Discussion of the Day: 9/14/23
With the general demise and constant state of chaos concerning Twitter/X/whatever else it will be called in the future, I’ve been spending a lot more time on Discord. There are a few different ones I am part of, and one has a question of the day thread. I thought it would be interesting to try that out here at Blueshirt Banter and use it as a way of a launching pad for topical conversation. Obviously this will be more exciting and informative during the season when there’s hockey to react to, but I figured now was as good a time as any to try something out. With that said, here’s the first discussion of the day prompt.
What was your favorite move of the Rangers’ offseason?
There’s a lot to choose from whether it be a free agent signing, a re-signing of a player, a trade the Rangers didn’t make, or any of the hires made for the coaching staff and front office. To kick things off, I will start with my favorite move of the offseason.
I personally think the hiring of Dan Muse is something that has gone a bit under the radar, and he seems like the right fit to help some of the current young talent on the roster, and ones who will be joining the team in the years to come.
If you take a look at his profile on Elite Prospects, you will see that the 41 year old has been a coach in some capacity since the 2005-06 season. Muse was a DIII hockey player at Stonehill College, and after his playing career over he got right into coaching and held roles including assistant coach, video coach, associate head coach, and head coach.
If you look a little deeper, Muse has seen success at many of his stops including winning a NCAA title with Yale as an assistant in 2013, and a USHL title with the Chicago Steel in his second season as head coach. This past season he led to the USNTDP team to a 16-5-1 record against NCAA opponents, with the 16 wins being the most the team has recorded against college teams in a single season. And I’d be remiss if I also didn’t mention that 2023 first-round pick Gabe Perrault played for Muse, and finished the season with 132 points in 63 games which set a program record.
Muse last coached in the NHL with the Predators during the 2019-20 season, and now is behind the Blueshirts’ bench where he will have a lot of talented players to work with. When you factor in his resume of time spent as a coach, his blended approach of utilizing “old school” tactics, data, and video analysis, there’s a lot to be excited about with Muse when it comes to having him on the bench.
If you haven’t done so already, there’s a ton of clips of Muse on YouTube talking about hockey and coaching, and while it may seem basic in nature, I think you can agree that it is something that will be welcome to the team given how little we’ve heard about coaching insight from recent hires.
With that said, I turn things over to you… what was your favorite move of the Rangers’ offseason?
