The Pittsburgh Penguins tabbed their new Head Coach, signing Dan Muse and leading to a whole bunch of possibilities for clever headlines. He tkes over from Mike Sullivan, who had an excellent run with the Penguins, but the team needed a change.
Muse was most recently an assistant coach with the New York Rangers, where he ran the penalty killing unit after managing the same role previously with the Predators (his PK groups were top-five in the NHL during tenures with both teams). His last Head Coaching experience comes from his time with the US NTDP group, where he had a very successful winning tenure.
The move brings some winning pedigree, an ability to connect with and develop younger players, and experience managing defensive special teams. This has all the makings of a coach that will be seeing a team through a transition period, which is exactly what we're expecting from the Penguins over the next number of years.
An upgrade to the penalty kill would be great news for the Pens goalies, as their PK unit ranked 18th in the league last year, and the goalies can use all the support they can get.
The young players like Ville Koivunen, Philip Tomasino, Owen Pickering, and other youngsters may have a bit of a smoother developmental curve with Muse at the helm, getting some more opportunities a little earlier than they might have been provided with other coaches.
The main fantasy-relevant group for the Penguins is likely going to be largely unchanged by the hire, so you can expect more of the same from most of them.