The Pittsburgh Penguins are an American professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Hockey League (NHL). The franchise was established as one of six new franchises of the 1967 NHL expansion. Since their foundation, the Penguins had played their home games at the Civic Arena, which was replaced by the Consol Energy Center in 2010. The franchise is co-owned by Ronald Burkle and Mario Lemieux—the only player/owner in the NHL's modern era. According to Forbes, the Penguins were the 11th most valuable NHL franchise, at US$222 million, in 2009.
There have been 23 head coaches for the Penguins franchise. The franchise's first head coach was Red Sullivan, former New York Rangers captain and coach. Sullivan was replaced by future Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Red Kelly, after two seasons. Kelly was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player, and head coaches Craig Patrick, Bob Johnson, Scotty Bowman, and Herb Brooks were inducted as builders. Bob Johnson led the Penguins to their first Stanley Cup victory in 1991, but was forced to retire due to health problems after the season—he died later that year. Bowman succeeded Johnson and coached the team to its second Stanley Cup victory the following season. Michel Therrien won the Prince of Wales Trophy, as Eastern Conference champion, during the 2007–08 season. Therrien was replaced the following season by Dan Bylsma. Bylsma would lead the Penguins to their third Stanley Cup championship that same season. Bylsma was fired after the 2013–14 season and replaced by Mike Johnston. Johnston was fired during the 2015–16 season and replaced by Mike Sullivan, who led the Penguins to consecutive Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017 and leads the team in games coached. Sullivan ultimately departed the Penguins on April 28, 2025, following three consecutive seasons without a playoff appearance. Dan Muse was hired on June 4, 2025, succeeding Sullivan.
Key
#Number of coachesTermYears spent as coachGamesGames coachedWWinsLLossesTTiesOTLOvertime/shootout lossesWin%Winning percentagePGPlayoff games coachedPWPlayoff winsPLPlayoff lossesPWin%Playoff winning percentage* Spent entire NHL head coaching career with the Penguins* or †Elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame († denotes induction as a builder, * denotes induction as a player)
Coaches Note: Statistics are correct through the 2025–26 season. # Name Term Games W L T OTL Win% PG PW PL PWin% Achievements Ref 1 1967–1969 150 47 79 24 .393 2 1969–1973 274 90 132 52 .423 14 .429 3 1973–1974,1976–1977 203 83 92 28 .478 4 1974–1976 151 66 61 24 .517 .555 5 1977–1980 240 91 105 44 .471 12 .333 6 1980–1983,1993–1997 516 232 224 60 .508 46 22 24 .478 7 1983–1984 80 16 58 .232 8 1984–1987 240 88 127 25 .419 9 1987–1988 80 36 35 .506 10 1988–1989 106 50 47 .514 11 .636 11 1989–1990,1997 74 29 36 .453 .200 12 1990–1991 80 41 33 .550 24 16 .667 Stanley Cup champions (1991) 13 1991–1993 164 95 53 16 .628 33 23 10 .696 Presidents' Trophy (1993)Stanley Cup champions (1992) 14 1997–1999 189 86 67 35 .511 19 11 .421 15 1999–2000 57 29 24 .570 11 .545 16 2000–2001 86 42 32 .558 18 .500 17 2001–2003 160 55 81 14 10 .419 18 2003–2005 113 31 64 14 .274 19 2005–2009 272 135 105 32 .502 25 15 10 .600 Prince of Wales Trophy (2008) 20 2009–2014 401 252 117 32 .670 78 43 35 .551 Stanley Cup champions (2009)Jack Adams Award (2011) 21 2014–2015 110 58 37 15 .595 5 1 4 .200 22 2015–2025 753 409 255 89 .602 82 44 38 .537 Stanley Cup champions (2016, 2017) 23 2025–present 82 41 25 16 6 2 4
Notes Beginning with the 2005–06 season, the NHL instituted a shootout for regular season games that remained tied after a five-minute overtime period, which prevented ties. Head coaches with multiple terms are counted once; figures are career totals. For a specific order of the coaches see the Footnotes section. Each year is linked to an article about that particular NHL season. Gene Ubriaco served as the Penguins' head coach to begin the 1989–90 season; the team began with a 10–14–2 record. On December 5, 1989, Craig Patrick replaced Ubriaco as an interim head coach. Under Patrick, the team went 22–26–6 and did not qualify for the playoffs. After starting the 1996–97 season with a record of 31–26–5, the Penguins went 1–8 in nine consecutive games in February and March 1997. Coach Eddie Johnston was replaced by Craig Patrick, under whom the team finished the season 7–10–3 and lost in the first round of the playoffs four games to one. Michel Therrien coached the Penguins to a 27–25–5 record to start the 2008–09 season, at which point he was replaced by Dan Bylsma. Mike Johnston coached the Penguins to a 15–10–3 record to start the 2015–16 season, at which point he was replaced by Mike Sullivan.
References General
Notes