Penguins Muse Makes a Strong First Impression

Shortly after I posted my article on Thursday morning, I received a text from PenguinPoop colleague Caleb DiNatale. His message, simple and to the point.

“I’m confident in Dan Muse.”

To which I replied, “Me too. A breath of fresh air.”

As the old saying goes, first impressions mean a lot. Muse nailed his at his introductory press conference at PPG Paints Arena on Wednesday.

My word, is this young man impressive. Bright, knowledgeable, energetic and assertive.

Thinks on his feet.

I couldn’t help but make a mental comparison to our outgoing coach.

To digress, I believe Mike Sullivan was positively, absolutely the right coach for the Pens back in 2015, especially for a core group that had fallen short of expectations. Far short, some would say.

Upon assuming the coaching reins from Mike Johnston, Sullivan immediately set to work cleaning up the disorganized mess he’d inherited from his predecessor.

While not exactly a hard-line coach in the mold of a Michel Therrien (firm is a better way to describe him), in his own direct way Sully gave his charges a motivational boot in the collective keister while instilling a sense of accountability.

He also simplified the game, getting us to attack and play on our toes, similar to what Dan Bylsma had done when he took over from Therrien in 2009. The restraining bolts removed, the team’s considerable talents bubbled to the surface.

However, some of Sullivan’s more admirable traits, including a fiercely competitive nature and rock-ribbed stick-to-it-ness boarding on obstinance, may have contributed to be his undoing over time.

He stuck to his speed-oriented, aggressive forechecking (and no tough guys) philosophy even as the team aged and no longer had the horses or wheels to excel at his favored style. It’s as if he couldn’t (or wouldn’t) adjust, at least not to the extent he needed to.

What was Bylsma’s nickname? One-Plan Dan?

You could argue the same applied to Sully.

Not surprisingly, the team and his approach grew stale.

At first blush, this stands in stark contrast to Muse.

Detailing one of his more remarkable triumphs, Jesse Marshall of The Athletic wrote:

In the 2023 U18 World Championship gold medal game, Muse’s Americans faced a 2-0 deficit in the third period. Sweden utilized its speed and support along the wall to beat the U.S. forecheck and exploit the American defense in transition. The Swedes exhibited frustrating control over the neutral zone and seemed to be coasting their way to gold.

Until they weren’t.

Halfway through the third period, the U.S. stopped trying to force possession-based zone entries. Instead, the Americans started simply dumping the puck into the Swedes’ zone and punishing their defense. It worked. The U.S. overwhelmed Sweden and started creating intentional chaos in the zone by springing toward dumped pucks with speed. Muse’s adjustments worked. With a faceoff deep in their own end, the Americans crashed and banged their way to a goal.

But this was a well-coached, mobile Sweden team that began to use the Americans’ overzealousness on puck pursuit against it. Utilizing the wall, Sweden made short, strong-side passes that bypassed the U.S. forecheck. The pendulum swung back in favor of the Swedes, courtesy of some tactical work in the face of the Americans’ fury. The U.S. tied the score with a power-play goal off an offensive-zone penalty by Sweden, but the Americans remained under duress.

So, seeing that his team’s pressure was risky, Muse called off the dogs and forced Sweden to try to knife its way through a U.S. trap. Muse put forth a token forechecker to apply feigned pressure while the rest of the team sat behind the red line, ready to pounce. The decision cooled the Swedes’ jets and allowed the U.S. to make some possession-based zone entries off turnovers. The strategy shift got the U.S. into overtime, where Ryan Leonard took over to cap the comeback and win gold.

How impressive.

Perhaps adaptive is a better word.

Gordie Roberts, a defenseman on the Pens’ back-to-back ’90s Cup winners, once said, “We can change gears. We can play any style. We do what we have to do to win hockey games.”

Sounds like our new coach would’ve fit right in.

Of course, it’s a long way to Tipperary. The odds are against Muse winning one Stanley Cup, let alone two like Sully. Especially given the current state of our Pens.

However, he just might lay the foundation for a future Cup winner.

That would be fine by me.