The Pittsburgh Penguins’ Stanley Cup triumph is good news for teams built around speed and youth but it might be bad news for coaches who have been entrenched in one place for a while.
When things were looking dim for the Penguins around mid-season, General Manager Jim Rutherford changed coaches — from Mike Johnston to Mike Sullivan — and called up several youngsters that Sullivan had coached with Wilkes-Barre (Pa.) of the American Hockey League, most notably forwards Bryan Rust and Conor Sheary. The kids brought energy and added speed to a team that could outpace nearly anybody when the defense got the puck up quickly to the forwards and let them fly.