Candidates, timeline are coming into focus for Penguins’ head coaching job
The weekly update for the search on the next Pens coach
It’s time for the weekly update on the coaching search for the Penguins. As it was last week, it’s still been mostly quiet — as expected. Rick Tocchet is off the board, having decided to cast his lot with the Flyers. Kyle Dubas remains in Sweden with Team Canada at the World Championships, conducting remote interviews and going through the first step of the process.
One recent update is a few of the names in the mix, per Elliotte Friedman on his 32 Thoughts Podcast:
Friedman on 32TP says Mitch Love is high on the Penguins list for their vacant head coach position, others who have interviewed there are: Jay Woodcroft, Jay Leach, DJ Smith and Dave Quinn.
— NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) May 16, 2025
All of those names are about as expected for the top candidates for opening these days and is by no means the entirety of who has interviewed. Drew Bannister has also reportedly been in the mix.
Mitch Love is an interesting name to consider. He’s young (turns 41 next month), has had successful coaching turns in the WHL and AHL, where in two seasons Love’s teams had a 96-33-11 record. Love has spent the last two seasons in the NHL, on the Capitals staff as an assistant working with defensemen.
Leach, 45, was briefly with the Penguins in 2015-16, serving as an assistant in Wilkes and promoted to be their head coach when Mike Sullivan was promoted to the NHL. Leach has four seasons of experience as an AHL head coach under his belt and has worked as an NHL assistant the past four seasons in Seattle and most recently last season in Boston.
Woodcroft, 48, was a long-time NHL assistant and four-year AHL head coach who got his first NHL head coaching job with Edmonton in 2022. It went well - he guided the Oilers to the Western Conference Final in 2022 and went 76-32-9 in his first season and a half before a slow start in 2023-24 cost him that position.
Smith, 48, brings a lot of experience. He capped a successful junior coaching career that spanned from 2005-15 by winning a championship with Oshawa in 2015. Smith moved on to be a Toronto assistant from 2015-19 (time spent overlapping with Kyle Dubas) and then the head coach of the Ottawa Senators for over four seasons from 2019-23. Last season Smith was back behind the bench as an assistant for the Kings.
Quinn, 58, needs little introduction here. He spent last season in Pittsburgh and helped the power play get back on track. Quinn was the head coach of the Rangers from 2018-21 and again in San Jose from 2022-24 after spending significant time in the collegiate ranks coaching (most notably as the BU head coach from 2013-18).
As far as timeline goes, the wait should be over somewhat soon, though not before final interviews happen when Dubas returns to Pittsburgh in late-May.
“My plan is to have a new head coach in place by June 1,” Dubas told The Athletic.
There are four NHL teams still looking for head coaches right now, the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks and Seattle Kraken also have openings along with the Pens.