Pittsburgh Penguins Fall Short in Pursuit of Top Coaching Target

The Pittsburgh Penguins made the shock decision to move on from Mike Sullivan early in the off-season, and now they begin their exhaustive search for their next Head Coach.

That search will take some time given that Kyle Dubas is in Sweden with Hockey Canada at the World Championship and wants to interview coaches in person, and now, that has cost them one of the top available candidates.

This comes after David Carle officially re-signed as Head Coach of the University of Denver for multiple years, with Pittsburgh and several other NHL teams pushing to land the two-time National Championship winning Head Coach.

The 35-year old has a 179-74-17 record since 2019 as coach of the Denver Pioneers, and while teams like Chicago and Pittsburgh were highly interested, it appears the young coach wants to continue at the NCAA level before making the jump to the NHL, with many speculating he may wait until a job with the Colorado Avalanche becomes available.

While this is one top candidate off the board for Pittsburgh, there are still plenty of others out there, with Rick Tocchet, the former assistant in their Stanley Cup winning team becoming arguably the top candidate for this team.

Ultimately, the Penguins may miss out on several names if Dubas wants to wait until he returns to do his interviews in person, and while Carle is off the board, the hope is that this team can still land a respected Head Coach that can lead them towards a successful future.