Quinn, Hennes moving on from Pittsburgh
The news isn’t unexpected, but is falling into place that the Penguins will have a completely different coaching staff next season. David Quinn and Ty Hennes are joining Mike Sullivan in New York. Mike Vellucci got announced for a job in Chicago last week.
And there is word Dave Quinn and Joe Sacco are in the process of joining Mike Sullivan’s staff in Manhattan
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) June 5, 2025
The last major piece of the puzzle is goalie coach Andy Chiodo. Pens GM Kyle Dubas said all assistant coaches were free to seek other employment immediately upon the firing of Sullivan in April, which seems to be a pretty good indication of future prospects to remain in Pittsburgh.
Paired with the Pens hiring NYR assistant Dan Muse, the Pittsburgh-Rangers unofficial and informal coaching “trades” should be completed with Hennes and Quinn joining Sullivan. (Of course, NHL teams can’t formally trade or receive compensation for coaching changes, and haven’t for a decade, but that last little detail is sometimes lost in the weeds).
It shows how much change will happen from last season to next. Hennes had been with the Pens since the 2018-19 season, first in the role of a skills coach that worked with the team in practices on small area drills, skating and developing offensive strategies and techniques. He was well-liked enough by Sullivan to eventually earn a promotion into a full on assistant coach that helped during games behind the bench by 2022-23.
Quinn only spent one season in Pittsburgh, but at least helped the Penguin power play improve from from 31st in the league (14.6%) to 10th in the NHL (24.3%) while he was in charge of the group. Quinn reportedly interviewed and was considered for the head coaching job, but opts to follow his longtime close, personal friend Sullivan in his coaching journey.
All of that is to be expected, head coaching changes tend to lead to complete overhauls of the coaching staffs from top to bottom. Pittsburgh enjoyed a long period of stability with Sullivan and company behind the bench for several years and now is turning the page to move on with a new group of suits directing the team for the future.
There’s been no news yet of who will join Muse on the new-look Penguin coaching staff but that will come in time. The team is currently gearing up for the NHL Scouting Combine and won’t even have an introductory press conference for Muse this week. Once priorities and focus shifts back to PA after the combine they should be making progress about hiring for the open positions on staff.