Sullivan is entering his seventh season as Pittsburgh Penguins coach and guided them to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017. The Penguins are 251-131-43 and have not missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs during Sullivan's tenure.
Pittsburgh finished first in the eight-team MassMutual East Division last season (37-16-3) but lost to the New York Islanders in six games in the best-of-7 Stanley Cup First Round.
Sullivan was an assistant for the United States at the 2006 Torino Olympics under Peter Laviolette, and coached the U.S. at the 2007 IIHF World Championship. He also played for the U.S. at the 1997 Worlds.
"It's hard to articulate in words what this means to me, to have the opportunity to be the head coach for our Olympic team in Beijing," Sullivan said. "I've had the privilege of participating in [international] events, both as a player and as a coach over the years. It's always been such a great experience, putting the USA sweater on and representing your nation."
NHL participation in the 2022 Beijing Olympics has not been finalized.
There is a pause in the NHL schedule from Feb. 7-22 if the League reaches an agreement with the NHL Players' Association and the International Ice Hockey Federation for NHL players to participate in the upcoming Olympics. Talks continue on outstanding issues, including securing appropriate COVID-19 insurance.
The NHL and NHLPA retain the authority to decide not to participate in the Olympics should COVID-19 conditions worsen or otherwise pose a threat to the health and safety of the players, or for any other reason that may warrant such a decision. If NHL players don't participate, the League will release a revised schedule that, to the greatest extent possible, will adopt the dates and games from the schedule announced Thursday.
"I'm going to operate under the premise that the NHL and the Olympic committee are going to work toward an agreement and we're going to participate," Sullivan said. "Until such time as something changes, that's how we're going to operate. We'll go through a process like all of the Olympic teams and try to put together a coaching staff and then identifying the player pool that we have."
NHL.com correspondent Wes Crosby contributed to this report
