WASHINGTON: Struggling to compete for a National Hockey League playoff position, the Pittsburgh Penguins dumped Mike Johnston as coach on Saturday and replaced him with Mike Sullivan, who guided their top developmental club.
The Penguins had 33 points off 15 wins from 28 matches, but stand ninth in the Eastern Conference, level on points with Boston for the last post-season spot.
Since Pittsburgh won the Stanley Cup in 2009, the Penguins have gone 4-6 in playoff series and have not returned to the championship series despite the star power of Canada's Sidney Crosby and Russia's Evgeni Malkin.
"I felt it was time for a coaching change because our team has underachieved. Our expectations are much higher with this group of players," Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford said.
"Mike Sullivan has been a head coach and an assistant coach in the NHL and we've been very fortunate to have him."
Sullivan, 47, was 18-5 in his first season as coach of the Penguins' top farm team. He had been coach of the Boston Bruins from 2003-06 and was an NHL assistant coach for eight seasons with the Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks. Last season he was the player development coach for the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks.
His debut as Pittsburgh's coach comes on Monday when the Penguins host Washington.
Sullivan, a US assistant coach at the 2006 Winter Olympics, was 70-56 with 31 overtime defeats in two seasons behind the Boston bench. He played more than 700 NHL games over 11 seasons with the San Jose Sharks, Calgary Flames, Boston Bruins and Phoenix Coyotes.
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