Penguins general manager and president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas gave longtime head coach Mike Sullivan a vote of confidence with Pittsburgh mired in a four-game winless streak.
"As soon as a team doesn't reach its potential, it seems that right away the attention shifts to coaching," Dubas said Monday.
"What I would say to that is, with Sully, I had my impression of him coming in and my respect for him coming in," he added. "Being with him every day and not only seeing his attention to detail on the systems but also his attention to detail with the players and coaching them individually and personally, I think we're very fortunate to have Mike. And so, do I think that he's the right person for this job now and far into the future? I absolutely do."
The winningest coach in franchise history, Sullivan has won two Stanley Cup championships with the Penguins, but his ninth year behind the bench isn't exactly going to plan.
Heading into Monday's action, the Penguins sit in seventh place in the Metropolitan Division with an 11-12-3 record, ahead of only the Columbus Blue Jackets. Pittsburgh has been outscored 12-6 during its recent skid and has mustered just one goal in each of its last three games.
The Penguins have allowed the third-fewest goals against (68) but rank among the league's eight worst teams in goals for (75) this season. Not helping their lagging offense is the fact that their power play has converted on just 9.5% of its chances.
Pittsburgh is six points outside of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Penguins failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2005-06 last season.
"The responsibility falls to me to chart the course for where we're at and where we're going," Dubas acknowledged. "We can get going in that direction if we just adhere to the No. 1 rule of holes, which is: 'When you're in one, stop digging.'"
Dubas took over the reins in Pittsburgh this past offseason and made a variety of moves - such as acquiring defenseman Erik Karlsson - to try and get his new team over the hump.
The executive opted to preach patience despite the Penguins' struggles.
"I'm not going to make any decisions based on how we do this week or next week," Dubas said, per team reporter Michelle Crechiolo. "When we get through the All-Star break and on the other side of that, we'll have a better idea of what we are as a group and where we need to go."
Next up for the Penguins is a clash against the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday.
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