ST. LOUIS — Dan Muse has never coached a playoff game at PPG Paints Arena before.
But he has been behind the bench and won postseason contests at that venue.
Back when it was called Consol Energy Center.
In 2013, as an assistant with the Yale Bulldogs, he helped that program claim its only NCAA title.
It’s one of the highlights of a career over two decades that has had stops at seemingly every rung on the ladder to his current station as head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
He’ll get a chance to guide his current employer — which hired him approximately 10 months ago — in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs after that triumph 13 years ago.
“It seems like a long time ago now,” Muse said to TribLive. “It’s definitely a different feel. You’re talking about a tournament like that where it’s a mix of the fan bases and one and done (single-game elimination).
“For the playoffs for us, it’s a little bit of a different atmosphere. But it is — I don’t know if ironic is the right word — the fact that the national championship game happened to be in Pittsburgh.”
Muse isn’t an overly sentimental individual. He can appreciate the work he’s put in to become a head coach in the NHL, roughly two decades after he was teaching world history to high schoolers in Massachusetts at Archbishop Williams.
He’s proud of what those efforts have led to in terms of his gradual professional rise. But he doesn’t dwell on them. And he certainly isn’t ready to reminisce over how remarkable the past 10 months have been since he took over the club.
After all, he is too busy getting ready for a first-round matchup with the Philadelphia Flyers.
“There is zero sitting back right now and reflecting or doing anything other than preparation and getting ready to keep going,” Muse said. “I’ve got a lot of belief in what this group can do.”
Few believed the Penguins would even get to the playoffs, let alone be the favorite squad in the opening round, entering this season.
And while the Penguins have been taking something of a victory lap on social media by dunking on the talking heads and influencers who predicted the only thing the Penguins would contend for this season was a lottery selection in the upcoming NHL Draft, they weren’t exactly making guarantees of instant success under Muse in the days after he was hired June 4. Or even suggesting it.
During his introductory press conference June 11, Muse was asked what his plan for restoring the team to contender — championship contender — status looked like and how long it may take to unfold.
Largely, he pointed out what that process may look like.
“To put a time frame on it, it’s going to be Day 1 of training camp, it starts,” Muse said in the late days of spring while other teams were still duking it out in the late stages of the 2025 playoffs. “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.”
On Tuesday, he reflected on his tempered non-specific target date for success.
“I just wanted to get my feet on the ground and get going,” Muse said. “Get to work and build together. That was the only focus for me that made sense. We’ve got to build a starting foundation together with the group that we have this year. And we’ve got to build from there. Where we build to, it going to be completely up to us. That’s what we did.
“Going too far ahead instead of looking at what’s directly in front of you, I just don’t think that makes much sense (looking too far ahead). That’s where I try to keep a day-to-day focus. That’s keep learning each day, building each day and us working to move forward each day. That’s what we’ve done.”
What the Penguins did was carve out a 41-25-16 mark in the regular season and a second-place finish in the Metropolitan Division, much of which was on the efforts of mainstays such as Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin who remained productive players in their late 30s.
It was also done by a motley crew of newcomers, many of whom have played the best hockey they’ve ever offered at the NHL level.
Be it a veteran like forward Anthony Mantha, who led the team with 33 goals, or a third-year NHLer such as defenseman Ryan Shea, who shattered his previous high-water mark with 35 points, the Penguins had no shortage of players reaching new ceilings.
“First, I think he brings out the confidence in everyone,” Shea said of Muse. “His positivity is through the roof (and) the whole coaching staff. There’s plenty of games that we have fought back because we never believe we’re out. And he’s a huge part of that. … He allows players to play to their strengths. We’ve got a lot of guys, whether they came in from a trade or came in new, that he obviously saw something in them and allows them to play to their strengths.
“I think that’s one of the biggest parts of us being in the playoffs again.”
Confidence is a common term Muse’s players use when discussing him.
“Really instills confidence in a lot of guys, myself too,” said forward Tommy Novak, who played in all 82 games of a regular season for the first time in his career. “Just the detail that he puts in. The communication that he has with everybody. You always kind of know where you’re at. Just all around, he’s helped everybody. Myself included.”
For his part, Muse deflects credit to those surrounding him.
“I’ll also give a lot of credit to my (coaching) staff,” Muse said. “Across the board. … As a coaching staff, my coaches play a huge role in that. (Assistant coach) Rich Clune does a ton behind the scenes. … (director of player development) Tom Kostopoulos.
“There’s a lot of people, you talk about guys and individual growth, management has done a great job of identifying guys, players have come in and done a great job of taking advantage of those opportunities and I think the staff — the assistant coaches, player performance, player development, everybody — they’ve done a great job of just helping players be in the best place possible to take steps in their game.”
Along with modest external expectations for the Penguins entering this season, there was anticipation that the Penguins would largely turn to youth this season and allow some of their top prospects to learn on the job in NHL games.
With the exception of rookie forward Ben Kindel, a revelation at 18, few of the organization’s most prominent younger players have experienced extended stays on the NHL roster.
Rookie forwards Ville Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty have bounced between the NHL and American Hockey League rosters. Defenseman Owen Pickering, a first-round selection in 2022, has spent the bulk of the season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. And goaltender Sergei Murashov, largely viewed as the Penguins’ goaltender of the future — if not their top netminder in the present — has only been recalled on the occasions an incumbent was unavailable.
Has development taken a backseat to winning the present?
Muse disputes that suggestion.
“You’ve seen a lot of these (younger) guys at different points in the (season),” Muse said. “A lot of guys have come in at different points — especially where (incumbent players) have been out — and have been able to come in and play a role and get great experience here.
“It’s also been we’ve had a number of other guys that have come in (via trades) as the year has gone on and come in and really established themselves. Some of them are also younger players like (Egor) Chinakhov. I wouldn’t say (anything) has taken a back seat.
“A lot of time with younger guys too, if they’re not going to be in the lineup and they’re not going to be playing, then it doesn’t make a lot of sense (to stay on the NHL roster). It’s important for them to keep playing.”
Have the Penguins been a success this season?
In October during training camp, in an interview with TribLive, Muse was asked what success in 2025-26 would look like.
He offered a binary answer, opening with an obvious pursuit.
“I want the season to go as long as it possibly can, Muse said.
Check. The Penguins are guaranteed at least four more games.
The second part of his answer was a bit more profound.
“I want to look at this season and say there is an environment where every day we’re competing and every day we’re growing and we were consistent with that,” Muse said. “You go and control what you can control, focus on what you can control. I go into this season saying can we create that environment where everybody is walking out of here feeling they’re getting a little bit better over the course of the year.”
By any way of gauging that intangible endeavor, one could say the Penguins, either as a team or on an individual basis, did improve over the course of six months.
So, have the 2025-26 Penguins been a success in Muse’s estimation?
Like most things, Muse isn’t really all that interested in dwelling in the past.
“We’ll wait until the season (is over),” Muse said. “Right now, a question like that for me, the focus is going right back to that ‘Are we getting better every day?’ Are we doing the things to prepare? Are we doing the things for individuals to continue to take steps?
“We’re at the best time of year. Now, we’re into playoff hockey. I’m not thinking about anything other than that right there.”