Matt Cullen is a former NHL player who spent a whopping 21 years in the NHL, and three seasons of that were with the Pittsburgh Penguins. With the Penguins, he had 83 points and was a +15 in 225 regular season games. Cullen was also on the most recent back-to-back Stanley Cup Champion teams with the Penguins.
Looking Back at Matt Cullen’s Career Highlights
Cullen was by no means a Hall-of-Fame calibre player. However, he was still a solid bottom-six centre who was generally durable, as he did not miss many games due to injuries. He had a successful 21-year NHL career as he was also a three-time Stanley Cup Winner. He finished his career with 266 goals and 465 assists for a total of 731 points. The former Penguin played in a total of 1,516 games. He was a very consistent player throughout his career, highlighted by his best seasons. His career-high was 49 points, which he achieved twice. Once in 2005-06 with the Carolina Hurricanes in 78 games, and the other season came in 2007-08, also with the Canes, in just 59 games that campaign. Moreover, ten times he had 39 or more points in a year, including exactly that amount three times incredibly.
What Is He up to Today?
Cullen spent his last season in the NHL with the Penguins before announcing his retirement in July 2019. His post-hockey life has been treating him well as he was recently inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame just three weeks ago. Even though he is no longer a player, he is still working in the NHL as a player development coach for the Penguins.
A month later, he was announced as the role he still has today. He was hired by then general manager Jim Rutherford. It is impressive to note, that Cullen is still with the Penguins in the same role despite the Penguins having two general managers since. Usually, new general managers like to clean house and bring in their own staff. However, both former GM Ron Hextall and current GM Kyle Dubas were more than pleased with Cullen and kept him on staff.
It is not uncommon for former players to step into organizational roles for NHL players. Especially not for the Penguins as Bill Guerin was also hired in the same role. However, Guerin is now a GM for the Minnesota Wild. Another example is Mark Recchi who spent time with the Penguins as both a player and then brought back as an assistant coach for a few years. Now, Recchi is an assistant coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Cullen is tasked with developing the next great Penguins players who are currently prospects in the AHL and internationally. Some of the Penguins best prospects are Rutger McGroarty, Ville Koivunen, Joel Blomqvist, Owen Pickering, Vasili Ponomaryov, and others. Cullen would probably have the easiest time developing Ponomaryov as they both are centres.
Current Expanded Role with the Pittsburgh Penguins
In addition to his player development role, Cullen got to experience being behind the bench as a coach. In February 2022, assistant coach Todd Reirden was away from the team due to surgery. Cullen was awarded the opportunity to help out as a coach and be behind the bench.
Cullen’s responsibilities included taking over the pre-scout duties, listening in on meetings, offering some feedback to the players, and helping out on both sides of special teams. Also, he works the iPad during games and helps out the coaches and players by recalling videos during play to show them certain plays or moments they may have missed or want to see a second time. Just like his career as a player, Cullen really does go the extra mile for his team.
Main Photo Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
