Mike Johnston hired as Pittsburgh Penguins head coach

The Pittsburgh Penguins and general manager Jim Rutherford have finally decided on a man to lead their hockey team.

That man is Mike Johnston.

It is reported that Johnston will sign a three-year deal to coach the team.

Johnston has been the coach of the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League since early in the 2008-09 season. In his first full season he led the Winterhawks to the biggest turnaround in team history in 2009-10, improving the team by 48 points. He led the Winterhawks to a 54-13-2-3 record to run away with the U.S. Division in the regular season this year.

While Johnston may have been Plan B, as it is widely known that the Penguins wanted Willie Desjardins as their coach before he turned them down and agreed to coach the Vancouver Canucks, his up-tempo, attacking and skill game should translate well for the Penguins.

One Penguins prospect in particular will enjoy this decision and that is defenseman Derrick Poulliot. Poulliot played under Johnston as a member of the Winterhawks.

While this is Johnston first head coaching gig in the NHL, he does have prior NHL experience serving as an assistant coach with the Vancouver Canucks (1999-2006) and Los Angeles Kings (2006-08).

The process might have taken longer than Penguins fan would have liked but at the end of the day the Penguins have got their man.

Now, the only question remains is he the right man to bring the Stanley Cup back to Pittsburgh.