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Longtime Penguins Assistant Joins Blackhawks Coaching Staff

Mike Vellucci joins Chicago after five seasons in Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh Penguins are still searching for their next head coach after moving on from longtime bench boss Mike Sullivan following the 2024-25 season.

Sullivan didn’t last long on the open market, signing with the New York Rangers just a mere four days after departing from the Penguins after 10 seasons. The two-time Stanley Cup-winning coach isn’t the only one on the bench to move on from Pittsburgh.

Longtime Penguins’ assistant coach Mike Vellucci joined the Chicago Blackhawks as an assistant coach, officially ending his tenure with Pittsburgh.

Vellucci spent the last five seasons as Sullivan’s assistant in Pittsburgh, where the Penguins logged a record of 195-140-49 in the regular season. Before joining the NHL club, Vellucci served as the general manager and head coach of the Penguins’ AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for the 2019-20 campaign, compiling a 29-26-8 record. He won a Calder Cup with the Charlotte Checkers in 2019 before joining the Penguins’ organization the following season.

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Featured image via James Carey Lauder/Imagn Images