Eddie Olczyk's only coaching experience is in youth hockey, and it's easy to view that as a liability for a guy who'll be running a bench in the NHL next season.
But from at least one player's perspective, working with 15- and 16-year-olds around Chicago can only help Olczyk's transition to his new job as coach of the Penguins.
"He's got a bunch of kids here," defenseman Marc Bergevin said. "So it's going to be the same thing."
Bergevin, it should be noted, isn't one of those kids -- he actually is a year and five days older than Olczyk, his long-ago teammate in Chicago -- but he's very much the exception on the team's depth chart these days.
For every 30-something veteran like Bergevin, Martin Straka or Johan Hedberg, there are a half-dozen youngsters whose voices still were changing a week or so ago.
Putting so many players who lack experience and proven talent under the guidance of a guy who never has coached a shift in the pros is a high-stakes gamble for a franchise facing an uncertain future, on and off the ice.
But what strikes some as a textbook formula for failure is seen in a dramatically different way by Olczyk's players.
"When you have a young team and a young coach, they could work well together," center Brian Holzinger said.
Hedberg, an unabashed optimist on all matters, said he has a "gut feeling" that Olczyk is a good fit for the Penguins' opening, in part because of his communication skills.
"He's the kind of guy who can get a message through," Hedberg said. "He's been working with kids, so he knows how to teach. I think it's going to be very positive."
That was the prevailing sentiment among Hedberg's teammates yesterday. But then, skewering one's coach on the day he's hired isn't exactly the fast track to extra ice time.
And Olczyk, while acknowledging that some observers will second-guess the decision to hire him, made it clear he doesn't expect players to wonder about his credentials.
"I was a player once, and one thing I learned very quickly is, do not question the coach," said Olczyk, who played 16 seasons in the NHL. "Craig [Patrick, the general manager] and Mario [Lemieux, the owner] and the organization made the decision, and that's all the players need to be concerned about."
His players -- at least those who've been here long enough to find the entrance to the employees' parking lot at Mellon Arena -- are accustomed to seeing and speaking with Olczyk because he traveled with the team in his role as TV analyst the past three seasons.
That job gave him a firsthand look at the Penguins' personnel -- "He's not coming in from the outside," Bergevin said. "He's knows exactly what's there" -- and allowed the players to get a little insight on how Olczyk acts and thinks.
"Every time you talk to him -- and I've talked to him quite a lot -- he always has good pointers, always gets his message through," Hedberg said. "He's very good with people."
Left winger Steve McKenna also regards the time Olczyk spent broadcasting their games as a plus because "he knows how Pittsburgh operates, has been around the organization" and Holzinger cited Olczyk's 1,031-game NHL playing career, which ended just three years ago, as a major plus.
"There's no doubt about it, he's going to go through a learning process," Holzinger said. "But he's not too far removed from the game, and he knows what players like in a coach. That will be a bonus for him. He'll be able to relate to the players on a more personal level because of what he's been through."
Center Rico Fata, who has averaged better than a coach per season during his five-year pro career, said there are a few common threads that unite the successful ones for whom he has played. And that Olczyk could follow the blueprint they provided.
"They established a game plan right away with us," he said. "They told us what they expected from us right away, and it worked out well. If you didn't listen and do things the way you were supposed to, you were either not there or you didn't play."
Part of Olczyk's challenge will be striking a balance between teaching and tolerance. He not only has to show players how he wants things done -- and demand that they do it -- but must recognize that young players are prone to mistakes. That errors of execution and judgment, while inevitable, can be valuable learning tools.
"He's going to understand that everyone's going to learn from whatever experiences we have," Fata said. "I think he'll be a pretty good fit. We'll be young, and we'll make mistakes, but he'll be learning, as well, at his job.
"He will be energetic, be happy with what he's doing. It will be fun for us, and fun for him, too. He loves what he does. He loves hockey."
Most of the players were caught off-guard when word of Olczyk's hiring leaked yesterday morning. Hedberg was preparing for a flight home to Sweden, while Fata was on his way to an Ontario golf course.
McKenna, meanwhile, was sitting on the porch of his condominium in Whistler, British Columbia, yesterday, taking in a mountain sunrise, when he got word of Olczyk's hiring.
After discussing the move for several minutes, McKenna spoke of the scene unfolding before him. "It's the start of a new day," he said.
Which was pretty much the case three time zones to the east, too.
Dave Molinari can be reached at 412-263-1144.
Bergevin says bunch of kids + Olczyk = good match 
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