Once upon a time, in an NHL far removed from today, Mike Sullivan guided our Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cups. In the process revolutionizing the way the game was played.
Speed, and lots of it, was suddenly of the essence, along with a kamikaze forecheck and stingy puck possession. Teams that relied too heavily on brawn were simply skated into the ice.
“It’s reading and reacting and understanding that the faster you can be, the faster you can do things, it puts your teammates in a better situation when they get the puck,” explained then-Pens forward Chris Kunitz.