There's no point posing or pretending to know much, if at all, about Dan Muse. Until about noon today, I can't recall ever having seen, heard or read the man's name.

Not just related to the Penguins' coaching search. Like, ever.

But here's as much as I'm comfortable putting forth at this pre-natal stage of his tenure in our town, now that Kyle Dubas has made his choice: I'll take an intelligent, imaginative and intensely invested individual who'd align with a GM who, to this point in our town, has shown all of those traits himself.

I mean that, too. No, I haven't been bananas about every move Dubas has made since his arrival a couple summers ago. I'll bet he hasn't, either. But I've never doubted for a split-second that he comes with those traits and, infinitely more important, that those closest to him feel the same way. They experience the communication. They see the commitment. And above all, over this tumultuous past two seasons, they've felt the first benefits of a smart plan aimed at addressing an extraordinary situation that requires building with youth ... but in ample time to support a living legend in his late 30s.

So yeah, speaking for myself, this was the kind of coach I'd hoped he'd find. The kind Taylor Haase details today in her deep dive on Muse's background that's a must-read for this team's fans. The kind who, at least from the more peripheral perspective possible right now, comes across as if he could be Dubas long-lost twin sibling. Because Muse's hockey history alone would strongly suggest he's intelligent, imaginative, intensely invested ... and hungry.

Remember when that came up from Dubas after Mike Sullivan's firing?

Not that he'd question Sullivan's hunger -- that'd be criminally incorrect -- but rather, the way he focused on the specific fire needed from a coach who's new to the NHL, who legit enjoys developing young players and, at the same time, who's been around the league enough not to be chasing Sid around the Cranberry complex for an autograph.

Muse has all that. He's 42, he's served a handful of seasons now in Nashville and New York as an assistant coach. (No shortage of notable names in those locker rooms.) He's overseen a top-tier penalty-kill. (The Rangers, just this past season, and they attack exactly the way I love to see a PK go.) He's taught from top to bottom. (From clinics to colleges to Chris Kreider.) And yet, to learn of stuff he's spoken through those years, it couldn't be clearer that he's stayed open to absorbing and adjusting as needed.

He's proven nothing in Pittsburgh. He won't even have his introductory press conference until next week, due to the ongoing NHL Scouting Combine up in Buffalo, N.Y.

For that matter, Dubas hasn't proven anything here, either.

But man, this is a strange time for this franchise, and the gamut on that strangeness runs to extremes at either end. I'm not sure I could call it unprecedented, but it couldn't be far from that. And it was never going to be right to have a GM thinking his way, a head coach thinking the other, no matter how much each might be valued separately.

Let me lay this out in real-world terminology: When Ville Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty report for camp this fall, I don't want my head coach worrying about what kind of damage they might do. I want those kids to be seen not as problems but as potential solutions.

All of this has a chance only by thinking through it together.