Dan Muse has made hockey in Pittsburgh fun again

The Pittsburgh Penguins may not exactly be a standout Stanley Cup contender as the 2025-26 NHL season approaches its end, but one thing is certain — they’re a much better and more fun team than in recent seasons. 

Through 72 games this season, the Penguins have secured 88 points and have seen continued longevity from Sidney Crosby and Erik Karlsson, despite the former struggling with injuries since winning silver with Team Canada at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympics. 

Sitting second in the Metropolitan Division heading into the final 10 games, Muse might just find himself receiving some Jack Adams Award votes for the best coach in the NHL. 

On this episode of Daily Faceoff Live, co-hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton are joined by Steve Peters to break down the Penguins and other tactical outlooks across the league. 

Tyler Yaremchuk: When you kind of view, like, who is the best coach this year, Dan Muse is a guy who came in, it’s his first season, you can kind of point to some tangible changes he’s made.

Steve Peters: It’s funny when you talk about how and what impact coaches can make. Dan Muse clearly changed the way this Pittsburgh Penguins team plays; they play more defensively through the neutral zone.

Defenseman Erik Karlsson is another player I thought was coming towards the end of his career because of how they defended in the neutral zone. They’re very aggressive at the blue line, but under Mike Sullivan gave up too many odd-man rushes through the neutral zone. Dan Muse has that third forward coming high; they play three guys back through the neutral zone, and now they’re limiting their odd-man rushes and defending much better. 

You can catch the rest of the Penguins’ show segment and the remainder of the episode here…