The big week at Madison Square Garden continued Thursday as the Rangers introduced their 38th head coach in club history, Mike Sullivan. “Sully” reacquainted himself with the New York media, a group chomping at the bit for its 4th “meet the coach” session in 6 years. Most introductory pressers turn into fluff, and this one was really no different. There was an overarching theme to the proceedings though, which you can glean from some of the quotes from Sullivan during his 20 minute Q&A.

The event started with GM emeritus Chris Drury nervously explaining the process, or lack there of, behind the hire. In short the fourth year executive said he feels strongly that Sullivan is a top tier coach, and the Rangers aggressively pursued him once Pittsburgh let him go. He then called Sullivan over for a photo, which they posed for quickly, ending the bizarre portion of the presser.

From there Sullivan took over, thanking his family, friends, and James Dolan. He kicked off his remarks by discussing the excitement he feels about being back in town, and coaching for such a passionate fan base. Sullivan also added that he was looking forward to working closely with Drury, as their relationship goes way back through years of work with USA hockey, and that he looks forward to working with players he is already familiar with. Whether that means certain members of the team are safe remains to be seen, as he acknowledged there is a lot of work to be done this offseason, alluding to last year’s meltdown. This tee’d up the first quote that felt telling from the press conference.

“We all know there is a lot of talent in the dressing room. But as we all know talent alone doesn’t win championships. Teams win championships and I think that’s going to be our challenge from day one, to become a team in the true sense of the word. That was the challenge most organizations go through when they enter training camp every single year, we’re no different in that regard. I’ve certainly had a lot of experiences over the years trying to meet that challenge. I’ve had some successes and some failures along the way and you learn from all of them. But I’m excited about the possibility of becoming a competitive group.” – Mike Sullivan

This quote felt like a pretty pointed comment at this group and how it’s existed the last few years. There is no doubt that the Rangers have assembled very talented rosters the last few seasons, but in crunch time they broken down and failed to play a structured team game. In 24-25, they failed comprehensively in part because they were unwilling to help pull each other out of the mess. Sullivan seems to be hinting at a complete reset of the culture in the dressing room, and frankly it’s needed.

Larry Brooks worked in the next question to illicit an interesting response, as he asked Sullivan about what his relationship with Drury will look like. Sullivan responded by saying it’s critical they work well together, and then Drury chimed in from the peanut gallery to make clear the lineup card is Sullivan’s. The new coach was then asked about Adam Fox, a player he said cannot wait to coach, and then as he elaborated, he revealed another big theme of his work here.

“I think that’s an essential part of coaching. Is pushing these guys to challenge their comfort zones and that’s a daily endeavor.” – Mike Sullivan

Sullivan seems to want this group to elevate itself in more ways than just scoring more, something they’ve been able to do in years past. It’s about competing harder and more consistently, and doing the little things that may result from throwing the extra check or chipping the puck out. This group’s comfort zone the last few years has been the polar opposite of that, as they’re not very physical and will trade the safe play for the “pretty attempt”, and that’s all got to change in a hurry.

From there, the press conference had more standard fare Q&A. Sullivan said he spoke to the whole roster already, and he feels there is a lot of quality leadership in the room, that he wants to develop it further. His development of that will play a role in the decision on the captaincy during camp, but that is a ways off still. He also spoke glowingly about MSG and that he really can’t wait to coach there again after being on the opposing bench for years now.

The final interesting piece of the media availability revolved around playing time, a topic born out of a question from Mollie Walker about playing young players. Sullivan said he feels developing young players should be centered around the individual and their nature as a player. That it is up to him and his staff to decide what is best for a player on a daily basis, including if they should play at Hartford instead of in the league. Sullivan, a former AHL coach in Wilkes Barre for the Pens, talked up the benefits of developing in the American League for players. Several key role players on his back to back Cup teams like Conor Sheary, Scott Wilson, and Tom Kuhnhackl, contributed to those teams because they developed in the minors, and were empowered with earned minutes to help the team.

The theme of “earning” your role was prevalent towards the end the session as well as it was alluded to with players from the minors, as well as young players like Berard, Perreault and Othamn. But it was expanded upon when Sullivan mentioned all the players needing to earn their role.

“what I will tell you is, I think it’s important that every player earns their opportunities. That no one’s entitled to an opportunity.” – Mike Sullivan

This felt like yet another pointed comment, at a group that was on a free ride at times last year under Laviolette and previously under Gallant. It did not seem to matter how you were playing at the moment, your role was a given, rather than earned. How many times did we watch the same five players struggle on the power play? How many times did we see the lineup card not change despite several players struggling nightly? The answer unfortunately was all too often. Sullivan, comes from the Tortorella school of earning it and that hopefully means the free rides end. Will he play favorites like all coaches do at times? I’m sure he will, but this sounds like a return to accountability, and frankly I can’t be more excited by this answer, as it was the best of the presser.

Ultimately all of this is just talk. The proof of concept for Sullivan will be in how this team performs. They HAVE TO get back on the right track next year, but so much work will go into that between now and opening night. The roster overhaul must continue, these players need to take accountability for themselves, and the coach must be empowered to run the team accordingly. By the sounds of things, he will be, but only time will tell. Here’s to this being a home run hire and hopefully we’re all watching Sullivan recreate this photo at MSG soon.

Stay tuned for continuing coverage of the Knicks round two series against Boston! On twitter you can find Mike @Mike_Sheerin, Tyler @TMon_19 and Sean @SeanMartinNFL. Subscribe to the site by hitting the follow button in the bottom right corner and entering your email address. Check out our Instagram feed @thebroadwaybreakdownsports for special gameday and promotional content. Our podcasts are available on Spotify. Visit the Rangers Ed Shop by clicking the link on our homepage. Check out our mailbag page to join the conversation here on the site and on our partners show, The Rangers Ed Podcast! We’ll be back with more soon.