By the time day one of Pittsburgh Penguins’ training camp concluded, new head coach Dan Muse had nearly lost his voice.
And based on the energy and noise in all three practice sessions on Thursday at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, it’s not really a surprise.
“I think it was loud,” captain Sidney Crosby said. “It was pretty loud out there. There was a lot of stick banging, that sort of thing. I don’t think that was just Dan. That was just, I think, the group bringing a lot of energy.
“That’s what you want. You want the enthusiasm and passion. I thought the pace of practice was really good, and a lot of competition within that, so that’s what you expect from training camp.”
Enthusiasm and passion certainly seem to be early themes for the first-year NHL head coach, but perhaps the biggest theme is competition. It’s no secret that there is a plethora of competition at camp this season between youth pushing for roster spots and veterans trying to secure their place on the roster.
But that competitiveness is also manifesting in how the coaching staff – and the organization – want to approach the day-to-day with this team. In a period of transition and change, the one constant is that players never lose their desire to win. And, given the crowdedness of the training camp roster, players maintaining a high level of compete is a requirement.
“You could feel it. The energy is through the roof,” Kris Letang said. “Obviously, we’re a team. We’re in a situation where every spot is [up] for grabs. The young guys are ready. They want to battle. They want to make a name for themselves. You kind of see the emphasis on what we’re trying to do out there, is battle and play a game situation in every single drill. So, it was pretty intense out there. It was pretty hard.”
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Muse emphasized that the staff wants this team to be “competitive in nature.”
“I think everybody’s competitiveness is going to look a little bit different,” Muse said. “There’s got to be purpose to what you’re doing. This isn’t just a run-around, anything like that, and I don’t think that was the case if you look at the three practices. I think there was purpose to what guys were doing, and we’re asking guys to show the best version of their compete, whatever that is. And that’s not going to change.”
The players were certainly cognizant about the emphasis on competition and the importance of establishing good habits early on, too.
“Practice was great. I think it was about establishing an identity and a work ethic,” Bryan Rust said. “You saw the battle drills out there, a lot of competing. Keeping score pretty much every drill, just kinda trying to get that mindset that we’re going to compete every day.
“And I think the energy out there was great. It was contagious. [The coaches] were all very vocal, they were all banging their sticks, they were all trying to motivate guys, trying to get guys going. I think everybody out there – from the old guys like me to the young guys – were out there working hard.”
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The Pittsburgh Penguins had their first training camp practice on Thursday after the team announced their 69-player training camp roster on Wednesday.
Muse, 43, is in his first season as an NHL head coach. He previously had stints as an assistant with the Nashville Predators and New York Rangers, and although former Predator Philip Tomasino’s NHL stint didn’t exactly align with Muse’s time there – Muse’s stint ran from 2017-20 – he had a positive experience with Muse through some conversations during his time with the organization.
“A first-class individual, first and foremost,” Tomasino said. “Same goes for the whole coaching staff as well. But I just really like his attitidue towards everything. He always seems to find a way to push guys to be their best, so I’m really happy. He’s been awesome so far, and I’m really looking forward to getting a chance to work with him for much longer here, hopefully.”
Tomasino, like pretty much everyone else, echoed sentiment about the level of competition that Muse has brought to camp. But it’s not a one-way street. Muse marveled at the competitive nature of all of the guys in the room, whether they’re a 20-year veteran or a player entering his first camp.
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“I love competition. I think everybody loves competition. It just drives things,” Muse said. “I believe in it. I think these are all competitive guys. It’s all of them. They want to win, and I’ve always found it to be just awesome seeing it at this level, how it doesn’t matter what’s on the line. If something’s there, if it’s, like, one push-up, they’d be all-in to not have to do that one push-up. This group here, I think if I put, like, a cold cheeseburger for the winner, they would be all-in to get that cold cheesebuger. Like, everything, they’d be all in. That’s in the nature.
“You never know until you’re actually there. It’s the hope that you’re going to see the group be all-in, but I wasn’t surprised they were all in there on the competition. I think it’s a big part of it, though. It’s a big part of what our coaching staff believes in.”
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