For ten years, Mike Sullivan had Sidney Crosby as his captain with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Now, Sullivan as the New York Rangers’ head coach, he faces the task of mentoring a first-time captain, J.T. Miller.
Over his years in Pittsburgh, Sullivan and Crosby built a strong relationship, which he feels is critical between a captain and a head coach.
Sullivan is looking to build that same rapport with Miller that he had with Crosby.
“J.T. and I have had some conversations around defining what we think the expectations are for our captain,” Sullivan said. “How our captain and our head coach in particular can build a relationship. In a lot of ways, the captain is the (person) between the coaching staff and the players. That relationship is really important for the team. I shared the experience that I had with Sid, and obviously built a good relationship with him over the years when we were there together. I intend to do the same thing with JT here.”
There have been too many legendary captains in the NHL to even count, but Miller is a one-of-a-kind personality.
He plays a hard-nosed brand of hockey and provides a competitive energy that rubs off on his teammates.
Sullivan knows how unique Miller is both as a player and a person, which is why he’s advised the veteran forward to just be himself despite all the pressure of holding the captaincy.
“My advice to J.T. is to be himself and not try to be someone else,” said Sullivan. “I think authenticity is an important element to being a good leader. Leadership can manifest itself in a number of different ways. I think the most important thing is what resonates with people is when you're true to yourself and you're real, and that's what we want him to be.
Mike. Sullivan Had One Request Of John Tortorella Ahead Of The 4 Nations Face-Off
From one New York <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-rangers">Rangers</a> head coach to another, Mike Sullivan and John Tortorella seem to have a strong relationship.
“What I said to him is, ‘no one expects you, you know, to be Sidney Crosby or Mark Messier. We want you to be J.T. Miller, and we'll help you through the process, as far as some of the challenges that come along the way.’ We want him to stay true to himself, focus on his game, and we'll build a relationship through this journey. We'll go through it together, and that's really the conversation that I've had with him.”
The hire of Sullivan and Miller being named captain starts a new era for Rangers hockey, and we’ll see if these two leaders can stay on the same page.