When the Penguins finally decided to fire former head coach Mike Sullivan in the offseason after missing the playoffs three years in a row, general manager Kyle Dubas decided to bring in Dan Muse. Muse was a former assistant coach for the Rangers so it was like a swap as Muse came to Pittsburgh and Sullivan went to New York.
Fans had no idea what to expect when the change over to Muse was made outside of the fact that they knew that Muse was good with developing young players. But at the start of the year Muse had his team out to an 8-2-2 start and then they faltered a little bit.
But Muse seems to have his team back on track as they have won 6 games in a row and sit in the first wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference with 51 points. Every analyst had the Penguins finishing at the bottom of the Metro division and the bottom of the Eastern Conference.
So, to see that the Penguins are doing way better than anyone expected and even being in the playoff picture in early January, says a lot about how good of a job Muse is doing with his team. Muse seems to have gotten a lot of approval and praise from the players and coaches in the room.
Every time the Penguins put out some kind of video or picture or statement from a player when they are talking about Muse, they are always saying something positive. Muse should definitely be in the running for coach of the year right now.
Especially if he is able to keep it up and get his team firmly into the playoffs for the first time in four seasons. He is doing way better than anybody had expected him to do, and he is doing this with his core three on the wrong side of 30 but still contributing night in and night out.