Captain Sidney Crosby, entering his 21st NHL season, desires winning the Stanley Cup a fourth time. Center Evgeni Malkin and defenseman Kris Letang, each set for his 20th season, do too. Muse, hired June 4 as Penguins coach, gets that. But rushing won't work, he said.

Muse, a relative no-name with no connection to Pittsburgh who was hired last week to be the Penguins’ new head coach, had the opportunity to introduce himself to fans. He did very well.

As Muse stepped onto a podium at PPG Paints Arena for the first time, took a seat next to president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas and the two started to talk, it quickly became evident that this unexpected partnership was more about passion and people skills than it was putting in place the right neutral-zone forecheck.