PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins had just impressively handled the Buffalo Sabres, 5-2, to conclude a remarkable 14-3-3 binge before the Olympic break shut down the NHL for three weeks.
Outside the visitor’s locker room at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, first-year Penguins coach Dan Muse was making his way to the postgame news conference, as he does after every game. Before meeting with the waiting media, though, Muse noticed the team’s equipment staff loading heavy bags onto a carrier for the team bus, as the Penguins were about to fly home. Muse casually walked over and loaded a couple of bags himself.
Finally, when he joined the media, I asked him if he hadn’t done enough already that night.
“We’re all part of the team here,” he said with a smile.
That’s Muse. That moment encapsulated him to absolute perfection. I’ve never seen a coach do that before. He might be the most unassuming, humble Penguins coach ever. And I’m convinced that explains at least some of his success.
Pittsburgh has been fortunate over the years to have decent, likable Penguins coaches, including Dan Bylsma and Mike Sullivan. But Muse is different.
It became clear before the season even began.
Outside of hardcore hockey junkies, no one in Pittsburgh had heard of Muse when the Penguins named him head coach. Jim Rutherford, the former Penguins general manager, joked last week that “Kyle (Dubas, Penguins GM/president) was ahead of everyone on that guy. He should be coach of the year.”
Over the past couple of decades, there has been a bit of an ongoing assumption that the Penguins need a tough coach. Michel Therrien wasn’t easy to play for — ask Ryan Whitney or Brooks Orpik — but he got results. He inherited the NHL’s worst team and, a little more than two years later, took it to the Stanley Cup Final. Bylsma won the Cup the next season, yes, but he never really got everything out of this group. He was too nice, and bad habits set in because of it. Mike Johnston was even nicer. Painfully so. You know how that went. Then, along came Mike Sullivan. A good man, yes, but he was tough. He was hard on his players. And unlike Johnston and Bylsma, he got the most out of them, winning the Stanley Cup twice.
Following that logic, a Penguins franchise that had clearly lost its way would’ve needed another tough guy, given that the same core remains. That’s what I thought. That’s what most people thought. We all thought wrong.
For one, a wave of young players is on the way to Pittsburgh, and Muse specializes in coaching them. Eighteen-year-old Ben Kindel is having the best rookie season for a Penguin in many years. The organization’s up-and-coming players all noticeably improved in training camp. Muse has just the right approach with them.
But what about the older guys, right?
I’ve been around them long enough to read their temperature. They tuned out Johnston so thoroughly that, in 2015, after the first game of Johnston’s second season — yes, the first game, a loss in Dallas that was also Phil Kessel’s first game with the Penguins — despondent assistant coach Rick Tocchet looked at me and said, “This isn’t a good situation.” He was talking about the team’s stars and Johnston. And he was right.
When I met Muse at his introductory news conference in June, I was impressed by his gentlemanly demeanor. I was also a bit concerned for him. Nice guys can get chewed up by this team. I was wrong. We were all wrong. Muse was the perfect man for this group, especially for the older guys.
When the Penguins’ stars were young, they needed discipline — especially Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. Sidney Crosby is different because he’s a coach’s dream. Malkin, Letang and Erik Karlsson? Not so much. They’re legendary players, yes, but they also march to the beat of their own drum. They are, at times, very challenging to coach. In the end, Sullivan was a jockey riding a horse, and he kept using the whip, as he always had before. But Sullivan just couldn’t get the horse to run any faster.
Make no mistake, Crosby, Malkin and Letang all love Sullivan and didn’t want him to leave. Letang once told me that the trio never wanted to play for a different coach, and I believe him. The three weren’t happy when Dubas moved on from Sullivan. They were loyal to their coach, and I’ve sensed that they felt they’d let him down. They were all supposed to go out together, and now they won’t. That’s tough.
With the benefit of hindsight, the last thing those guys needed then was someone new blowing a whistle in their faces. All they want is to finish out their careers with dignity, and in the playoffs, preferably competing for championships. They didn’t need a jockey riding them anymore. They’re at a different place now, and pushing them over the finish line wasn’t going to work. They needed someone they could work with, someone who could challenge them with good ideas. They needed someone they liked.
This season, Crosby has been Crosby. Malkin has played his best hockey in five years. Karlsson has played, by far, the best he has during his Penguins tenure. After a poor start, Letang is coming around.
The Penguins are in second place in the weak Metropolitan Division. We’ll see how long Crosby is out after his injury at the Olympics, but assuming he’s not out too long, the Penguins have a good chance at reaching the postseason. If they make it there, it remains to be seen how the old horses will respond. No matter what, it will be exciting, and I don’t think they could do any of it without Muse. He’s the perfect coach and personality at the exact moment the Penguins needed him.
In late September, just after a training camp practice, I saw how Muse was different. Instead of taking one of the many private hallways to navigate the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex — and instead of taking advantage of the private chefs the Penguins have for players and staff — Muse waited in line with fans to order food. Then, he started introducing himself, one by one.
“Hi, I’m Dan Muse. I’m the new coach of the Penguins. It’s very nice to meet you, and we really appreciate all of your support. We’re really looking forward to the season.”
I relayed what I’d seen to Karlsson.
“Doesn’t surprise me,” Karlsson said with a laugh. “You know, we all really like him. I mean, really, how could anyone not like him? Hell of a guy.”
And he’s done a hell of a job.
The job isn’t done yet, of course. Far from it. But of all Dubas’ decisions that have put the Penguins back into playoff contention, hiring Muse may have been the best of all.
Sometimes nice guys don’t finish last.