After reading Phil Krundle’s passionate, well-thought, and superbly crafted feature on the state of the Penguins (and coach Dan Bylsma), I almost didn’t post this piece. It’s not nearly as comprehensive as Phil’s, but it represents a different point of view. In that spirit I decided to post it:
I never thought I’d see the day when the Penguins organization embraced being second best. Certainly not with Mario Lemieux at the helm.
That’s why I had a hard time believing my ears this past Wednesday when GM Ray Shero attributed his team’s early playoff exits to parity. Maybe I’m taking his comments out of context. But it sure sounded like Shero was rationalizing the Pens’ postseason failures instead of taking a hard look at the root causes. Perhaps if he had, he wouldn’t have been so quick to offer coach Dan Bylsma a two-year contract extension.
It’s difficult to explain Shero’s unwavering confidence in Bylsma. It’s not as if the 42-year-old coach was leading a bunch of ham-and-eggers this spring. This was a deep and talented team—favored by many to win the Stanley Cup.
Michel Therrien should’ve been so fortunate. Eight months after guiding a rising young Penguins squad to the Finals in 2008 (seven months after signing a contract extension) Shero gave him the boot. Granted, the team was in the midst of a desperate slide and needed a change. But there are many—including myself—who feel Therrien laid the structural foundation for the 2009 Cup winners.
Back to Bylsma. It’s not that he doesn’t possess many admirable qualities. He’s a genuinely good guy. His players love him. He’s popular with the fans. He represents the franchise well. He’s enjoyed a ton of regular-season success—and has a Jack Adams Award on his mantle as proof.
In a way he reminds me of former University of Pittsburgh football coach Dave Wannstedt. A “Pittsburgh guy” through and through, Wannstedt was a wonderful recruiter and ambassador for the Pitt football program. He wasn’t a great coach and wasn’t going to lead the Panthers to a national title, but that wasn’t the expectation.
It’s a different dynamic with Bylsma and the Pens. In each of the past four seasons the black and gold have been touted as legitimate Cup contenders. And each year the team has gone belly-up in the playoffs. Give the Bowling Green grad a pass for 2011, when the Pens lost to Tampa Bay without big guns Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. However, you can’t absolve him of blame for the other postseason flops.
Kevin Pawlos, a prominent local amateur player and former teammate of Boston defenseman Matt Bartkowski, said the Penguins never adjusted to the Bruins in the recent Conference Finals. They kept trying to beat Boston’s 1-2-2 with stretch passes, a tactic that failed miserably. Along those lines, who can forget our dreadful penalty killing against Philadelphia last year? The penalty-killers chased Philly’s point-men all series long (with nary an adjustment) and got burned to the tune of a dozen power-play goals.
That’s Bylsma’s modus operandi…and Achilles Heel. He only knows one style. While opposing coaches like Boston’s Claude Julien work to get favorable match-ups, the Pens skipper is notoriously reluctant to make adjustments. It’s puck-possession or bust.
It’s one thing to stick to your guns. It’s another matter entirely to stick to your guns when what you’re doing doesn’t work. That, I believe, is the definition of insanity.
So, for that matter, is extending the contract of a coach who has yet to truly prove he can win in the playoffs.
If Letang accepts the offer, where does that leave Duper and Iginla?
4 early exits is unacceptable. Bylsma needs to go. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity.
Hey Rick, Fantastic stuff as usual, still have to disagree.
Dan Bylsma did make changes and adjustments. I saw it, Ray Shero said it. Sidney Crosby said the game plans were sound, it was his and the other players fault they were not able to get the puck past Rask. The Penguins out shot the Bruins by 15 shots the last two games.
I’m sorry but all Therrien laid the ground work for was failure, just as he did again this year. He is a crappy coach who was lucky enough to get Marion Hossa at the deadline. What are his post season accolades? The team quit on him just like every other team he has coached. Keep this in mind when you look at Therrien’s record, not being able to reach the post season is a post season failure, just ask Philadelphia.
All 30 GM’s will tell you that making it to the Conference Finals any year is not a post season failure.
All 30 of those GM’s will also tell you that the true definition of insanity would be to fire a coach that in five years has Won a Stanley Cup, Won Coach of the year, made the playoffs all five years and the true insanity kicker would be to fire him in a year he had the best record in the entire Eastern Conference and made it to the Eastern Conference finals.
The Lemieux/Burkle ownership is not playing for second best, to say that with the money they spent this year and every year is just a bit silly.
Dan Bylsma brings a very exciting brand of hockey to Pittsburgh. He is the lead candidate to coach team USA in the Olympics next year for a reason. I do not want to trade away our superstars for draft picks and mediocre players and I especially do not want to watch 82 games of extremely boring New Jersey Devils style trap clutch & grab style hockey all year. The Pens can play boring hockey in 10 years when we no longer have the two best players in the NHL.
I think some of it is that there was such high expectations the last few years (especially this year) to at least make the Stanley Cup finals. Shero comes out and says “Bylsma is the man”…but didn’t address as much the dissapointment in the team or coaching. Or Phil, from your article, that he through too much at him to manage. I think as fans, we want to see some change. I certainly don’t want to go through a great regular season, only to have us under-perform in the playoffs. GO PENS!
threw not through. Correcting my own grammar and word usage.
RINIGJG the point of my article was to say that changing 1/5 of the team by bringing in older/slower players that didn’t fit the team right before the playoffs didn’t help. The guys Shero brought in were not only unable to beat out the Pens present top six players, they were too slow and unable to fill the roles of 3/4 liners and penalty killers also. Yet, Bylsma had to play them or face the wrath of the media and most likely get fired.
There is no longer a need to wonder why both Iginla & Morrow’s teams had the Cap space to sign their Captains yet let them go. No need to wonder why Jokinen was put on waivers by Carolina and not one team claimed him right before the Penguins picked him up. The media and the writers here (other than Joey Wales) built up expectations under a false pretense.
This is why I can’t wait until next year. Salary Cap restrictions will make it hard for Shero to bring players just because he can. He will have to try harder and get what the Penguins need.
Phil,
I understand why you wrote the article and I get your point. Teams always try and bring in big talent to help there team at the deadline. While Shero brought talent in it was the wrong talent for the team. Happened several years with the Flyers. They would bring in a big name, and it never helped them. (Although I am happy about that.) I just think we expect more from our team as Rick stated and was upset when there wasn’t more stated about how we did not step up to the plate. Yes, we can analyze each year why we didn’t go further. However, if you are putting a lot of money in certain players, you expect them to step it up more. Understand Blysma had nowhere to put the new players. We all thought, Wow he has so much talent he should of been able to figure out how to play them. However, you article states we should be blaming Shero more “GM of the Year”.
We’ll see, it looks like Chicago is having the same problems the Pens were having. The great equalizer is the NHL not calling interference. It puts greatly skilled teams on the same level as lesser skilled. Then it comes down to goaltending. You can have the greatest team in the world, if the other team holds you the whole time it just doesn’t matter.
As always, Phil, I greatly respect your opinion.
I knew you and I would be miles apart on Michel Therrien. I’m aware that PenguinPoop was formed, in part, to voice everyone’s displeasure with the former Pens coach.
I do, however, respectfully disagree with you regarding the role Therrien played in the first Cup. He did a great job of teaching and instilling sound fundamentals in the likes of Colby Armstrong, Brooks Orpik, Rob Scuderi, and Max Talbot. Perhaps more important, he almost singlehandedly changed the country club culture of the organization when he replaced Ed Olczyk (after a 21-1-2-1 start at Wilkes Barre) during the 2005-06 season.
Remember how bad the Penguins were under Edzo? I think it was Therrien’s third game, and the Pens immediately fell behind 3-0. He called a timeout and paced back and forth behind the bench, chewing some serious butt. I recall the look of utter shock on some the players’ faces, but they got the message. They played hard the rest of the way. I think it was one of those mini-turning points for a franchise that had done nothing but lose for several seasons.
It’s easy to forget that Therrien coached the Penguins to within two wins of a Stanley Cup in 2008 against an incredibly strong Detroit team. And that he led an incomplete 2008-09 team (prior to Gonchar’s return and the trade-deadline arrivals of Adams, Guerin, and Kunitz) to a 13-5-3 start before the wheels fell off the wagon.
Disciplinarians like Therrien generally have a three-year shelf life, and that’s how long he lasted with the Pens. There’s no question Shero had to make a change—the Penguins probably wouldn’t have made the playoffs if he hadn’t. And Bylsma, to his credit, proved to be the perfect tonic.
Still, I think part of the reason the Pens won a Cup was due to the fundamentals and accountability Therrien hammered home over the previous seasons. I’ve often said if you could blend Bylsma’s personality and upbeat nature with Therrien’s ability to teach structure, you’d have the perfect coach.
I was really happy when Montreal hired Therrien. I thought he did a great job of leading P.K. Subban and a team of nobodies to a division title. The fact that the Canadiens got wiped out by Ottawa in the first round just underscored how much he overachieved with that team.
I wish him all the best.
Rick, you know I wouldn’t debate you if I didn’t hold you in the highest regard!
I wish I could understand how Therrien’s 2nd place Habs losing to the 7th place Senators is not a playoff failure but the Pens losing in the Conference finals was a big failure. That supposed team of nobody’s had 8 players score 10 or more goals in the shortened season. Ottawa had 3 players with 10 or more. The Penguins only had 5 guys with 10 or more goals.
If I remember correctly Therrien came in and had a worse record in the 51 games he coached that year percentage wise than Edzo. Edzo was an extremely sad excuse for a coach, and Therrien was a definite upgrade from Edzo. I’m sorry to say, Therrien’s great comeback season the season after is mainly due to the fact that Evgeni Malkin joined the team.
Hmmm. This could very well explain you disdain for Malkin. You think it was 100% Therrien that got the team back on track.
Therrien has great hockey knowledge, he’s just not a people person. The minors is the perfect spot for him. A coach nowadays must also be able to babysit millionaires and keep them happy.
Now Phil, you’re putting words in my mouth. I never said Therrien was solely responsible for the Pens 47-point improvement in 2006-07 (4th best in NHL history, by the way). Ninety percent maybe … :)
Addressing your point, yes Therrien’s teams were packed with young talent. But he still had to harness that talent. And I thought he did a great job of bringing guys along while teaching fundamentals and instilling a sense of accountability. (Gee, there’s a word you don’t see associated too often with the Bylsma-era Pens.)
Did the players tire of him? Yes. Did they tune him out? No doubt.
But as Sidney Crosby said in a March interview with Canadian Press, “It was pretty good, being a young guy and having him to learn the game from. He was a big influence. He taught us young guys a lot of important details in the game. You want to learn as much as you can as fast as you can and he really helped that learning curve.”
Regarding the job he did with Montreal this year, I stand by what I said. Winning a division title with a team that featured Travis Moen, Ryan White, Colby Armstrong (sorry Colby)? He should’ve been nominated for the Jack Adams.
hmmm… now I’m having second thoughts about all of my feelings about the Penguins post season. Ron Cook, a guy that knows nothing about hockey, from the PG just wrote the same ideas I wrote about. 🙁
If I didn’t know better, I’d say Cook consulted with you before he wrote his article … 🙂
I meant this as a compliment (i.e.; one-upping a columnist … 🙂
I think we all can speculate and have different opinions as to why the Penguins have not gone farther in the playoffs. Maybe we just have excellent players, not a good team. Remember 1993. Maybe Bylsma only has one game and it just doesn’t work. (However, the Pens never got to “their” game, so we may never know.) I believe Bylsma will have to make noticeable changes next year, or I believe Shero will eventually fire him. Contract or not. While I agree, Therrien may of set the groundwork, the players were not going to play for him, so Shero had to make a change. And finally maybe we are just a great regular season team.
Hopefully, there will be some good changes next year so Bylsma can find a way to make the players into an excellent team. GO PENS!
I agree..I really like Dan, but great coaches have to make adjustments during a game
Bylsma can’t even adjust the volume on his TV.
Bylsma can’t even adjust the volume on his TV.
The Bylsma backers are delusional and I still don’t understand why underachieving in the postseason is just fine with them.
The Bylsma backers are delusional and I still don’t understand why underachieving in the postseason is just fine with them.
Absolutely dead on! Wish the Bylsma backers would understand this!
Absolutely dead on! Wish the Bylsma backers would understand this!