Dan Muse Reveals Why He Started Two Rookies with Penguins Legends
Photo credit: Edit from The Hockey News
Penguins head coach Dan Muse started Ben Kindel and Harrison Brunicke with some legends of the Penguins, and revealed it was too good a chance to pass up.
It would be a dream come true for young players to skate with Pittsburgh Penguins legends Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, and Kris Letang, and that is exactly what happened last night.
It was too good an opportunity to miss, though, for head coach Dan Muse to have his two rookies, Harrison Brunicke and Ben Kindel, start the game alongside those legends. Muse spoke about his decision to pull that move off.
"I don't know if it's always going to be the case, but I think when the opportunity presents itself to get those guys out right away, rather than sit there for a little bit You never know how it's going to go. If you go back in one of our later exhibition games, we took a penalty and we were killing for four minutes. You just don't want to leave things to chance," Muse told reporters after the game. "We had three guys that have been playing together for 20 years, and I thought it was important to start that game together. And so, it kind of worked out well to be able to do that."
The moment unfolded at the historic Madison Square Garden. Crosby, Malkin, and Letang all remain much in their games, but it seemed a quiet passing of the torch from one generation to the next.
With questions surrounding the futures of Crosby and Malkin, that transition might not be long in coming.
Evgeni Malkin Seems the Likeliest of the 3 Legends to be Traded This Season
Trade rumors continue to simmer along, with Malkin's departure seeming more and more possible. Crosby's more dubious: the Penguins won't make a move on trading their captain without his OK, but that is a more real possibility than ever before.
While the Penguins are digging deeper into their rebuild, Kindel is the embodiment of the team's future. The 18-year-old first-round pick of the Penguins in 2025 is being afforded an uncommon opportunity to start the season in the NHL.
For him and Brunicke, playing with three franchise icons wasn't only an exhilarating debut, but it was a glimpse into the future on the move.
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