Dan Muse is the new head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Penguins hired the former New York Rangers assistant on Wednesday, tasking him with helping the franchise navigate a rebuild during the twilight of longtime captain Sidney Crosby’s career.
Muse replaces Mike Sullivan. Sullivan and the Penguins split in April after a nearly decade-long tenure that included a pair of Stanley Cup titles. The Rangers quickly scooped up Sullivan, naming him their coach in early May.
The 42-year-old Muse was hired after a month-long search by Penguins general manager and director of hockey operations Kyle Dubas. Muse’s hiring leaves the Boston Bruins as the last of eight teams with off-season head coaching vacancies.
Dubas said the team met with “many candidates” before deciding on Muse, who has spent the last half-decade as an assistant at the NHL level. Muse also has a track record as a cultivator of talent and served as the head coach of USA Hockey’s national team development program from 2020-23.
“What separated Dan was his ability to develop players, win at all levels where he has been a head coach and his consistent success coaching special teams in the NHL,” Dubas said. “From his success in developing college and junior players, to his impactful work with veteran players during his time in the NHL, Dan has shown a proven ability to connect with players at all stages of their careers and help them to reach their potential.”
Muse takes over a team in transition. The era defined by franchise icons Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang is closing. One of the league’s marquee teams has missed the playoffs each of the last three seasons following a 16-year run as a fixture in the chase for the Stanley Cup.
Dubas, hired in the summer of 2023 to oversee this transition, has spent most of the last two years stockpiling draft picks. The Penguins have 30 selections over the next three drafts, including 18 over the first three rounds.
While Dubas is likely to use some of the picks to trade for NHL-ready players, he has stressed the club’s need to get younger and that the club’s next core will need to continue to develop once they reach hockey’s highest level, as Crosby, Malkin and Letang did when they reached the league in the mid-to-late 2000s.
Enter Muse, who has been part of coaching staffs that have won titles in the NCAA and United States Hockey League, as well as at the U18 and U20 world championships. When he reached the NHL in 2017 with Nashville, he oversaw a penalty-kill unit that was among the league’s best. He produced similar results when he took over a similar role with the Rangers in 2023.
“His overall body of work, attention to detail and vision for our group showed us that he is the best coach to take our team forward,” Dubas said.
The Colorado Avalanche shored up their depth at centre by bringing back Brock Nelson on a three-year deal.
The team announced the contract extension Wednesday that will keep the 33-year-old Nelson with the Avalanche through the 2027-28 season. Colorado picked up Nelson in a trade with the New York Islanders on March 6.
Nelson played in 19 games with Colorado to finish up the regular season with six goals and 13 points, and had four assists in the team’s first-round playoff exit against Dallas.
“He’s been a great centre in this league for a long time, and he brings professionalism and a dedicated work ethic on and off the ice,” Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland said in a statement. “We think he’s a great fit and is a stabilizing presence to our second-line centre role with his size and ability to touch all areas of the ice.”
Nelson has 301 goals and 587 points in 920 NHL regular-season games since being selected by the Islanders in the first round of the 2010 NHL draft. He played at North Dakota before joining the Islanders.
Nathan MacKinnon is Colorado’s top-line centre and turned in a regular season in which he finished second in the league with 116 points. Nelson occupies the second-line center spot and Charlie Coyle anchors the third line.
Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov is the winner of this season’s Ted Lindsay Award, the NHL Players’ Association announced Wednesday.
The award is given annually to “the most outstanding player in the NHL” as voted by his peers.
Kucherov led the league with 121 points (37 goals, 84 assists) in 78 games in 2024-25 to pick up his second Ted Lindsay Award.
He also won the award in 2018-19 and was a finalist last year.
Colorado teammates Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar were the other finalists.
MacKinnon won the award in the 2023-24 season.
