He played junior hockey for the Oshawa Generals and was drafted 95th overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the 1971 NHL Amateur Draft. The Canadiens had a strong squad and Sullivan played in the minors, mostly for the Nova Scotia Voyageurs. In 1975, Sullivan junped to the Winnipeg Jets of the World Hockey Association (WHA). He played for them for the last four years of their WHA tenure and the first two years of their NHL experience. In 1981 he moved to Switzerland and played almost all of his career there until his retirement in 1987.