Penguins make decision on new HC

The Penguins have hired Rangers assistant coach Dan Muse as their next head coach, per a team announcement. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported minutes earlier that the hire was expected to get across the finish line.

Muse is a bit of a surprise hire. He was the most recent name to be reported as a candidate for Pittsburgh’s vacancy, linked just Tuesday by Larry Brooks of the New York Post.

Not too long ago, it looked like the finalists for the Pens’ job were Capitals assistant Mitch Love and Kings assistant D.J. Smith. It became apparent that Love was out of the mix and replaced by Muse as a finalist on Tuesday, according to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period. Love was labeled a name that Pittsburgh was relatively high from the beginning. Still, the Penguins will instead opt to poach a different assistant coach in their early 40s from a Metropolitan Division rival in Muse.

This will be Muse’s first chance to be an NHL head coach. He has spent five years in the league as an assistant, first with the Predators from 2017-18 to 2019-20, before working under Peter Laviolette in Manhattan for the past two seasons. In the meantime, he served as the head coach for the United States National Team Development Program and led the Americans to a gold medal at the 2023 U-18 World Junior Championship.

The development of the Penguins’ young players will be crucial over the next few seasons as they look to quickly return to contention as Sidney Crosby’s, Kris Letang’s, and Evgeni Malkin’s careers wind down. That top-down ideology from general manager Kyle Dubas is extremely apparent with the hire of Muse, who has won multiple accolades at the junior level, including a USHL championship as head coach of the Chicago Steel in 2017, before landing the AC job with Nashville.

Here’s Dubas’ full statement on Muse’s appointment:

"During this process, we met with many candidates who we felt would have been a fit as the next head coach of the Penguins, but ultimately, Dan Muse stood out as the best choice. What separated Dan was his ability to develop players, win at all levels where he has been a head coach and his consistent success coaching special teams in the NHL. From his success in developing college and junior players, to his impactful work with veteran players during his time in the NHL, Dan has shown a proven ability to connect with players at all stages of their careers and help them to reach their potential. Additionally, his leadership of special teams units at the NHL level in both Nashville and New York produced elite results consistently. His overall body of work, attention to detail and vision for our group showed us that he is the best coach to take our team forward. We’re excited to welcome Dan, and his family, to the city of Pittsburgh."

As for the Rangers, they’ll need to continue their coaching overhaul under new bench boss Mike Sullivan, who succeeds Muse in Pittsburgh. They’ll have an entirely new bench staff next season after firing associate coach Phil Housley and losing assistant coach Michael Peca to Jeff Blashill’s staff with the Blackhawks.