Even as they move forward, the Penguins' bond with Mike Sullivan endures

In fall 2005, Dan Muse had quite a challenge.

He had to teach world history to high school freshmen.

After the conclusion of his playing career as a forward at Stonehill College, Muse got a gig at Archbishop Williams High School in Braintree, Mass., requiring him to keep the attention of 14-year-olds while explaining the Magna Carta.

Two decades later, he is commanding quite a bit of attention as the new head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

His first game of consequence in that station was Tuesday in the Penguins’ season opener, a road contest against the New York Rangers.

“I don’t know exactly how it’ll feel until I’m there,” Muse said Monday in Cranberry. “The focus has obviously been — the last four months — this group, this team.”

This team was Mike Sullivan’s team for parts of the previous 10 seasons. On April 28, Sullivan departed as head coach in what was portrayed as a mutual decision. After all of four days without employment, he took over as the Rangers head coach May 2.

The prospect of seeing Sullivan behind a different bench is off-putting, but it’s an accepted attribute of professional sports.

“It’s the same as (goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury) when he went to Vegas (in 2017),” defenseman Kris Letang said. “You know, it’s kind of weird, but it’s the business we’re in.”

So far, the Penguins have appreciated the business Muse has conducted in the 2 1/2 weeks since training camp opened Sept. 18.

“Everything is intense right now,” Letang said. “When you have a new coach, everybody kind of tries to figure it out, like the new pace of things and, like, meetings, not the same way. Practices. We don’t stop at the board and explain drills anymore. We do it before practice.

“Dan wants a lot of pace to practice. He wants us to get going on the battle level, stuff like that. So, yeah, that’s a big adjustment.”

One area that hasn’t required much adjustment is systems.

“Just little tweaks,” forward Sidney Crosby said. “Everybody in the league plays fairly similar. There will be little adjustments. It’s just a matter of everybody getting on the same page and trying to work as a unit out there.”

Crosby and company largely worked well with Sullivan for the previous 10 seasons, especially the first two that resulted in back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017.

But the previous three seasons all ended without the Penguins qualifying for the postseason. The past two happened with defenseman Erik Karlsson on the roster after a blockbuster trade in August 2023.

He was frank in explaining his relationship with Sullivan.

“Obviously, very challenging two years, I think, for not only me,” Karlsson said. “I’m sure he felt challenged, too. We did not accomplish what we were hoping to do when I got traded here. And when you don’t win games and things are not going your way, and you don’t really find any answers to why, it gets frustrating.

“Everyone that’s here, I learned pretty quick, are very competitive guys. He was at the front force of that. Not winning games, I don’t think that anyone really got to see the best out of anyone. But all in all, it was a good time. I still enjoy my time here. I did from Day 1, and I still do. Wish him nothing but the best. New adventure, sometimes, is not a bad thing. We’re excited, the people that are still here, to move forward as well.”

The Penguins are moving forward after having the same coach for nearly a decade, a rarity in professional sports, especially this sport where coaches are constantly on the move.

“It’s not common at all,” Crosby said. “That says a lot about (Sullivan) and the job that he did. The biggest thing is in 10 years, the game evolves. I feel like he found new things each year to challenge us on. It wasn’t the exact same thing every single year. That was great that he was able to keep it fresh a bit.

“Ultimately, when you win together, it’s pretty unique. We were able to do that a couple of times.”