Pittsburgh Penguins assistant coaches Mike Vellucci and Todd Reirden have been linked to Head Coaching Vacancies.
It has been dubbed "The summer of change" for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Close to a dozen free-agent decisions to be made, and a new ownership group making their mark will have the Penguins looking very different once the 2022-23 season begins. Now, both Penguins assistant coaches Mike Vellucci and Todd Reirden have been linked to head coaching vacancies around the NHL.
On the 32 Thoughts Podcast, Elliotte Friedman linked both coaches to potential head coaching positions. While speaking on the offseason for the Chicago Blackhawks, Friedman stated, "I heard one of the coaches on their (Chicago) radar is Todd Reirden. I think he's one of the coaches they are going to talk to."
Reirden is in his second stint as a Penguins assistant coach. He was initially hired by Pittsburgh in 2010 under Dan Bylsma to coach the Penguins defense but was fired, along with the rest of the coaching staff, after the 2013-14 season. Reirden was then hired by the Washington Capitals as an assistant under Barry Trotz, whom he would eventually replace following the Capitals Stanley Cup Championship in 2018.
In two seasons as Capitals head coach, Reirden had a regular season record of 89-46-16. The Capitals finished both seasons as the top team in the Metropolitan Division, only to be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in both years. Washington fired Reirden following the 2019-20 season, and he returned as an assistant coach for the Penguins the following season.
Reirden has coached the Penguins blue line for the past two seasons and has been credited with the turnaround of both Cody Ceci and Mike Matheson. Kris Letang has also enjoyed two of his better seasons in recent memory under Reirden's tutelage, including a career year this past campaign. A trademark of Reirden's defensive philosophy leans into the playing styles of both Matheson and Letang, allowing them to be aggressive in the offensive zone by activating and pinching often.
The main point of contention with Reirden's tenure has been his work coaching the Penguins power play. Despite featuring players like Letang, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Jake Guentzel, the Penguins finished 19th in the NHL on the man advantage, only converting on 20.2 percent of their chances. This was a sharp decline from the previous season, where the Penguins finished fourth in that category with a 23.7 percent conversion rate.
Penguins forwards and penalty kill coach Mike Vellucci was also mentioned as being sought after this summer. Friedman stated that Vellucci had a "long" interview with the Philadelphia Flyers recently regarding their vacant head coaching position. Vellucci was hired by the Penguins at the same time as Reirden back in 2020 after spending one season as the head coach of the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins of the AHL.
Vellucci has never held a head coaching position in the NHL but spent 13 seasons as the bench boss for the Ontario Hockey League's Plymouth Whalers from 2001 to 2014. He then coached the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL for two seasons, leading that team to a Calder Cup Championship in the 2018-19 season.
The Penguins penalty kill saw an inverse of what the power play saw under this cadre of coaches. In 2020-21, Vellucci's first year, the penalty kill unit finished as one of the worst units in the NHL. They ranked 27th in the league by only killing off 77.4 percent of the Penguins penalties. Part of that number could be due to the makeshift East Division, which featured five of the top 15 power plays in the league.
This season was much improved for the Penguins penalty kill, as they finished third in the NHL with an 84.4 percent kill rate. That unit relied on the face-off abilities of Teddy Blueger and Jeff Carter as well as the stellar play of Tristan Jarry in net to improve upon their previous poor performance.
Reirden has yet to receive an interview, and Vellucci is one of several names connected to the Flyers position, but there is a chance that we could see two new faces flanking head coach Mike Sullivan on the bench this fall.
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