Penguins are thriving so far under Dan Muse 

Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas and his decision-making team chose to make a switch behind the bench after another year without playoff hockey in the Steel City, moving on from long-time head coach Mike Sullivan and making an off-the-board hire in Dan Muse.

Sullivan, who won two Stanley Cups during his tenure in Pittsburgh, lasted just under a decade in the position, and the decision was made to bring in a new, fresh voice to guide the organization into its next chapter.

Many assumed that would mean a continuation of a rebuild process that would see the team get less and less competitive, but instead, Muse has the Penguins off to a surprising 5-2-0 start and playing some great hockey to boot.

On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton were joined by former NHL video coach to discuss Pittsburgh’s early-season success under their new boss.

Tyler Yaremchuk: I want to start with one guy, and it’s Dan Muse out in Pittsburgh. He was maybe the most surprising hire of the bunch this offseason, and so far he’s arguably been giving the most surprising results.

Steve Peters: He’s a guy that when you look at the new coaches coming into the league this season, you look at his resume and he’s been on NHL benches for years, but he’s predominantly worked with younger players. He worked at the USNTDP for years and had a lot of success with young players… and you give him to the Pittsburgh Penguins, one of the oldest teams in the league with Crosby, Malkin, Letang and Karlsson… but honestly, the Pittsburgh Penguins have done extremely well in almost all metrics. This is a team that when you look at their record last season, they had six points through seven games, and now they have 10.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…