Tonight at PPG Paints Arena, the Pittsburgh Penguins will celebrate the tenth anniversary of their 2016 Stanley Cup win. During a night that will involve many familiar faces from that championship-winning team, the Penguins will remember a team that brought Sidney Crosby his second ring and forever shut down discussions that his best days were behind him.

And in a weird twist, the coach who led the charge for the first of back-to-back Cups will also be in the building…just on the opposing team’s bench.

Sullivan, with agreement from the team, walked away after last season and hoped to pursue a better opportunity to win in New York. Now, nine months later, his Rangers look just as lifeless as the Penguins did during his final few years in Pittsburgh.

At the same time, Pittsburgh has come alive. They’ve shocked a league that had them penciled in as a lottery club this year and look well on their way to a playoff spot for the first time since 2022.

None of this was expected from them when puck dropped between Sullivan’s old and new teams in Madison Square Garden on opening night.

The 2016 (and 2017) team was obviously one of the most fun teams in team history, because everyone likes a winner. But, in all of the years since their last summer with Lord Stanley, this year’s Penguins, the 2025-26 group, might be the most fun of them all.

There’s a new energy surrounding this Penguins team, something they haven’t had in a long time. It starts with a new man behind the bench.

Sullivan’s work here should never be forgotten. He saved a stale team a decade ago and helped them complete one of the greatest two-year runs in NHL history. He played a huge role in getting the absolute most out of an underperforming Penguins roster during those Cup wins.

But, as time went on, the more his message and style started to fade in effectiveness. His Penguins failed to win a playoff round after 2018, after a first-round win over Philadelphia brought them to an eventual six-game loss to Washington in the second round.

From there, Sullivan’s teams experienced four first-round exits in a row (including a loss to the 24th best team in the NHL, Montreal, during the 2020 Qualifying Round) before missing the dance altogether in the final three.

There were several points during that drought where the argument to move on from Sullivan had validity. Sure, Sullivan wasn’t getting a ton of help from the front office later on. Jim Rutherford’s absence left a vacancy that was eventually filled by Ron Hextall, who made enough ill-fated moves to wonder whether he was a secret agent sent by the folks in Philly.

When the 2022-23 team snapped a 16-year playoff streak, the longest active run in North American pro sports, it felt like the right time. The Penguins had the odds in their favor, with two wins needed against the two worst teams in the league that year standing between them and the postseason. They lost both games.

The team kept him. His contract, which had been extended into oblivion, made it a tougher decision for the big wigs to feel comfortable moving on. When Kyle Dubas first came over from Toronto, he treated his first year like the last dance. He made a big swing for Erik Karlsson out of San Jose and gave Sullivan the go-ahead to go for it.

It didn’t work.

Despite an electric run to close out the 2023-24 season, the Penguins fell just one point short. It was a run that overshadowed how miserable of a watch the team was for most of the season.

That was much more on display last season. The Penguins never had a serious chance at the playoff spot, looking sluggish and uninspired for the vast majority of their campaign. A season that saw them post 80 points, their lowest total since the 2005-06 season (shortened seasons excluded) finally sparked a necessary change. Sullivan and the Penguins agree to shake hands and walk their separate ways.

In comes Dan Muse, a name who mostly flew under the radar during Pittsburgh’s coaching search. A first-time head coach, Muse brought with him a résumé that suggested he was terrific at developing young talent, the perfect strength for a team struggling to enter a rebuild.

The combination of a young, new mind calling the shots now, and a coaching philosophy that has unlocked the best out of players up and down the lineup has enriched the Penguins.

“He lets guys play,” forward Blake Lizotte said of Muse’s style. “There’s a lot of coaches around the league that, especially with my role, depth guy, if you make one mistake, sometimes you can get lost in a game and don’t play as much. With Muse, he lets me play personally, and obviously my game is to try and play smart defensively and a sound game and low-risk.”

Lizotte isn’t the only Penguin to praise Muse, either.

Muse has had a huge impact on a Penguins team that is incredibly fun to watch. They have so much more resilience and toughness than years past. They had some truly awful games earlier this season, but they haven’t let things spiral the way they used to.

The only time it truly could have gone off the rails, the Penguins found a way to rally. After they lost eight straight in December (amidst a trade of Tristan Jarry), they rattled off wins in seven of their next eight to claim most of those points right back in the standings.

They’re an amazing special teams group as well. Pittsburgh boasts the third-best power play in the NHL, and fourth-best penalty kill.

They’ve done this despite not making major changes to the roster. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang are all still here. So are Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell, who still help round out the team’s top six, and Karlsson, who still has a prominent position on the blue line.

And for the new players who were brought in, they are punching well above their weight.

That starts with the draft, where Dubas selected forward Ben Kindel 11th overall back in June. A pick that was seen as a reach on draft night, Kindel shocked the hockey world when he found a way to make the team’s roster out of training camp.

The 18-year-old survived his nine-game trial, officially staying in the NHL all season. That kind of story really only goes for the first overall pick of any given class…Kindel did it ten picks later.

It’s also come from free agency, a class that felt weak at the time.

Parker Wotherspoon was a virtual unknown when Dubas inked him to a two-year, $2 million deal. An analytics darling from his time in Boston, Wotherspoon has blossomed into a sound defenseman and someone who can chip in a point every third game.

Anthony Mantha, a one-year free agent signing who everyone (myself included) was a top trade candidate come March, is on pace for one of the best seasons of his 11-year NHL career.

Justin Brazeau was regarded as a hard-working checking forward, not a goal scorer. In Pittsburgh, he proved a man can have range. He already has a career-high 14 goals, despite missing time with injury.

And they’ve found some luck in the trade market too. He acquired winger Egor Chinakov from Columbus for a 2026 second round pick and 2027 third round pick, as well as depth forward Danton Heinen. It was seen as an expensive price to pay at the time, but Chinakov has benefitted enormously from the change of scenery Pittsburgh has provided him.

He had three goals in 29 games for the Blue Jackets. He has twice that many goals in less than half the games with the Penguins, and has developed chemistry with a fellow Russian in Malkin.

In net, that aforementioned Jarry trade landed Stuart Skinner in Pittsburgh. Though his 11-game run here isn’t yet enough to shake his reputation as a streaky goaltender capable of the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, Skinner is 7-1 with a .934 save percentage over his last eight and has a .906 since coming over.

All of this has culminated in a team that has wildly surpassed expectations to this point. A team with Crosby still atop the roster could never truly bottom out, but as we saw the last few years, was capable of some dreadful play.

This season has been anything but. They just look like they’re having fun out there. They don’t play tense, timid hockey. They don’t play not to lose, they play to win. There’s a belief in this locker room, this arena, and in this fan base right now. It’s so much fun watching this team this year.