Dan Muse is just beginning to craft his approach with the Penguins

As has happened countless times over the previous decade, a guff Boston accent fielded questions during a press conference at the dais within the media room at PPG Paints Arena.

And as has been the case since 2015, there was plenty of coach-speak, including nomenclature such as “process” and “foundation.”

The presentation was pretty familiar.

The message? That’s to be determined.

On Wednesday, Dan Muse held his first media availability after being appointed as the 23rd coach in the history of the Pittsburgh Penguins seven days earlier.

He was abundant in optimism but short on specifics about how he’ll engineer a course correction for a franchise that has missed the postseason the past three seasons under his predecessor, Mike Sullivan.

“To put a time frame on it, it’s going to be Day 1 of training camp, it starts,” said Muse, a native of Canton, Mass. “There’s going to be a lot of work that goes into it beforehand. That’s to work with each individual and what they need. It’s going to be to work with the collective group. And as soon as we get on the ice for the first time, we’re going to continue to build. It’s going to be a step-by-step process.

“Each day, we’re going to be looking to get a little bit better as a group, a little bit better for each of these guys.”

The Penguins need to be a lot better in order to return to the heights of being a true Stanley Cup contender. And much of that pursuit will be out of his hands in terms of personnel.

The NHL Draft (June 27-28) as well as the free agency signing periods (July 1) are upcoming and roster augmentation is the ultimate responsibility of Penguins president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas.

But Muse and Dubas, who also spoke Wednesday, professed the attraction of the coach having a say in that endeavor.

“One of the things that really excited me about this opportunity was the clear collaboration that’s going to happen,” Muse said. “That kind of started right away within this process. Early on in our conversations — and especially when coming in here and meeting with other members of the organization — it became very clear that this is an opportunity for full collaboration at a very high level. And there will be.”

Getty Images

Dan Muse spent the previous two seasons as an assistant coach with the New York Rangers.

Part of that collaboration will involve a handful of franchise colonnades who are nearing the end of their careers and, presumably, are eager to win as much as possible before their NHL existences cease, such as forwards Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin as well as defenseman Kris Letang.

Muse indicated he has spoken with approximately 95% of the organization’s players who are under contract and cited the importance of establishing a rapport with those luminaries.

“In regard to the veteran players who are here, you’re always working with the leaders,” said Muse, who previously served as an assistant coach with the New York Rangers.

“You’re always working with the players that have been in this league … guys who have not just been in this league but been in this organization for such a long time. You’re going to be leaning on them to have those conversations, those daily discussions. There’s going be the big-picture conversations, and there’s a lot of the smaller conversations as well.

“Right now for me, this is all about getting to know these guys.”

Well before most of those guys arrived in Pittsburgh two decades ago, the Penguins have largely employed an offensively aggressive approach dating to the 1970s.

Muse suggested that general modus operandi will be maintained but not in a reckless fashion.

“I believe you have to work on both sides of the puck, and we will be,” Muse said. “So we want to play with detail. We want to make sure that the habits are in place that I believe and we believe are going to lead to success.

“That foundation is going to be there. I do want to attack. When we have the puck, we want everyone working to score goals. But when we don’t have the puck, we want everybody working to make sure we’re defending and defending the right way.

“So I don’t think it’s necessarily just offense or just defense. We’re going to be working on both sides of the puck.”

Muse’s willingness to employ different approaches was attractive to Dubas.

Christopher Horner | TribLive

Dan Muse points to Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas while answering a question after being introduced as the team’s new head coach on Wednesday, June 11, 2025, at PPG Paints Arena.

“The key thing that came up to me was that he was very adaptable,” Dubas said. “There wasn’t just one way he wants to play. He was very easily able to communicate the way he would teach very different systems, which gave great comfort not only to me, but to our staff that we weren’t going to be bound by having to do one specific thing. Some of the coaches in the (interviewing) process had one way they wanted to play, and that’s fine. That goes with all sports. But Dan’s adaptability and the proof of concept with his past teams was very important to us.”

A leading priority for Muse in the early days of his tenure will be composing a coaching staff.

Video coach Madison Nikkel and goaltending coach Andy Chiodo are the only members of the incumbent staff still with the club. Dubas indicated, with vigor, that Nikkel isn’t going anywhere.

As for Chiodo, Muse said he has yet to meet him. On April 28, Dubas indicated Chiodo’s contract would not be renewed but he would be given an opportunity to interview with the new head coach to remain on staff.

The Penguins — on and off the ice — are bound to look considerably different when training camp opens in mid-September.

The details of those differences are still a work in progress for Muse.

“You have guys in different places in their careers,” Muse said. “That’s very clear. My job coming in here is to help maximize each person and help each person work toward what their highest level can be right now. That’s going to be my focus. That’s going to be a day-to-day approach. It has to be.

“For us to put a time frame on it, it wouldn’t be right. It’s going to be about coming in, putting in the work, having a plan for each individual, having a plan to work for the collective group, attacking it starting Day 1 of training camp, then building it. That’s all you can do right now.”

Notes: Penguins forward prospect Vasily Ponomarev signed a three-year entry-level contract with Avangard Omsk of Russia’s Kontinential Hockey League (KHL). The Penguins can maintain his NHL rights by making a qualifying offer to Ponomarev, a pending restricted free agent July 1. … Mac Hollowell, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s leading scorer among defenseman last season, signed a one-year contract with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the KHL. Regarding his NHL status, he is a pending unrestricted free agent.