The Pens today made Dan Bylsma’s position as coach a permanent one. The Pens and Bylsma agreed to a multi year contract last night. The specific terms of the deal were not released.
The transformation the Pens underwent under Bylsma was nothing short of amazing. The team went 18-3-4 in the final 25 games of the regular season. They were able to get into the playoffs when it seemed it would not happen.
I think this is great. I believe Bylsma has earned an opportunity to run this team. His leadership style and stratagies seem to be perfect for the mix of talent on the Penguins roster.
Ray Shero said this about signing Bylsma: “When Badger Bob Johnson was the coach of the Penguins, he said every day was a great day for hockey. Dan approaches the game with that same type of enthusiasm.”
That’s quite an honor, I hope he’s aware of that!
I am happy he was named coach, because the players really seem to like and play well for him. We are definitely an offense based team. Wonder if he will be making any changes to the coaching staff in the off season.
Disco DAN deserved it.
On a side note: I’m not a big fan of Ron Cook’s but his article on Brooks Orpik was an eye-opener and a fun-read because usually you don’t see players speaking that openly today. Cook would have a tough time screwing this article up because Orpik provided him so much material… This is the ORPIK PG LINK: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09118/966013-87.stm for anyone that missed it… “A guy like [former Penguins teammate] Ryan Malone, if he had to do it all over again, he’d take a lot less to stay here,” Orpik said. “I know at the trade deadline, he was begging to come back here. Plus, one on players who play for the paycheck and another on Briere that should have you LYAO.