Details on Mike Sullivan's contract in New York; more speculation about Nathan MacKinnon trying to recruit Sidney Crosby

Sportnets Elliotte Friedman is adding detail to the speculation over how much former Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan is being paid by the New York Rangers.

In his latest 32 Thoughts podcast , Friedman contextualizes previous reports that Sullivan is signing the largest head coaching contract in NHL history.

Its a five-year deal.

Mike Babcock had the largest contract ever signed by a coach.

It was eight years and approximately $50 million, frontloaded $6.25-ish million (was) the AAV, Friedman said.

The number (for Sullivans deal) is north of that.

I dont have the exact number.

But Sullivan did sign the richest AAV (annual average value) of any head coach.

Friedman was referring to Babcocks contract, which he inked to become head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs after leaving Detroit following the 2015 season.

Sullivan may not be the highest-paid coach in the history of the actual largest contract.

But he is the highest-paid head coach in terms of annual average value, Friedman added.

He definitely moved the bar.

Friedman says Sullivans timing to get to New York from Pittsburgh couldnt have worked out better.

Mike Sullivan did great things in Pittsburgh.

He won a couple of Stanley Cups.

But it was time (to leave).

It was perfect for him, because the Rangers needed him, Friedman said.

The Rangers could not let anyone else get Mike Sullivan.

Hell be highly paid .

But he will be rejuvenated too .

It sure sounds like Friendman is rooting for a similar scenario in Colorado.

He is pushing what appears to be the international media agenda to get Sidney Crosby out of Pittsburgh as well and get him to Denver so he can play with fellow Cole Harbour product Nathan MacKinnon.

Friedman said he expects MacKinnon to be barking in Crosbys ear about engineering his way out of Pittsburgh and to the Rocky Mountains soon while they play together for Canada at the World Championships.

MacKinnon is going to be all over Crosby about, Hey, the NHL needs you in the playoffs, Friedman said.

Pittsburgh just made a coaching change because Kyle Dubas and Mike Sullivan disagree on the path from here.

Sullivan wants to win sooner.

Dubas sees more of a rebuild.

MacKinnon is going to be all over Crosby saying, Wanna miss more years in the playoffs? Why dont you come to Colorado? Play with me.

Well rule the league from the Western Conference.

Penguins get 11th overall selection in NHL Draft Lottery Tim Benz: A 'thank you' note to sports moments outside of Pittsburgh for filling the void First Call: More details on Devin Bush's arrest; 1 name removed as possible Penguins coach Part of the reason this conversation fatigues Penguins fans so much is that Crosby has had every opportunity to leverage his way out of town if he wanted to do so in recent years and has never tried.

Not only that, he extended his contract through 2027.

Furthermore, its not Crosbys responsibility to give Canadian sports journalists a free storyline just so theyll have something to write about if his preference is to stay in Pittsburgh.

Its also not his responsibility to help the NHL by requesting a trade.

If the NHL cant thrive without manipulating which team Crosby plays for as he nears his 40s, then the league has problems even deeper than what we already know.

Hey, believe me.

If I were in Crosbys skates, Id be thinking the way Friedman is .

But Crosby has refuted that suggestion at every turn ever since the Penguins started this slide in 2019.

Maybe Sullivans exit impacts Crosbys thinking.

Up until now, though, he has never seemed interested in leaving.

And if Dubas insists that he and Crosby only needed to have a five-minute conversation about Sullivans exit, then perhaps its not the troublesome issue Friedman is intimating that it is in Crosbys decision-making.

Based on how the Avalanche can never win a Game 7 and that they have just one playoff series win over the last three years, maybe we should start talking about Crosby recruiting MacKinnon to force a trade to Pittsburgh instead.

After all, it might be easier to rule the league from the Eastern Conference anyway.

But that doesnt fit the convenient narrative , does it?.

This article has been shared from the original article on triblive, here is the link to the original article:

https://triblive.com/sports/details-on-mike-sullivans-contract-in-new-york-more-speculation-about-nathan-mckinnon-trying-to-recruit-sidney-crosby/