STOCKHOLM -- Mika Zibanejad has already had talks with New York Rangers coach Mike Sullivan, and the forward is optimistic about the hire.
Sullivan was hired May 2 to replace Peter Laviolette, who was fired April 19 after two seasons.
"Obviously excited with a coach like that," Zibanejad said at the 2025 IIHF World Championship, where he is representing Sweden. "He's had a lot of success. I had a quick phone call with him and I'm sure we'll have more calls and more conversations during the summer, obviously getting to know him."
Sweden will play the United States in one semifinal on Saturday. Denmark, which upset Canada in the quarterfinals, will play Switzerland in the other semifinal.
Sullivan coached the Pittsburgh Penguins for 10 seasons, a decade that ended April 28 when he and the team decided to part ways. He was 409-255-89 during his tenure and is the Penguins' all-time leader in wins in the regular season and Stanley Cup Playoffs (44).
He won the Stanley Cup in 2016 and 2017, and is 479-311-112 with 15 ties in the regular season and 47-42 in the playoffs for Pittsburgh and the Boston Bruins.
Sullivan, who previously worked for the Rangers as an assistant for four seasons (2009-13) on coach John Tortorella's staff, also coached the United States to a second-place finish at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February and will coach Team USA at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics next February.
He is the sixth-winningest among active NHL coaches behind Paul Maurice of the Florida Panthers (916), Lindy Ruff of the Buffalo Sabres (900), Pete DeBoer of the Dallas Stars (662), Todd McLellan of the Detroit Red Wings (624) and Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning (572).
"It's good," said Rangers forward Will Cuylle, who represented Canada at the World Championship. "Obviously he's won. Veteran coach, been around for a while so he should be pretty smart and have a lot to teach us. I'm excited. I'm looking forward to meeting him and seeing what he can do."
The Rangers failed to qualify for the playoffs this season, one year after they won the Presidents' Trophy (55-23-4) as the top team in the regular season. They made it to the Eastern Conference Final, losing to the Florida Panthers in six games.
"I mean, obviously we have high standards in New York and we want to win every year," Cuylle said. "This year was pretty disappointing, but it's in the past now. There's nothing you can really do to change it. You just make sure you get ready in the offseason for the season coming up."
Cuylle, a 23-year-old who just completed his second full season with the Rangers, was tied for fourth on the team with 20 goals and had 45 points, playing all 82 games.
New York (39-36-7) finished with 16 fewer wins and 29 fewer points than last season and finished six points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
The Rangers have had a tumultuous past year. They waived forward Barclay Goodrow, who was claimed by the San Jose Sharks on June 19. They then traded their captain, defenseman Jacob Trouba, to the Anaheim Ducks on Dec. 6, receiving depth defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and a fourth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.
New York also traded forward Kaapo Kakko to the Seattle Kraken on Dec. 18 for defenseman Will Borgen, and forward Reilly Smith to the Vegas Golden Knights on March 6.
They acquired forward J.T. Miller from the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 31, sending center Filip Chytil to Vancouver.
The Rangers also traded defenseman Ryan Lindgren and forward Jimmy Vesey to the Colorado Avalanche on March 1, acquiring defenseman Calvin de Haan, forward Juuso Parssinen and two draft picks.
"At the end of the day, we don't get up to the level of play that we should with this team, and then there's obviously a bit of a turnover midseason as well, a lot moving parts and moving pieces," Zibanejad said after the regular season.
"Overall, I just think we didn't get up to the level of play we can, and we showed. It was a lot of noise around our team this year. I'm not saying that it is the cause of it, but it wasn't the calmness I feel like we had the year before. Collectively as a group, we have to take ownership of what we do and how we go about things. It has to be cohesive with everyone."
