input on.