Penguins/NHL
One intriguing development emerging with the Penguins:
Dan Muse is much more about wins and losses than this being a development season. And I mean this is a coach who is intense where he takes losses hard. One misinterpretation about Muse when hired is he would be all about youth and development. What got overlooked was once you’re behind an NHL bench, you become wired to everything being about wins. This a coach who has seen a lot of winning as an NHL assistant, most notably the 2023-2024 President Trophy winning Rangers and Instead the message has been let the AHL coaches develop.
Things are trending where if the Penguins remain in the playoff hunt and in an Eastern conference this coaching staff believes Pittsburgh can one of the best eight teams, get ready to continue to see more heavy veteran lineups.
Players such as Kevin Hayes, Noel Acciari (when healthy) who were viewed prior to the season as prime candidates to be pushed out for young players, are seen as being very valuable for a playoff push. Hayes in particular is also very popular in the room and a favorite of Sidney Crosby. Members of the coaching staff are said to believe several of the young players who are close, such as Tristan Broz need more time in the minors.
As shocking as it seems, (if the Penguins stay in the hunt) at least for this season we could be heading towards a similar Dubas/Sullivan dynamic where the views on the roster don’t align as the season progresses. Muse is all about trying to get to the postseason and feels the veterans who have elevated their play thus far deserve that type of mindset from the bench boss. Does the GM take things into his own hands and jump on a second-round pick for expiring veterans like a Blake Lizotte, we will see, but once this roster gets healthy this month and the likes of Acciari, Justin Brazeau, and Rickard Rakell are getting close, young players are going to be pushed out.
In particular, as much as a jolt the kids line showed vs the Flyers, Ville Koivunen’s roster spot To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
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— One prominent agent on the Penguins: “They have all these picks and still no one special in their system to accelerate the future”……”There’s going to be some really bad years coming and i mean really bad,” the agent indicating it’s not surprising to see even a rookie head coach no one thought would get the job watching how strong Sidney Crosby is going this season and the way he works every day and being all-in on trying to get this team to the playoffs even if the GM is all about being forward minded.
— Ryan Graves has reintroduced himself back into the left third pairing D-role for now. Caleb Jones due to his ability to retrieve pucks is strongly valued To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
— The Penguins have planned to be very patient with Sergei Murashov this season. It was going to have taken a Matt Murray type situation where he just took off and ran off victories for him to stay in the NHL once Jarry got healthy. Pittsburgh has mapped out a clear development plan this season for Murashov and they plan to stick with it.
— Pittsburgh has aggressively listened to trade inquiries into To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
— Much of November showed how much the team misses Rickard Rakell’s ability to create individual offense. You want to talk about a player who’s value has grown internally it’s Rakell. I’m told the staff views him as Pittsburgh’s second best valuable player To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
Rumors: One Eastern Conference team continues to be strongly linked to willingness of paying haul for Bryan Rust