Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Who will join the Penguins new head coach Dan Muse on the bench?

Episode Date: June 5, 2025

Now that the Penguins have their head coach, who will be joining him on the bench next season? Patrick and Hunter begin the episode talking about how Mike Sullivan has taken two coaches with him to New York, leaving Dan Muse with an empty bench. They discuss how it was probably time for a full reset, as well as who could be candidates to join Muse's staff next year. Then, reports came out on Wednesday that Penguins' prospect Vasily Ponomarev had his rights traded in the KHL. While it may seem like that means he's bound for a return to Russia, it's not that simple. They make sure to clarify what this means for his potential future in Pittsburgh. Finally, a big talking point in the NHL the last few years has been one surrounding state income tax and how some teams may be using that as an advantage. Patrick and Hunter get into why that's just an easy excuse and not an actual reason for success. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.Wonderful PistachiosGet snackin' and get crackin' with the snack that packs a protein punch. Visit WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more! FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new FanDuel customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins!FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

While the Pittsburgh Penguins may now officially have a head coach, that new head coach is going to need a brand new coaching staff. You're locked on penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome into another edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Patrick Damp. You can follow me across all social media platforms at Synonym 4Wet. joined as always today from a very sunny and beautiful beach, the one and only Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.

You can give our show's Twitter account a follow at L.O. underscore Penguins. And of course, as always, we appreciate you making this part of your daily routine because we're your team every day. Don't forget that we are free and available wherever you get your podcasts, as well as YouTube. and if you're following us on YouTube, make sure you've hit that notification button. That way you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday episodes. Today's episode, it's brought to you by Monarch Money.

Take control of your finances with Monarch Money and use code locked on NHL at Monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. Hunter, we've got some new developments in what can we call it, the head coaching search, the coaching saga, whatever we want to call it. We now know, obviously, we talked about it yesterday after the news broke, that Dan Mews will be the next head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins. But Dan Mews and Kyle Dubus will now need to build a coaching staff around him. Because as we talked about last week, Mike Volucci has also moved on. He is now an assistant coach with the Chicago Blackhawks.

and Mike Sullivan took a few people with him to New York. David Quinn and Ty Hennis will also join him with the New York Rangers leaving the Pittsburgh Penguins. And I think this furthers something that we talked about yesterday. This is a team that is now fully committing to where they are and where they want to go. It would have been very easy to retain a few of these guys, maybe not all of them, but one or two of them. Maybe you keep David Quinn because he's got the experience and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And you've got your first time NHL head coach.

But instead, it's going to be Dan Mews and whomever else they try to bring in. I actually will, after I hand it off to you, Hunter, and let you go. I have an idea of someone who might be on the penguins radar to join Mews' staff. But Hunter, your thoughts on this as it broke this morning. Pat, I don't know if you can see all the former coaches, they're going out to see that. Most of them are going up to New York, obviously, with the Rangers, Mike Sullivan, David Quinn now, Ty Hennis. And the Penguins will miss Ty Hennis.

He had been with the organization for quite a while, had been assistant coach. Before that, he had done a lot of skating and skills development. he'd been the coach of those categories. So he had been with the organization for a bit. I liked his work. I think they will miss him. David Quinn, a little bit of a mixed bag this year. He obviously did help with the power play.

The Penguins had one of the worst power plays under Tar Roardon. And then when he left, David Quinn comes in, tweaks up the unit a little bit, and they were the sixth best power play in the league this past year. So I will give him credit for that. Defensively, though, because he worked with the defenseman this season. That did not work as intended. And the Penguins could use a little bit. of, you know, some changes when it comes to that.

This past season at five on five, again, the Penguins won't miss David Quinn, and here's why Pat. They were the seventh worst team in scoring chances allowed at even strength, seven worst team and expected goals allowed at even strength, and the third worst and actual goals allowed at five on five, only ahead of the San Jose Sharks and the Chicago Blackhawks, two of the legit worst teams in hockey. They were woeful in their own zone. So getting a new coach in that can really help in that department will be really big for this team going forward.

So yeah, a little bit of a mixed back for David Quinn. Rangers fans were freaking out about it just because of the tenure that he had last time, inject all that into my veins. But I'm really excited about the fresh blood that will be coming into the Penguins organization. It felt like it was a little bit stale these last few years with most of the same staff in place. You know, Andy Kyoto even he's moving on, which will also be a big. big deal because the Penguins will be able to hire any goaltending coach, which is very important for both now and the long-term future. A lot of the NHL level goalies were going down in recent years.

Tristan Jari had not been playing well. Ned was kind of more of the same. And then Joal Blumquist, goodness, goodness in his second stint, so getting a new goalie coach in here to help the development of the young goalies and the goalies also at the NHL level will be pretty paramount going forward. So again, just really happy that we're seeing a lot of changes to the coaching staff, even for Volucci. I respect the work that he did here. But as we talked about, PK was 18th in the league this year, bringing in someone that can really help with that, especially Dan News. He ran a really good PK in New York this year. Even before that, his penalty kills have been fairly aggressive. That's going to be some fresh blood that will be really needed for the penguins

going forward. So I am very happy with all the changes that have been made to the coaching staff so far. and I am curious to see who Dan Muses brings in for A, his staff on the bench and be his supporting staff, even though they won't be on the bench, but those coaches do. Right. And obviously we don't know what's going to happen with Kyoto. He did not follow Mike Sullivan to New York. He has retained their goaltending coach Jeff Malcolm. And when you have arguably the best goaltender on the planet and Igor Shasturkin,

I think he's probably doing an okay job, even if it is. just the fact that Chesterkins that good. He's free to explore other opportunities. I don't think he's coming back, nor should he. I think they're going to hire. Damuz is going to want to hire his own guy. Right. And I agree with that, with everything that you said in the fact that we've seen over the past

six to seven years a real regression in Penguins' goaltending quality. And we'll never truly know until we see what happens with the likes of Yoel Blumquist and Sergey Murashov because we'll never really know with Jari if it was the fact that he wasn't coached right or if he's just not as good as he was once thought he could be. But realistically, when you have to a brand new coaching staff and you've got two really good goaltending prospects, and you compare that to the track record of the last couple of years, probably best to get someone else in there to get fresh new. blood in the building to work with them and see how they develop.

Now, the one name that has been standing out to me that I wouldn't be surprised if at the very least we find out the penguins and muse have interest in, that is Rochester American's head coach Michael Leone. He just had this season as the head coach of Rochester, but there is a long history between the two at the U.S. development program. And they have had a lot of success together. There's a lot of familiarity there. And when you talk about what the penguins in Kyle Dubus are specifically trying to do right now in play a lot younger, develop their younger talent. This is a guy who you compare them to Dan Mews. They are from the exact same coaching

tree, so to speak. You know what, Pat, I'm glad you mentioned it because a couple hours after Muse was announced, I had a couple of my buddies texted me and said, you better watch out for this name because we think he's going to be added to the Penguins coaching staff. So a little bit of digging on him, it confirms what you said. So 100% think he's going to be, or potentially going to be on the staff. I still think they're maybe going to bring in someone with former NHL head coaching

experience. I think Muse is going to want to rely on a coach like that. And I'm just spitball on right. now. Jay Woodcroft did not get a head coaching gig during the cycle. The Bruins went with Marco Stern that was announced earlier in the day on Thursday. Maybe Dammeuse wants to reach out to him. Woodcroft was a finalist. Hey, you want to come on our staff? You could be an assistant coach. You've coached in the NHL for the Edmonton Orthers. You've been an assistant coach for other teams want to come on our staff, help run the power play and all that type of stuff. I could see it.

I really could. Hopefully I'm not talking out of my butt there, but I could see that, especially since he did not get another head coaching opportunity during the cycle. And I think News would want to surround himself with someone who does have that NHL head coaching experience. I do think that would be valuable. I obviously, I don't know. And I'm not disagreeing with anything that you said about Woodcroft in his experience and all that.

But I do think it might not be a flashy name. It might be, and not even someone like Mitch Love, on the other hand. And it might be somebody who has been kicking around as an assistant coach, whether it's at the HL or NHL levels. Because if there's one thing Kyle Dubus doesn't want to do, at least I wouldn't want to do this, you don't want to give your first time NHL coach his coach in waiting right off the bat. Now, it doesn't mean that he's going to be set up for failure. It doesn't mean that Dubis would be telling him, hey, you've got a short leash.

we're putting this guy on your bench. But the minute things would go wrong, you know that pressure and that chatter would start. So while I would like to see or wouldn't hate to see Jay Woodcroft as part of the staff, that might set up a bit of a rough dynamic for a first time NHL head coach. So obviously, I agree with the sentiment that you probably want to get somebody who's got some NHL experience under their belt, if for nothing else to help with some of the veterans who might be at least a little wary of a first time NHL head coach after having such long and illustrious careers.

But we will see what happens with the rest of the coaching search. And obviously we'll bring you any updates that come up between now and whenever they make an announcement. But we've got more to talk about here on the locked on penguin. podcast because there has been no shortage of content this off season so far for us to discuss. So when we come back, we're going to talk about what was a little bit of a confusing report surrounding one of the penguins prospects. And we will do that when we come back right after this.

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So take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on NHL at Monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That's Monarchmoney.com code locked on. NHL for half off your first year. Welcome back into the Thursday edition of Locked-on Penguins. I'm Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes. And this got buried a little bit yesterday, Hunter, because I don't know if you heard the Pittsburgh Penguins hired a head coach.

So that kind of took precedent for our episode yesterday. And also the Stanley Cup final started, which hell of a game last night in Edmonton, this Stanley Cup final living up to the hype already. But we got to talk about this. There was a report out yesterday that Vasily Ponamara, one of the pieces of the Jake Gensel trade, was traded within the KHL. And it first kind of sounded like he was hopping over to the KHL

and had signed with the team. But the fact of the matter is his rights were traded within the KHL. So while he hasn't signed with Avin, guard. They do have his rights, but this coincides with him being a restricted free agent. So right now, he has a decision to make. If the penguins qualify him or tender him an offer, he has the ability to sign it or decline it and go back to the KHL. You are 100% right. The ball is in his court. if he wants to decide to keep playing with the penguins, he can sign as an RFA.

If not, he can say, see you later. I'm going to go to the KHL, get some planning time, my game a little bit, and then maybe in a year or two, he can come back to the NHL and all of that good stuff. I will say, if the penguins do lose him and he goes over to the KHL, it would be a bit annoying just because I felt like going into training camp, he had a good shot at making this team out of camp.

You look at the numbers this year for Ponamara and Wilkesbury. Fairly decent, you know, 15 goals, 41 points in 55 games. He did play seven games in the NHL, no goals, no assists, no points. But he was made me being played, excuse me, in a bottom six role. And that's kind of what I see him at this point as a player, someone that can play third, probably four funny minutes. But he did have a decent year in the AHL. He did not get as much time with the Penguins as maybe you or I,

want it just because of the way the team was going and all that. But it will still be a bit unfortunate if he does decide to go over to the KHL. It was a big part of the Jake Gensel trade. And it also means that the Penguins are going to have to really rely a bit more on Harrison Brunich once he's ready, Billy Coivin, even though we think Billy Coivant is a much better prospect and all of that good stuff. So I know some people are going to want to blame the coaching staff and all that.

But remember, he also didn't get that much of a chance with the Carolina Hurricanes either. So if he does go over to the KHHHG, Pat, it might be his way of saying, like, hey, two teams have not really given me that as much of a shot as I would like, even though you and I may have differing opinions on that. And he'd be like, hey, maybe I want to prove these teams wrong and all that stuff. But we still need to wait and see what he decides to do if he wants to stay with the penguins and sign as an RFA or if he wants to go play in the KHL. Again, for the third time, if he leaves, it will be a bit disappointing because I've been wanting to see what he can do in the NHL, not just for us. seven game sample on a bad team. Now, I will build off of what you just said and say this.

There is also the aspect that not only would he get more playing time, assuming he would go back to the KHL because a team actively in a league like the KHL who tries to get your rights in something like that, in a league like that, they have plans of playing you. They have plans of using you and making you a big, part of the team. Plus, it goes without saying, but not as good of a league as the NHL. So there's probably more of an opportunity for him to get into a top six role, be an impact forward there. Also, good chance he makes a lot more money over in the KHL than he would say on a two-way

contract with the Penguins. However, all of that said, this could be very similar to what happened with Philip Hollander. If the penguins qualify him, they don't sign him, but they just qualify him. They would own his NHL rights. So he still could go over to the KHL if the penguins qualify him and hold on to his NHL rights, but he would be permitted to go play in the KHL. And if he wants to come back, if he wants to give it another shot in the NHL or even the AHL for a brief period of time, it would have to.

to be here in Pittsburgh or in Wilkes-Bair. We just have to see what happens at this rate. I think the decision is probably going to come in the next few weeks. I think they're going to want to know by the time July 1st rolls round just because that's the start of official free agency. So we just have to see. We really don't have much else to add about this. But if he does decide to sign a deal with the penguins, I will still be happy just

because it'll mean that he's ready for this competition. He's going to be going for a spot in the lineup. If he decides to sign against, you know, people like Philip Hollander, you know, Tristan Rose is coming. Obviously, Billy Coivinen, Rucker McGority. So I'm excited to see. I'll be curious to see what happens here. Yeah, and I still have, I will say, the last thing I'll add is, I still have fairly high hopes. I do think he can be a very effective bottom six player and not in the traditional way. You know, I don't see him as a grinder or a defensive specialist, but kind of that two-way forward that chips in a good few points here and there and gives you

that depth, especially on a night when, say, your top guys are getting checked pretty well, or they're just having an off night. It's a guy that you can rely on, should he continue to develop the way he seems to be? And honestly, I'll say this, if they do retain his rights and he goes back to the KHL, much like Hollander, obviously we'll see what happens with Hollander, if he gets that confidence, he builds his game a little bit better against competition that's comparable or maybe a little bit better than the American Hockey League, it can help them in the long run. So while I know a lot of people were a little bit upset to see this, kind of thought, oh, what is going on?

Why are they not able to hold on to this guy? It's just part of the process. These things happen, especially with guys who, I would say, are middle tier prospects. We saw it with Hollander. We've seen it with a bunch of players across the league, not just here in Pittsburgh. So we'll obviously keep an eye on that. So that'll do it here for our middle segment. When we come back, my apologies to Hunter.

I flexed my hosting this week while he's on vacation card. And we're going to talk about something that came up last night prior to the Stanley Cup final. And that is the narrative in conversation around taxes, income tax, and NHL franchises. We'll talk about that when we come back right after this. Back here on the Thursday edition of Locked on Penguin. I'm Patrick Damp. That's Hunter Hodes. Thank you as always for joining us. And I know this doesn't totally relate to the Penguins, but stay with me because it will. And it's a narrative that's been building the last few years, especially as teams like the Vegas Golden Knights, the Tampa

Bay Lightning, and the Florida Panthers have been really running rough shot over the league. They've been winning Stanley Cups, making deep playoff runs, getting big names. And the biggest narrative surrounding it, Hunter, has been, oh, players just want to go here because there's low or no state income tax. They want to play there because they're going to make more money and they're going to be in a better destination. And I would really like to push back on that for a second because here's how I'm going to relate it to the Penguins. Obviously, having the likes of Crosby, Malkin, Latang, Flurry for a time, stall for a time, Phil Kessel for a little bit, and a few others.

Attractive destination because it's a team that's going to win. But when you check out this, there was a report in the hockey news this earlier this year that kind of gave you a table and a breakdown of where players pay the most tax and where they pay the least. sitting right at 22. So in the bottom 10 of the league are the Pittsburgh Penguins. When the penguins were cruising in the mid-2010s, the late 2000s, even early 2020s, we didn't hear a whole heck of a lot about players got to go to Pittsburgh because they're going to make more money. Penguins just had talent in a smart front office.

players want to win above all else most of the time but when you're talking about teams like Florida like Tampa Bay and all that other stuff sure does good weather matter yes does the tax stuff matter a little bit sure but people have been blowing this way out of their portion you you heard it during Gary Bettman's state of the league address last night he doesn't really feel like it's that much of a concern it's really not players have been going to Florida because they feel like the Panthers have a great shot to win the Stanley Cup. And oh, yeah, Pat, Bill Zito is a top five general manager in the NHL today. Look at the way he has built by Panthers these last several seasons.

There are not many GMs better than him. Julian Brisball with the Tampa Lightning. He has also done a really good job of building up the Lightning these last several years. Do they make ridiculous decisions at times? Yes. Do they have the meme of, you know, F those draft picks and all that stuff? absolutely. But players want to go to those teams specifically, and we can throw other teams in there as well, Pat, because they want to win. And those are bona fide Stanley Cup contenders. I'll throw the Dallas Stars in there too. Jim Nill, really good general manager. That team has been a bona fide contender these last several seasons. Players want to go there because they are a legit threat to win the Stanley Cup. That to me is the biggest reason why you're seeing even more players go to these teams. People need to stop overplaying this income tax and all

that's nonsense. And like you said, it certainly plays a factor. But I said this on social media in the lead up to the Stanley Cup final and really the conference finals because that's when the discussion really drove into, you know, 10th year because you had Florida, Carolina who are two teams in the bottom tier of income tax. Then obviously you had Dallas, but a lot of people didn't talk about Edmonton. Edmonton, while they're not near the top, everybody wants to say, oh, it's Canada,

Canadian taxes, they're so high. Edmonton's not in the top 10 of the lowest income tax in the league. Players want to go there because they want to win. But the other thing that I said was, these guys aren't, you know, me or you going on a job interview and negotiating salaries and benefits, these are guys who get paid multimillion dollar, six figure, seven, eight, nine figure contracts.

And they have people around them, whether it's tax accountants, agents, you name it, who know where every loophole is. They know every benefit. They know every incentive. They can make it so they make a lot more money. And the last two points on it that I want to make. One, real quickly,

When you look at the nice little table that the hockey news put together, you know who is 32nd in the league for the place where you pay the lease tax? Seattle Cracking. And I understand that they're an expansion team who's had some struggles, but very smart front office. Their front office stinks, man. I'm sorry. Ron Francis was running them low key to the ground these last couple of seasons,

making a lot of weird decisions. Their coaching situation continues to be really weird. I knew their front office was weird when they were split on hiring Dan Bilesma last year. Not everyone agreed with Ron Francis when it came to that decision. You saw why because he only lasted one year. And then they hire Lane Lambert of all people to run the team now and be the head coach. So Jason Bottrell is the new GM now. I think he's okay at best.

But they have way bigger problems just because their front office stinks. But no, that's a very fair point. I'm just so tired of hearing about this topic. Again, you got to hear about it. Because their front office is so damn good and they know how to evaluate talent. You can say the same thing for the day out stars. You can say the same thing for the Las Vegas Golden Knights, people. And you got to hear about it, unfortunately, for one last part from me.

I read this quote to you before the show. So I don't have the element of surprise anymore. So I'll just spoil it right away. It is from somebody who is a Penguins legend and now a huge part of the Players Association. and that is the one and only Ron Hainsey. He said to the athletic, from 2008 until 2020, who ran the league? Pittsburgh, Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, and for a brief time, Boston. Certainly Marshaan, Bergeron, Charra could have made more money elsewhere, and they didn't.

They chose to stay. They were a good team and made it to the final a bunch of times. Pittsburgh, I'm certain Crosby, Malkin, or Lattang could have made more money elsewhere. They stayed the whole time. Why? team. They liked where they lived, didn't want to move. Same thing they do in Los Angeles. And what do they all have in common? They all have different tax situations in Florida. That was 12 years. Now we've had six years of Tampa, Tampa, Tampa, Florida, Florida, and just

going off the previous 12, I guess we've got to wait six more years to see if there's even an issue. So again, I know it's a huge narrative. I get it. But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter about this. It plays a factor, but not as big a one as people want to make it out to be. If you have a smart front office that knows how to evaluate talent, that knows how to build a team, players will go there. Players will be willing to play there because, like you said, they are pro athletes. You know what they want to do? They want to win. Most of the time, yes. Most of the time, yes. Unless you're, what was the defenseman's name? I'm blanking on it who wanted to go to Anaheim because he wasn't going to get any attention there.

But I digress. Jake is from the Rangers or someone else? No, it wasn't true, but it wasn't true. I was like on it. But either way, it's irrelevant to the discussion. And that is going to do it for the Thursday edition of Locked on Penguins. We will be back with a brand new episode for you on Friday, which once again means that it is fan take Friday.

We will drop a tweet on our Twitter account. and we will put out a post on our YouTube channel for all of you to drop your takes, your questions, anything you can think of, and we will read it on the show and talk about it on Friday. But for now, for Hunter Hodes, I'm Patrick Dam. Thank you as always for tuning in, and we will talk to you on Friday.