You want behind-the-scenes looks at what goes on with the Pittsburgh Penguins as they walk the line between putting a competitive team on the ice and retooling for the future? Coach Dan Muse offered a glimpse on Saturday night.

In one sound bite, he revealed the good, the bad and the tough moments that have gone on away from the spotlight.

Of course, that description could also apply to the game the Penguins had just played fully in the spotlight – the good being a 6-5 win over the Montreal Canadiens in their home opener to move to 2-0-0, the bad being a blown 5-1 lead and needing overtime for the two points. Perhaps the toughest moment came beforehand.

That’s when, with Ben Kindel coming back from injury and newcomer Andrei Kuzmenko coming back from a personal leave to both make their season debuts, Muse had to make a difficult lineup decision with his forwards. He opted to dump 23-year-old Ville Koivunen from the group who got game jerseys.

“There are tough decisions,” Muse said. “I think that’s a good problem to have. A lot of good players. Taking Ville out of the lineup was a really hard decision. He didn’t deserve to come out. That’s a tough thing to do as a coach, to have that conversation, to look him in the eye and tell him he’s coming out of the lineup after he had a great summer, after he’s done everything that we’ve asked out of him. But the reality is, we have other guys that are coming back, that are healthy.”

Yeah, sometimes reality smacks you in the face.

Koivunen, he of the eight-year, $32 million contract extension, who had a goal and was plus-3 in the Penguins’ season-opening 7-0 win at Philadelphia in the season opener, was out, and who knows when he might get back in?

Muse’s words conjured a good example of what in the literary world is known as imagery – he painted a picture of that conversation, and it’s easy to imagine the look on both the coach’s and player’s faces.

This is what it’s going to be like, or at least it would seem that way.

Decisions, they’ve made a few already.

It’s early, but the trend is what some predicted or even dreaded – prospects are being blocked, their development perhaps stalled as they play in the American Hockey League or are scratched from the NHL lineup.

Hendrix Lapierre, one of the newcomers, seemingly bumped Koivunen out of the lineup. Also out was 25-year old towering winger Elmer Soderblom. And with forwards Bryan Rust and Justin Brazeau still to return from injury, there will be more tough conversations ahead.

For now, those lineup discussions don’t include prospects such as Tristan Broz and Rutger McGroarty, who are in AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

And that’s just the forwards. With half of the defensemen in the lineup being newcomers – Declan Carlile, Kaeden Korczak and Trever van Riemsdyk – Ilya Solovyov took a seat. That group has relegated defensemen Harrison Brunicke and Owen Pickering to Wilkes-Barre.

Even at goaltender, the Penguins have choices. Arturs Silovs has started the first two games. Sergei Murashov could well make his season debut Monday against the Winnipeg Jets. And by all accounts the Penguins still like the potential of Joel Blomqvist, who is in Wilkes-Barre.

Maybe it’s hard to argue with two wins in two games, but are those the right decisions not only for now, but also for the future? Are trades becoming more likely sooner rather than later? Making those decisions is why president of hockey operations/general manager Kyle Dubas and Muse get paid the big bucks.

Those decisions also are prime fodder for fans and analysts to judge. That’s how it works. That’s a cornerstone of the sports world. Feel free to weigh in below in the comments section.

As for the Penguins’ brass, they like the place they are in, tough calls and blocked prospects and all.

“So those are really hard decisions,” Muse said. “Those are good problems to have. It’s about as competitive as it gets right now in terms of that competition for roles, for ice time, for playing, and so while it does make it – I don’t want to say tough – it’s the situation. And it’s a good problem to have.”

Tags:Dan Muse Pittsburgh Penguins Shelly Anderson Ville Koivunen

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