Two Names Emerge In Penguins' Head Coaching Search

The NHL head coaching carousel is beginning to pick up some steam across the league, as the Vancouver Canucks hired Adam Foote, the Anaheim Ducks brought on Joel Quenneville, and the Philadelphia Flyers landed on Rick Tocchet.

And it looks like the Pittsburgh Penguins' search is getting more active as well.

According to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, the Penguins have spoken to Washington Capitals assistant coach Mitch Love and Los Angeles Kings assistant coach D.J. Smith.

Love, 40, is currently the defensive coach for the Capitals. He was hired prior to the 2024-25 season and helped lead Washington to the best finish in the Eastern Conference at 51-22-9.

He has spent most of his coaching career in developmental leagues, beginning as an assistant in 2011 with the Everett Silvertips of the Western Hockey League (WHL). In 2018, he was named head coach of the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL, leading them to the playoffs in his first season and putting three strong seasons together.

And in his next gig - which came with the Stockton Heat/Calgary Wranglers of the AHL - he won coach of the year in back-to-back seasons right before being brought onto Washington's staff.

Smith, 48, was drafted by the New York Islanders in 1995 and later appeared in NHL games for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Colorado Avalanche. Following his playing career, he was hired by the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL as an assistant coach and remained there until 2012, when he was hired as a head coach by the Oshawa Generals.

In his third season there, he led the team to an OHL championship as well as a Memorial Cup, which earned him an assistant coaching gig with the Leafs, where he remained through the end of the 2018-19 season before becoming the head coach of the Ottawa Senators.

Smith was in Ottawa for parts of five seasons before getting fired during the early part of the 2023-24 season. In 317 total games with Ottawa, Smith was 131-154-32 with a .464 win percentage.

Although the Penguins are casting a "wide net" in their search for a new bench boss, POHO and GM Kyle Dubas has expressed a desire to make experience in developmental leagues a focus. The Penguins rolled with former head coach Mike Sullivan - now head coach of the New York Rangers - for 10 seasons, and given that they find themselves in a rebuild, someone who works well with young talent will likely be paramount.

Following Sullivan's departure, Dubas said he expects the Penguins to hire a new coach by early June in advance of the 2025 NHL Draft on June 27-28.

Pittsburgh Penguins’ president of hockey operations and general manager Kyle Dubas shook the hockey world when he announced that head coach Mike Sullivan would not be returning to coach the Penguins in 2025-26.