Rangers' coach Mike Sullivan: 5 things to know about him
1. He was drafted by the Rangers.
He never played for the Blueshirts, but in 1987, Sullivan, a 6-2 center at Boston University, was selected by them in the fourth round of the NHL Draft, with the 69th pick overall. While still playing for BU, his rights were traded to the Minnesota North Stars in October 1988.
2. He was part of two expansion teams.
Sullivan began his NHL career in 1991, signing as a free agent with the expansion San Jose Sharks, with whom he played the first 2 1⁄2 seasons of his NHL career. In the summer of 1998, he was selected by the Nashville Predators in the expansion draft, but he was traded a few days later to the Calgary Flames.
3. He went nearly 10 years between NHL head coaching jobs.
Sullivan began his coaching career as head coach of Boston’s farm team in Providence in 2002, then took over as the Bruins’ coach the following year. After getting fired following the 2005-06 season, he joined John Tortorella’s staff as an assistant coach in Tampa Bay in 2007-08, and rejoined Tortorella as an assistant with the Rangers from 2009-13 and with Vancouver in 2013-14. After a year in Chicago as a development coach, he became the head coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in 2015, then was promoted to the Pittsburgh job in December. His Penguins won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2015-16 and 2016-17.
4. His son-in-law is Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy.
The Long Beach native attended Boston University, where he met Sullivan’s daughter, Kiley. They married in the summer of 2023 and had their first child in January, just before the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, where Sullivan coached McAvoy on the U.S. team. McAvoy suffered a season-ending injury in the tournament.
5. He has never been the NHL’s Coach of the Year.
Sullivan has won 479 games in 12 seasons, and two Stanley Cups. He is the only American-born coach to win the Stanley Cup more than once but has never won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s Coach of the Year. — COLIN STEPHENSON
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
