As Pittsburgh Penguins fans wait for general manager Kyle Dubas to make his final decision on the team’s next head coach, two candidates have received more and more airtime as other vacancies around the NHL get filled.
Will it be Washington Capitals assistant coach Mitch Love or former Ottawa Senators head coach D.J. Smith?
While another out-of-the-blue candidate could be selected, the question I have is: Will the next Penguins head coach be the same one who leads Pittsburgh to another long Stanley Cup playoff run?
The last time the Penguins missed the postseason for consecutive seasons, like what fans are experiencing now, was during the early 2000s, coincidentally right before the team’s current core of players was drafted, which gave the organization almost 20 years of dominance.