CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Dan Muse doesn’t sit down very often. The coach, who has already developed a workaholic reputation at Penguins headquarters, is always on the move, actively taking a role in seemingly every facet of practice, engaging players in conversation and heading from one room to the next at the UPMC Lemieux practice facility.
Just for a moment on Tuesday, however, he sat down and thought about his Penguins, those unfortunate preseason predictions, a magical first half and the potential of guiding his team to an improbable playoff berth.
Muse leaned back in his chair.
“All I really want is for this team to reach its full potential,” he said. “What does that mean? I don’t know. And you know what? I don’t think any one of us knows. The thing is, it’s for us to decide.”
The Penguins are interesting for many reasons, not least of which is the team’s age gap.
In Sidney Crosby (38), Evgeni Malkin (39), Erik Karlsson (35) and Kris Letang (38), the Penguins present a group of players any coach would love to have. On the flip side, one of the most important Penguins is 18-year-old Ben Kindel, their third-line center who looked as if he belonged in the NHL immediately. Other young players such as Rutger McGroarty and Ville Koivunen are looking to make their mark on a roster in the early stages of becoming much younger.
The coach who was brought to Pittsburgh primarily because of his history of working well with young players insists he was never concerned about how the team’s veteran superstars would respond to him.
“Never,” he said. “I learned a lot as an assistant coach in New York and in Nashville. I was coaching guys who were older than me at times. And yeah, it’s different being a head coach and you’re dealing with a bunch of Hall of Famers here. These are four players who have been in this league a long time and who have played at an incredible level. But I learned a lot when it comes to coaching veteran players during my times as an assistant, and it’s really gone a long way for me.”
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