The Penguins find themselves holding a playoff position at the Olympic break almost entirely because of a series of surprise contributions. They’re exceeding any and all realistic preseason expectations as a result. This break gives a good chance to circle back at the preseason to re-emphasize just how incredible many things have worked out on an individual level.
The reasons are as long as you care to keep looking.
Add it all up and the results are astounding, even before getting to the least surprising element of all that 38-year old Sidney Crosby remains one of the league’s top players and keeps leading the way.
Ironically enough, most of the players we tabbed in preseason (Hallander, Brunicke, Alexeyev, Silovs) have had no to minimal impact, except for Silovs who is on track to lead the team in games played by a goalie this year. Which goes to show how remarkable it’s been, it’s one thing if a player or two hits a best case scenario, it’s another when across the board everyone is playing to a high level.
When that’s the case, coaching and management impacts have to be considered as well. Dan Muse has done a great job in his first season as an NHL head coach, his whole staff including assistants Todd Nelson and Mike Strothers deserve a lot of praise and recognition as well. Kyle Dubas gets a lot of the spotlight pp a level from there, his staff with Jason Spezza, Wes Clark and Vukie Mpofu have pressed a whole lot of the right buttons to add no shortage of incoming talent large (Chinakhov, Skinner, Kulak) and even small (Solovyov) while the season has been ongoing.
Success has many fathers, as the old saying goes, and that certainly applies on the individual level when it comes to the impressive team results that the Penguins have received so far this season.