The near complete overhaul of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ coaching staff following Mike Sullivan’s departure last April made it anyone’s guess as to how Dan Muse and his new assistants would approach all aspects of the game.
From breaking out of the defensive zone, playing five-on-five, defensive structure, the power play and much more, it remained to be seen how Muse would run things as the 2025-26 campaign got underway.
The Penguins’ tactical design on the penalty kill shaped up to be a particularly interesting development, given Muse’s background running that unit as an NHL assistant, coupled with the combined experience of staff members Mike Stothers and Nick Bonino.
Through 48 games, results have been encouraging — the Penguins’ penalty kill ranks fourth in the NHL (83.1%) following Monday’s 6-3 win over the Seattle Kraken.
“It’s making some of the most skilled players in the world a little frustrated,” said defenseman Ryan Shea, who averages 2 minutes, 8 seconds of shorthanded nightly ice time. “Obviously, you’re going to give up a goal. That’s what’s going to happen. But right now, we’re limiting their zone time, puck possession time and we’re getting huge saves. Right now, everything’s clicking. We have that confidence and that swagger (and that) goes a long way.”
Granted, the Penguins’ season-long streak of five games without allowing a power-play goal ended Monday, when the Kraken’s Eeli Tolvanen scored in the third period.
But earlier on the penalty kill, Connor Dewar chipped in a first-period shorthanded goal following a Seattle turnover entering the Penguins’ zone.
Connor Dewar, picking pockets on the PK ???? pic.twitter.com/1Y5UnolDWR
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 19, 2026
All told, heading into Wednesday’s road game at Calgary, the Penguins have killed off 36 of their last 40 (90%) opposing power-play tries over 14 games dating to Dec. 21.
Muse arrived in Pittsburgh following two years on staff with the New York Rangers as an assistant to Peter Laviolette, for whom he also coached with the Nashville Predators for three seasons.
In 2024-25, the Rangers had the 11th-best penalty kill in the NHL but led the league in shorthanded goals (18). The prior season, New York won the Presidents’ Trophy and had the third-best shorthanded unit in the league.
With the Predators, Muse oversaw a unit that finished sixth in back-to-back years from 2017-18 and 2018-19.
These days, it’s Stothers who directly oversees the penalty kill, but from the start, he and Muse aligned with the kind of shorthanded style they wanted to implement.
“It just doesn’t give those special, creative players the time to make the plays that they want to make,” Stothers said in July shortly after being hired by the Penguins. “If you can get them under a little bit of duress or get them a little bit out of their rhythm, I think you can have some real success for that. I think Dan and I are in full agreement with that.”
Last season, Shea was part of a Penguins penalty-killing unit that was neither a total liability or a significant team strength.
By year’s end, with the Penguins missing the playoffs for the third straight year, the club finished 18th in the NHL with a 77.8% kill rate.
Having passed the midway point of this season, Shea feels as if the strategic alterations that Muse, Stothers and Bonino have helped develop are making a major difference on the ice.
“Going into the diamond instead of last year, when we were taking away the bumper and giving up a lot more shots from the flank, I think going into the diamond brings us closer to the guys that are shooters,” Shea said. “We’re able to pressure them quicker, we’re able to get in shot lanes and I would say not as many pucks are getting to the net because we’re not really giving them that.
“Just the aggression we’re playing with right now is really helping us. We’re making it hard on guys because the outside guys are stepping up and holding the blue lines. A lot of teams are struggling with our aggression on their break-ins.”
Fellow defenseman Parker Wotherspoon, the Penguins’ leader in nightly shorthanded minutes (2:42), has also felt the penalty kill’s design is setting him and his teammates up for success.
Bolstered by the kind of defensive-zone harassment that forwards such as Blake Lizotte, Noel Acciari and Dewar have offered shorthanded, the Penguins’ penalty kill has largely succeeded in preventing shots on goal from dangerous areas as well as second-chance opportunities at the net.
“I like our structure,” Wotherspoon said. “Playing in the diamond works well if everyone’s doing their job correctly. As you’ve seen, there’s been some success. Guys are willing to sacrifice and get in lanes, and that’s a huge part in keeping the puck out of the net. It’s been good.”
Bonino, who played parts of 16 NHL campaigns and was a regular penalty-killer over his 868 career games, has been able to offer valuable insight.
He also was playing in NHL games as recently as January of 2024.
Combining the coaches’ schematic design and the players’ on-ice execution, the Penguins have seen their shorthanded unit rise to one of the NHL’s best.
“It’s a credit to coach Stothers,” Muse said. “He’s the one who put the work into that. Nick Bonino has also been somebody who’s been able to give a lot of insight through it, as well. Think in all areas, as a coaching staff, we want to collaborate and share ideas and different things that we’ve seen in the past. But when it comes to the special teams, it’s a credit to Mike Stothers and like I said, Nick Bonino’s also had a voice in that.”