Pens coach Sullivan rips former player Dupuis over alleged Malkin/Kessel drama

In case you missed it, former Pittsburgh Penguins forward Pascal Dupuis appeared on a French language television program in his native Quebec yesterday and set off a bit of controversy when he suggested that there’s a rift in the Penguins locker room between head coach Mike Sullivan and superstars Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel.

When asked by TVA reporter Louis Jean what he thinks might be the problem with Malkin and Kessel lately, Dupuis replied in French:

"Its hard to say why. Since I played in Pittsburgh for awhile, I might have my own interpretation of the situation."

"Mmmm ... I’m not sure the message passes well between both players and the man behind the bench."

That’s a pretty targeted criticism of Sullivan on Dupuis behalf, to which Sullivan himself fired back earlier today.

Check it out:

You know what? We’ve gotta side with coach Sully on this one. There’s no good that can come to the Penguins organization by having Dupuis air dirty laundry like this. On the other hand, we’re suckers for good inside info like this… 

In any case, whatever the problem is it’s clear that SOMETHING is just not right with Malkin and Kessel. In particular Malkin has looked disinterested and unengaged with the play lately… so clearly something is up, whether it’s a disagreement with the coach, an injury or something else, who knows. But what we DO know is that this team will NEED both Malkin and Kessel at the top of their game if this team is going to get back into the Stanley Cup conversation.