Cullen’s family-first call OK with Sullivan
Moving Guentzel not top option as bottom-six center
KINGSTON, Mass. — Penguins coach Mike Sullivan would love to play Matt Cullen 12-14 minutes a night on the fourth line, use him to kill penalties and enjoy every ounce of leadership that Cullen exudes.
That’s not going to happen, of course, as Cullen signed a one-year, incentive-laden deal with his hometown Minnesota Wild Wednesday.
A former player himself, Sullivan knows the Penguins might miss Cullen, but — speaking at The Bog Ice Arena for his day with the Stanley Cup — Sullivan said he absolutely understands the reasoning behind Cullen’s decision.
Basically, putting his family first.
“Matt’s not only a great player, but he’s a great leader,” Sullivan said. “He’s a good person. He’s the type of player that I think personifies the character that we look for in our players.
“We’re going to miss him in a lot of ways. Not only on the ice with his hockey ability, but we’re going to miss his leadership and what he brings to our dressing room.
“Having said that, I understand. I think we all understand. As much as we’re disappointed that he’s not going to play for Pittsburgh next year, we wish him well.”
Sullivan and Cullen spoke Wednesday, shortly before news of Cullen’s return became public. Cullen called Sidney Crosby, Sullivan and Jim Rutherford. None of the calls were easy, but they all understood.
Cullen, 40, is from Minnesota and wants to get his kids established in those schools, finally achieving some semblance of normalcy.
Brooks, Wyatt and Joey Cullenwere fixtures around the Penguins dressing room after games and practices. It would not be uncommon to see them joking around with Sullivan or other players or simply sitting with their dad.
That’s another aspect of Cullen that Sullivan said he would miss.
“Matt’s a family man,” Sullivan said. “He’s got a terrific family. He has great kids. I told him we’re going to miss his kids around the locker room. We get such a charge out of his kids after games and between games on practice days.”
About those options
After Cullen’s departure became official Wednesday, Rutherford said he was comfortable going into the regular season using internal options to fill the thirdline center opening.
Part of that, Rutherford said, was that Sullivan already was working on putting together some internal options.
Sullivan crossed at least one player off the list for the start of the season.
“Jake Guentzel is a center by trade,” Sullivan said. “He’s a guy who can play that position. Is that something that we’d like to go to right away? Probably not. But it is an option.”
Sullivan praised the work of Carter Rowney, especially late in the regular season and during the 201617 playoffs. He’s now a virtual lock to fill one of the bottom-six center spots.
Behind Rowney figures to now be maybe Teddy Blueger, Dominik Simon or Scott Wilson moving to center or … pretty much anybody’s guess at this point. Sullivan also seemed to hint that acquiring a third-line center remains very much a priority for Rutherford.
“We have some young players who are in the system that potentially have the ability to grow into it,” Sullivan said. “We do have options on our roster. We have options in our organization. We’ll see where it goes. I do think we’re a very competitive team as we stand.
“Certainly, I know that Jim has a priority to fill that spot for us. It may take a little while. For me it’s about getting the right guy. I think Jim feels the same way. I think Jim has a knack for maintaining an element of patience when it’s necessary.
“We’ll see how it goes. I know we have a competitive group with what we have.”