Any time Mike Sullivan returns to Pittsburgh, where he coached for a decade and won the Stanley Cup twice, it’s worth tuning in as the past and present of the Penguins’ franchise collides.
Sullivan and his New York Rangers play at PPG Paints Arena on Jan. 31, and the Penguins announced Tuesday they will be taking that opportunity to host a pregame 10-year anniversary celebration of the 2016 Stanley Cup champion Penguins.
Puck drop is set for 3:30 p.m., with the doors at PPG Paints Arena opening at 2.
Along with Sullivan, current Penguins Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Bryan Rust will partake in the pregame ceremony. Penguins assistant Nick Bonino, part of the 2016 and 2017 Stanley Cup clubs as a player, will also participate, as will former Penguins forward Conor Sheary, now with New York.
The Penguins have invited all players, coaches and management listed on the Cup in 2016 for the celebration.
Expected to attend in-person are goaltenders Marc-Andre Fleury and Jeff Zatkoff; forwards Matt Cullen, Pascal Dupuis, Eric Fehr, Carl Hagelin, Patric Hornqvist, Tom Kuhnhackl and Chris Kunitz; as well as defensemen Trevor Daley and Ben Lovejoy.
Former Penguins general manager and current president of hockey operations for the Vancouver Canucks, Jim Rutherford, is also scheduled to attend.
The 2016 Stanley Cup-winning Penguins went 48-26-8 in the regular season, finishing second in the Metropolitan Division.
Sullivan notably took over as coach of the club in mid-December of 2015, following a sluggish few months to the season, resulting in Mike Johnston’s firing Dec. 12.
At the time, the Penguins were 15-10-3, but under Sullivan, they surged to a 33-16-5 finish over the remainder of the season, before going on to dispatch the Rangers and Capitals in the first and second rounds of the playoffs.
The Penguins defeated Tampa Bay in seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals and then beat the San Jose Sharks in six games to capture the franchise’s fourth Stanley Cup.