By Miguel Mike Medina
Photo Credit: nhl.com
The Pittsburgh Penguins hired Dan Muse as their next head coach. Muse will replace Mike Sullivan, who took the job to become the New York Rangers’ head coach.
The 42-year-old Muse becomes the 23rd head coach in team history. What’s interesting is that Muse was the Rangers assistant coach from 2023-25. Muse witnesses the Rangers become a title contender team.
As for the Penguins, the team has taken a nosedive throughout the years. The Penguins finished the season with a 34-36-12 and trailed 11 points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
The Penguins have missed the playoffs for the third year in a row. Before missing the playoffs for three seasons, the Penguins made 16 straight postseason trips.
The Penguins organization hopes Muse can take the team to a certain level of success. However, the Penguins must decide whether to keep some of the veterans on the team.
Will Sidney Crosby remain with the Penguins? Can he continue to stick around even if it means missing the playoffs or not going far in the playoffs?
The front office has a lot more work to do during this off-season.
There’s another element about Muse’s knowledge that people must know. Muse is a numbers guy. Also, Muse was responsible for running the Nashville Predators’ penalty killing unit.
Muse was part of the Predators organization from 2017-19, and the penalty killing unit finished fourth in the league in his two seasons there.
The Penguins’ penalty kill ranked 15th (77.8%) in the regular season last year. Maybe Muse is precisely the right fit that the Penguins were looking for.
Miguel Mike Medina is the publisher of The MMM Journal. He can be reached at medinamiguelmike@gmail.com and themmmjournal@gmail.com
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