After taking over as coach of the underperforming Pittsburgh Penguins last December, Mike Sullivan assessed his personnel, as any other new coach would do in any other sport. He figured that the best way for the Penguins to improve quickly was to rely more on the team’s speed.

Centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, forward Phil Kessel and defenseman Kris Letang, in addition to being the Penguins’ top players, were among the team’s top skaters. Sullivan simplified the Penguins’ attack so they could launch breakouts from their own zone.

“It was an easy sell, quite honestly, for our players because they want to play a fast game, and I think it starts with our core guys,” Sullivan said this week. “Players like Sid and Geno, Kris Letang and Phil Kessel are all skaters. They want to play north-south; they want to come through the neutral zone with speed. We wanted to give them a plan where they could play to their strengths.”

Fortified by the acquisition in January of one of the N.H.L.’s fastest skaters, forward Carl Hagelin, the Penguins rolled to victory in 33 of 54 regular-season games and 16 of 24 playoff games under Sullivan to capture the franchise’s first Stanley Cup in seven years.