NHL insider reports Penguins have interviewed these 5 head coaching candidates

World Renowned NHL insider Elliotte Friedman recorded his weekly "32 Thoughts" podcast on Friday and during one of his segments, he talked about the Penguins coaching search and who Kyle Dubas has interviewed for the job.

He mentioned several names that might be familliar to Penguins fans. Mitch Love, DJ Smith, David Quinn, Jay Woodcroft, and Jay Leach.

Quinn being on that list is not surprising as he is one of the only assistant coaches left on the staff and has been a head coach before. But if Kyle Dubas is smart, Quinn would not be the right hire.

The best hire would be Love or Woodcroft

It should be a no brainer that the Penguins are high on Love and Woodcroft. Both have been successful coaches in the AHL and the NHL.

Woodcroft more recently coached for the Edmonton Oilers not long ago and Love has been an assistant coach with the Washington Capitals the last few seasons.

Love also was AHL coach of the year the last two seasons before he coached as an assistant with the Capitals. Both would be home run hires and would be the names that would really help the penguins youth movement if this is or is going to be the final list of candidates.

Quinn would be the worst hire out of the five listed

When Quinn was a head coach before for the New York Rangers and the San Jose Sharks, both teams were not great under his leadership.

Sure, he was a decent assistant coach recently in Pittsburgh and really helped fix their powerplay that had been a glaring issue for years, but when it came to being a head coach, he did not do well at all.

Dubas seems to have just done his due diligence interviewing him for the head coach spot since he was a head coach before and is one of the only assistant coaches left behind the bench.

But Dubas knows what he is doing and should make the right hire whenever that will take place.