Rangers’ Mike Sullivan to add 2 ex-head coaches to staff

The New York Rangers missed the playoffs after a dreadful 2024-25 season. That led to the firing of head coach Peter Laviolette after just two seasons on Broadway. The Rangers hired Mike Sullivan to be their next head coach after his run in Pittsburgh ended. On Thursday, the Bruins stopped the coaching carousel by hiring Marco Sturm. That landed Sullivan two former head coaches for his staff, David Quinn and Joe Sacco, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

“And there is word Dave Quinn and Joe Sacco are in the process of joining Mike Sullivan’s staff in Manhattan,” Friedman reported.

Quinn was the head coach of the Rangers from 2018 to 2021, only making the postseason in the 2020 bubble. He took over a rebuilding team, but the expectations changed when they signed Artemi Panarin. Quinn’s firing led to Gerard Gallant and later Laviolette coming to town. Quinn then went on to lead the San Jose Sharks to two miserable seasons. According to ESPN’s John Buccigross, he was in consideration for the Seattle Kraken’s head coaching job in this cycle.

Sacco was the interim head coach this season for the Boston Bruins after they fired Jim Montgomery. He got far along in the process to keep the Boston job, but lost out to Sturm in the end. Prior to a long run in the Boston organization, he was the Colorado Avalanche head coach from 2009-2013.

Friedman later reported a third addition to the coaching staff on Thursday, “And apparently Ty Hennes too…he was with Sullivan in PIT.” Hennes joined Sullivan’s staff as a skating and skills coach in 2018. He rose to the assistant coach post and spent the last three years there. He’ll follow Sullivan to New York and finish out a staff that has a lot of pressure to perform this season.