USA NTDP U18 vs Adrian
I’ll be the first to admit, I’m as guilty as the next person (okay, guiltier) when it comes to making snap judgments. Especially when it involves our Penguins.
I confess, I was disappointed that Kyle Dubas didn’t choose Mitch Love to be our next coach. After all, the Capitals’ assistant has a ton of bona fides, including a stunning track record of success.
However, the more I learn about Dan Muse, the more I realize he has his own ultra-impressive list of accomplishments.
Although just 42, Muse has been there, done that in terms of experience and achievements. County legend Johnny Cash once sang, “I’ve been everywhere, man.”
In hockey terms, our new coach has, too.
In particular, his willingness to work his way through the ranks in order to gain knowledge and experience, even if it meant taking a step back as he did in 2020 to join the USNTDP during the uncertainty of the Covid pandemic, shows a lot of character.
Likewise, the descriptions of Muse by others command your attention. Intelligent, articulate, intense, diligent, prepared. Tireless, detailed, forward-thinker. Excellent communicator, especially one-on-one.
“A self-made man,” according to his former boss at USNTDP, Scott Monaghan.
No wonder Dubas chose him.
Indeed, Muse sounds like a perfect fit for our Pens at this time. A development-oriented coach who also has extensive experience working with established NHL players.
For the first time in a long while, I’m excited to see what the future holds.
What’s Bruin?
Turns out, the Bruins passed on Love as well. Today they hired long-time NHLer and former Kings assistant Marco Sturm to replace interim coach Joe Sacco.
Again, a bit of a head-scratcher. No more so than the Kraken going the retread route and hiring former Islanders’ bench boss Lane Lambert and the Blackhawks tabbing Jeff Blashill.
To Russia with Love?
Rumors are afloat that Pens forward Vasily Ponomarev, a pending RFA, may sign with Avangard Omsk of the KHL.
Acquired in the Jake Guentzel blockbuster at the 2024 deadline, the gritty 23-year-old center put up solid boxcars with the Baby Pens this season (15 goals, 41 points in 55 games). However, during seven games of predictably limited use (10:02 ATOI) with the Pens, the 5’10” 180-pounder didn’t show much, although he did win 14 of 27 faceoffs.
One wonders if the shift from the un-kid friendly Mike Sullivan to the development-oriented Muse might influence his decision.
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Hey Rick,
Don’t know if it is true, but I am hearing that there may be off-ice issues that have soured many teams on Mitch Love.
However, with regards to Muse, they say victory goes to the bold! For eight seasons, our Penguins have been far from bold. They have progressively gotten worse as they have been locked in a death spiral. GM after GM have had the line on a failing Coach and tried and failed veterans. It is beyond funny how everyone waits until it is too late to try something new and then in a case of self-fulfilling prophecy the “new” fails, not so much because the inexperienced Coach is bad, or the rookie player is bad, but more of a case is far too late. Perhaps that is the case here. Perhaps Sullivan, JR, Hextall, and Dubas have driven this team to far into the dirt, that Muse can’t resurrect this team, that Crosby, Malkin, and Letang can no longer impose a Coaches schemes upon opponents (Let’s face it, they could no longer make up for Sullivan’s poor, opposite world system – that is why they are where they are now).
In the end Rick, I am hopeful. At least now there is change. I may have preferred Todd Nelson but I am not going whine because Dubas is breaking from the good old boys club.
Hey Other Rick,
Yeah, it's hard to figure what happened with Love. From the admittedly little I heard, he was great in interviews and seems quite impressive in video snippets I've seen.
I can't speak to anything on a more personal level, but I wonder if his defense-first philosophy was a hard-sell in an aggressive forecheck league?
At any rate, with 32 teams in the league and NHL coaches having an extraordinarily brief shelf life, I'd imagine it's only a matter of time before Mitch gets his opportunity.
Rick
This coach selection is bizarre. 1) Most new HC hires come from successful programs, either as minor league head coach or an NHL assistant. Muse from from a dysfunction NHL team. 2) His head coaching experience is 2 years in junior. He has never been a head coach in professional hockey. The history of coaches coming from a junior or college HC job to the NHL is not good. 3) He is supposed to be good a developing young players. Where 's the proof for this? He coached a bunch of 16-17 year olds , who were pre-selected as the best in US. What is the proof that he was good at developing them? And where is the proof that he will be able to develop 19-22 year old professional players the same way. He sure didn't do it Nash or NYR. One last thing. Was he really the Pens first choice? They were supposed to name a coach Monday but it took untill Wednesday. This suggests that there my have been negotiations with another candidate that fell through. Just a guess, of course.
Love at at least has pro head coaching experience, although the fact he was passed over for the Washington HC job last year leaves you wondering. Also, what proof is there that he played any role in changing Washington's fortunes? But he would have been a poor choice for because he is a defensively oriented coach, which is not how the Pens have played hockey since at least Craig Patrick's time,.
Both Muse and Love are examples of the shiny new toy syndrome that leads people of vastly exaggerate the importance of draft picks. Their big, and probably, only selling point for many people is that are young. It's as if people don't want to accept that experience matters in NHL coaching like in every other skilled profession. I don't know anyone else, but I don't want my brain surgery done by a brand new grad. I want it done by a guy whose done it 500 times before. Almost everyone is better at what he does after the initial learning period.
This brings me to the general horror about hiring a "retread." You know, like Mike Sullivan who helped bring for two cups in the burgh. Yeah, retreads are awful. They've only coached 18 of the last 22 cup winners. Yeah, retreads are automatically bad. (One of the non retreads is everyone's ideal of great coach, Dan Bylsma.)
I saw particular horror about the possibility of hiring the retread DJ Smith, Oh no, his Senators were terrible!! They made the playoffs the year left. When I want to evaluate a coach, I first look at his goaltending. You know the old saying, "show me a great coach and I'll show you a great goaltender." Likewise, lousy goaltending can make a good coach look bad. Yeah, the Senators improved when Smith left, but that's not the only thing that changed. The brought in Ullmark and they went from really crappy goaltending to a .910 save percentage. Rejecting Smith because the Sens's change in fortune is just plain stupid.
This is not to say who they should have hired. I don't know. The point is the way everyone seems to evaluate coaching candidates is irrational and bizarre.
Sorry for the rant, but the crap that I've been reading the last few weeks is absolutely astounding.