Inside Scoop: Penguins Front Office Goes to Wheeling

“Country roads, take me home, to the place, I belong – WEST VIRGINIA!”

An entire bus full of Penguins staffers, including Head Coach Dan Muse, belted out those lyrics from John Denver’s classic while crossing over from Pennsylvania to go watch the Wheeling Nailers host the Florida Everblades for Game 3 of the ECHL Eastern Conference Finals on Wednesday. The trip was Kyle Dubas’ idea.

As he outlined in an email to the front office last week, the Penguins have always had an organizational belief in the importance of developing ECHL players to hopefully contribute at the NHL level. That’s been reflected by their 29-year partnership with Wheeling, the longest active agreement between ECHL and NHL teams, and players like Tom Kuhnhackl, Carter Rowney and Josh Archibald contributing to Stanley Cups.

And within the last couple of years in particular, Jason Spezza, Penguins Assistant GM and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton GM, and Amanda Kessel, Director of Minor League Operations and WBS Assistant GM, have been committed to building a Nailers team capable of winning while also focusing on development.

“Kyle's had a lot of success with bringing up guys from the ECHL to the AHL to the NHL. He really believes in the East Coast as part of our organization and a team that can help the Pittsburgh Penguins,” Kessel said. “So, that's something that I definitely learned from him, and that's how we view them. We want guys there that we think can, at some point, help the Pittsburgh Penguins. So, we spend a lot of time investing in them and those players. We believe in all them.”

And while Dubas couldn’t attend Game 3 in person, as he and Spezza are in Switzerland with Team Canada for the World Championship, he wanted the staff to show up for those guys as they continue to battle in the playoffs. Dubas said that nothing would make him happier than a busload of staff bonding as they made the 60-mile trip down the road to WesBanco Arena to support the Nailers. And there ended up being two busloads.

But before the groups departed, the crew took it a step further, with Muse and the hockey operations staff inviting everyone to a tailgate outside of PPG Paints Arena. Organizational glue guy Jason Seidling, who is Director of Team Services, led the charge on putting it together. Standing and chatting with Muse as pizzas were made, burgers were flipped, hot dogs were cooked and beverages were consumed, he was marveling at the turnout from employees across all departments.

We hit the road around 6 o’clock, with Seidling bringing his speaker for the bus I rode. Song requests were texted in, while the aforementioned John Denver was locked in for when we entered West Virginia. In Wheeling, WesBanco Arena sits just off the Ohio River, and it’s a nice setup. Goaltender Taylor Gauthier told me that’s one of the things he loves about playing in Wheeling.

“We all live in the same apartment complex right across the street from the rink,” Gauthier said. “It's always such a tight-knit team, because you're all living in the same building. You go home from the rink, there's a really nice coffee shop down the street that a bunch of us will go to after practice and just hang out. Play cards. Then, a lot of team dinners. We probably do one or two dinners a week where we kind of all bring something and we all just hang out in a room, have dinner, watch hockey, watch movies. It's just a really fun environment to be a part of.”

The first thing we saw upon entering the arena was a display case with memorabilia from Wheeling Nailers alumni with NHL games under their belt, including Sergei Murashov, currently backstopping WBS in their Calder Cup playoff run. But what Muse got a kick out of was goalie coach Andy Chiodo’s bobblehead being featured, as he played eight games for Pittsburgh in the 2003-04 season. They took a selfie with it in the background.

Inside, the Penguins had arranged for both seats in the stands and a suite. It was in one corner of the arena at ice level, with seats along the glass, tables behind those, and a room filled with food and drinks. It was such a cool vantage point to watch a game. Stick taps to Nicole Goehring, Senior Executive Assistant to the President and GM, Kat Smerdel, Vice President of Event Production and Hospitality, and Matt Uzar, Senior Coordinator of Event Production and Hospitality, for the job they did arranging the whole outing.

Once the puck dropped, what stood out is how engaged the fans were. When Tiernan Shoudy tied the game at 1-1 a few minutes into the first period, the crowd pop was incredible. They had chants for Goat (Gauthier), yelled at the refs, and created an atmosphere that was a blast to be a part of.

And while the Nailers battled, Florida is an extremely tough opponent. They won three straight Kelly Cup championships from 2022-24 before falling in last year’s Eastern Conference Final, and finishing at the top of the league this year. The Everblades won the game 5-2 to take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

So, while the result on the ice wasn’t what anyone was hoping for, it was still a fantastic trip. Though it did almost get prolonged, as one of the buses was having trouble starting when we went to leave. Thankfully, it got figured out and we were able to make our way back to Pittsburgh.

The whole trip was another example of the culture that Dubas has mentioned on a few different occasions, most recently in his season-ending availability. He talked about how there was a great environment in the arena every single day, with camaraderie from top to bottom – players, coaches, and staff.

“Everyone in the room has worked at a place that they thoroughly enjoy and worked at [places where] some days, you don't. It changes your life when you go into a place, and you thoroughly enjoy it. And every single person in the building has a huge impact on that,” Dubas said.