“Who the heck is Dan Muse?”
That’s the question many Pittsburgh Penguins fans were likely asking when the team announced he’d be the team’s next head coach on June 4, 2025. Following the sudden departure of Mike Sullivan — who guided the club to two championships during his 10-year tenure — many fans expected a much bigger name to step in behind the bench in Pittsburgh. After all, Sullivan left some big shoes to fill.
Muse wasn’t even considered a top-five choice for the job by most analysts at first, including Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman. The list of names he mentioned in an episode of 32 Thoughts: The Podcast consisted of coaches like Mitch Love, Jay Woodcroft, and David Quinn, among others. But while most fans and reporters were focusing on those big names, Muse silently singled himself out from his competitors.
He wasn’t someone that general manager Kyle Dubas particularly knew much about until they met during the interview process. But according to Dubas, that unfamiliarity only worked in Muse’s favor.
“What stood about Dan during the process was that he was not somebody that I knew personally going into it. But right from the time that we met and we spoke on the phone, then when we met over Zoom, and then met in person, it became clear that he was somebody that was going to be extraordinarily well-suited to develop all of our players,” Dubas said during Muse’s introductory press conference.
For Muse, taking on the head coaching role in Pittsburgh came with the understanding that the Penguins weren’t expected to compete for a Stanley Cup immediately. After missing the postseason each of the last three campaigns, the team’s management knew there was a good chance Muse’s first season would serve as yet another transitional one for the Penguins. At that point, the team was set to enter the year made up of a mixture of aging veteran talent and young guns still looking to cement their spot in the NHL.
No playoffs, no problem. That was supposed to be the mindset of the 2025-26 Penguins.
However, in his first year ever as a head coach in the NHL, Muse has helped his team completely throw that narrative out the window. Las Vegas oddsmakers gave the Penguins about a 9% chance of qualifying for the playoffs when they first dropped the puck on their campaign back in October. But now, with Muse at the helm, Pittsburgh has done exactly that. Additionally, it also secured home-ice advantage in the opening round, where it will be welcomed by a roaring PPG Paints Arena crowd that’s been starving for playoff hockey since 2022.
So, how did Muse get Pittsburgh to this point? Here are the three main things he did right.
Trusting His Younger Assets
One of the biggest reasons Muse’s resume appealed so much to Dubas was his ability to connect with and develop younger players. Throughout this season, his coaching style has helped multiple of the team’s prospects make the intimidating jump from the American Hockey League (AHL) to the NHL comfortably. That’s why young guns like Ben Kindel and Avery Hayes have found ways to leave their mark on the team this season.
Under Muse’s guidance, Kindel’s play and hockey IQ have allowed him to look like he belongs throughout the season, despite being just 18 years old. With the ability to play right wing and center, Kindel has found his game thanks to Muse giving him linemates who are both younger and older than him.
He’s found the best chemistry with recent additions Justin Brazeau and Anthony Mantha on Muse’s third line, which has played a huge role in his 34-point campaign. As of April 10, the total ranks ninth among rookies in the NHL.
“I don’t know if there was an exact moment when I knew he (Kindel) was ready. He just kept checking box after box. Training camp, preseason games. He kept getting better. During the exhibition games, I tried to put him in the toughest situations I possibly could. I didn’t go into training camp thinking that I would do that, but it was just the way it went,” (from ‘One-on-one with Dan Muse: Penguins coach opens up about his surprising team,’ The Athletic, Jan. 7, 2026)
As for Hayes, his introduction to the NHL was quite a different story. Hours ahead of Pittsburgh’s matchup with Buffalo on Feb. 5, Hayes was informed he’d be suiting up for his debut. Even though he barely made it to the rink in time for the team’s pregame meetings, Muse inserted the undrafted forward on multiple lines throughout the night. The flexible role turned out to be just what Hayes needed.
Placed at left wing alongside Rutger McGroarty and Kevin Hayes in the opening period, Hayes found the back of the net on his first NHL shot on a breakaway nearly 10 minutes in. Later on, Muse decided to leave Hayes out on the ice with Mantha and Sidney Crosby instead. It paid off, as a pretty feed from behind the goal line from Mantha gave Hayes his second goal of the game.
With his family in attendance, he became just the seventh player in NHL history to record multiple tallies in the first period of his league debut.
Helping Newer Players Find Their Potential
Not only has Muse’s dynamic coaching style boosted some of his budding young players, but it’s also allowed many of Pittsburgh’s latest acquisitions to acclimate to his system with ease. It’s shown in a big way on the scoresheet.
As of April 10, no team in the NHL has seen more of their goals scored by new additions to the lineup (99) in 2025-26. At the forefront of this total are wingers Mantha and Egor Chinakhov, who’ve each enjoyed the most productive season of their careers in 2025-26.
Mantha was something of a journeyman before he signed with the Penguins this past offseason. He played for four teams over his first 10 years in the NHL, but never really made a name for himself as a top scorer with any of them. But according to Mantha, as soon as he arrived in Pittsburgh, Muse told him that that was going to change.
Players to set new career highs this season with Dan Muse as the bench boss:
Justin Brazeau:
⁃ Goals (17)
⁃ Assists (17)
⁃ Points (34)Anthony Mantha:
⁃ Goals (31)
⁃ Assists (30)
⁃ Points (61)Connor Dewar:
⁃ Goals (14)
⁃ Assists (16)
⁃ Points (30)Egor Chinakhov:… pic.twitter.com/2dVl3j1xoo
— Penguins PR (@PenguinsPR) April 10, 2026
“Dan called me over the summer. The first conversation we had was, he wanted to get me to 30 goals. And after it happened, he came up to me, and he’s like, you talked about it the first time! I was like, yeah, we did,” Mantha told Penguins team reporter Michelle Crechiolo.
Fast forward to today, and Mantha has racked up career-highs in goals (32), assists (30), and points (62) under Muse’s direction, trouncing his previous records. Muse quickly noticed his chemistry with linemates Evgeni Malkin and Justin Brazeau, a duo he’s shared the ice with during most of his time with the Penguins so far.
For Chinakhov, Muse has had the same impact. Since joining the Penguins via a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets, he’s been playing at a level that his old team never came close to tapping into. Known for his trademark wicked wrist shot, Chinakhov’s been one of Pittsburgh’s most clutch scorers in recent months. As the regular season winds down, he currently sits at 21 goals and 21 assists — both career highs. For perspective, he had just six points in 29 games when he first joined the Penguins.
Other newer additions to the Penguins’ lineup who have thrived include Brazeau, Connor Dewar, Ryan Shea, and Parker Wotherspoon, who have each set new personal records in goals, assists, and points under Muse. Their contributions are a huge reason why Muse’s squad has separated itself as the highest scoring Penguins team in the Sidney Crosby era on a goals-per-game basis (3.57 G/G).
Adapting to Lineup Changes
In the thick of a tight Eastern Conference playoff race during the last month, Muse’s main responsibility wasn’t just getting his players ready for the gauntlet of opponents it had to face. He was also forced to work around key injuries to players like Crosby, Malkin, Blake Lizotte, and Brazeau.
The Penguins were in a tough spot when they returned to action from the Olympic break. Following a lower-body injury while competing for Team Canada, it was announced that Crosby would miss about a month to recover. To make matters worse, when he finally did, he suffered another less severe injury in Ottawa that kept him out briefly again. Between a lengthy suspension and troubles staying healthy, Malkin also struggled to stay in the lineup night after night. It didn’t matter.
Muse trusted his players to step up when called upon, and gave them every opportunity to do so through the line combinations he built around his missing players. On March 16, against the league’s top team in Colorado, they did exactly that without Crosby in the lineup as they crushed the Avalanche 7-2.
But Muse’s most difficult test came later that month against the Ottawa Senators, when both Crosby and Malkin were suddenly out of the lineup midway through the contest. Again, he made the necessary moves to set his team up for success. Riding the chemistry between Swedes Rickard Rakell and Erik Karlsson, the Penguins escaped the Scotiabank Saddledome with a much-needed two points via a shootout win. After the game, Karlsson explained his squad’s mentality perfectly.
Related: Erik Karlsson’s Recent Brilliance Guiding Penguins Amid Playoff Push
“When Sid leaves the game, we have two options. We can hang our heads and admit defeat, or everybody can just say to themselves ‘I’m gonna do my absolute best every time I get out there.’ I think we did that today, not only myself, but everybody,” Karlsson told DK Pittsburgh Sports following the Penguins’ 4-3 shootout victory over the Senators on March 26.
The Road Ahead
Following the Penguins’ playoff-clinching 5-2 road victory over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday, Muse walked to the center of his room and addressed his players with the same firm, confident demeanor he’s displayed from Day 1.
“You should (all) be proud of that. It goes back to what we talked about right at the beginning of the year. We continue to hold the pen, and this group should have a ton of belief in what we’re capable of,” Muse said.
Because of Muse’s leadership, that pen will get to keep writing the Penguins’ story in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
