Report: Penguins expected to hire Mike Sullivan as AHL head coach

The Pittsburgh Penguins are reportedly close to filling their vacant minor-league head coaching position.

Mike Sullivan has emerged as the leading candidate to become the next coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, reports Darren Dreger of TSN.

Sullivan, 47, played 10 NHL seasons, and served as head coach of the Boston Bruins from 2003-05. Prior to that, he spent a season coaching the Bruins' AHL team, posting a record of 41-17-9-4.

Since then, he's held assistant coaching jobs with the Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Rangers, and Vancouver Canucks. Fired by the latter at the end of last season, he served as interim head coach for a short time while John Tortorella was serving a suspension.

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton job opened up when the New Jersey Devils hired John Hynes to be their new head coach.