It didn’t take long for the New York Rangers to finalize their coaching staff after officially announcing Peter Laviolette’s hiring. Former Buffalo Sabres head coach Phil Housley was named the associate head coach, while Michael Peca and Dan Muse were named assistants.
The combination of veteran coaching experience with young up-and-coming coaches, who tend to see the game more analytically, should allow for diverse systems next season. Part of the reason for Gerard Gallant’s departure was the feeling that systems were not in place, and if they were, they were not effective enough to get the Rangers to the Stanley Cup Final.
Unlike Laviolette and Housley, the Peca and Muse hirings don’t fit the traditional “hockey mind” hiring. Peca, who played 14 seasons in the NHL, spent the last two years as an assistant with the Rochester Americans — the AHL affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres. During Peca’s time there, he was able to impact and aid in developing some of the Sabres’ higher-end forward prospects.
Muse is also keen on developing talent. His pedigree stems from understanding the game like few do and translating that knowledge so teenagers and prospects can understand and implement it. It has allowed him to fast-track his coaching career, catapulting him up the ranks of the coaching world.
But to understand how his hiring directly correlates with the Rangers’ 2023 NHL Draft, we must first understand Muse and his career path.
Muse’s Path From Division III to the NHL
Muse played Division III hockey at Stonehill College from 2001-2005. Following the 2004-05 season, he immediately lept into coaching, working as an assistant coach at Milton Academy. He would quickly move towards more prominent programs, stopping at Williams College and Sacred Heart University before landing at Yale.
Muse spent five seasons with Yale as an assistant coach, helping the Bulldogs win their first National Title in 2013. At the end of the 2014-15 season, he would depart Yale for the United States Hockey League, taking a head coaching job with the Chicago Steel. In his second season with the Steel, they had a 38-17-5 record, winning the USHL Championship.
Related: New York Rangers Draft Gabe Perreault 23rd Overall
The championship got Muse a call from the Nashville Predators, where he would be an NHL assistant coach from 2017-20. The Massachusetts native left Nashville and wound up with the United States National Development Team (USNTDP), which is where his story and the Rangers’ story intertwine.
Muse coached the USNTDP for three seasons, coaching two U18 teams at the IIHF World Championships in 2021 and 2023. During his time with the program, he coached many players, but two are now a little more familiar to Rangers fans; Gabe Perreault and Drew Fortescue, picked 23 and 90 in the 2023 NHL Draft.
Rangers Trusting Muse’s Prospect Development
When they chose to hire Muse as an assistant coach on Laviolette’s staff, it was clear that general manager Chris Drury had confidence in his ability to develop and hopefully get more out of the Rangers’ young players. But that confidence was exemplified again when the Rangers selected two players from the United States Development Program with their first two picks in the draft.
Perreault led the US National Junior U18 team with 132 points in 63 games, setting the record for the most points in program history. Fortescue, a defenseman, had 26 points in 62 games in 2022-23. Both played under Muse last season, and both are committed to Boston College next season.
The Rangers seem to be trying to use the bond between Muse and the two young prospects to their advantage, molding the same development style that allowed Muse’s team to set the USNTDP record with 16 wins against NCAA opponents. If Drury and the Rangers view Muse as a potential head coaching candidate of the future, it makes sense to make him as comfortable as possible while in his first season.
They went out and did just that by selecting two of his players in the draft, and two very good players at that. Muse has the innate ability to develop talent and teach the game. It’s obvious the Rangers like that about him and are banking on him utilizing that same style with an NHL roster.
By deepening their prospect pool with players from the Muse School of Hockey, Drury is hoping that the future Blueshirts are going to feel right at home when they step foot on the ice at Madison Square Garden in what we hope is just a short couple of years.
