The Pittsburgh Penguins opened up the Mike Sullivan era much like they ended the Mike Johnston era: By failing to produce offensively. Pittsburgh was defeated 4-1 by the Washington Capitals in the first game since the Penguins elected to fire Johnston and hire Sullivan as their coach.
The success or failure of the Penguins' new coach may ultimately determine how we view Johnston's time in Pittsburgh. Was he a victim of a fading group of stars and a cap-pressed team that made mistakes with their roster construction, or was Johnston the reason they slipped from being an elite team for the first time in nearly a decade?