Penguins fire coach after he leads team to 109 point season

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Nothing like waiting till Friday afternoon to make a bunch of personnel moves, but it happened. I am sure none of us should be shocked that Dan Bylsma was fired by the Pittsburgh Penguins today, because we were told that it was probably coming. Bylsma’s crime, his team didn’t make it past the second round of the NHL playoffs. Wrap your finger around this, Bylsma led his team to a 51 win, 109 points season. No seriously.

Bylsma is a good coach and won't be unemployed very long. The Grand Haven product led the Pengiuns to a 252-117-32 (.628) in five plus seasons.

Pens to fire head coach Dan Bylsma?

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First, I think that Dan Bylsma is a very good hockey coach. I find it puzzling that the Pens ownership is going to blame the head coach for Sidney Crosby scoring (1g-8a—9pts) in 13 Stanley Cup Playoff games. I find that troubling that the head coach is always to blame when a team loses. Bylsma did win a Stanley Cup during the 2008-09 season.

If Bylsma is fired, and he probably will be, he will get a new coaching job very quickly. Some  ownership group is going to want him to be their next head coach. I think the biggest issue is that the Penguins don't have a tough guy to protect Crosby and  Evgeni Malkin from all of the extra bravo sierra that they have had deal with on the ice. Like I mentioned earlier this week, if Wayne Gretzky had to put up with this garbage Crosby has during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, there would have been blood on the ice.

Rob Rossi, Trib Live --- Those questions already were being asked by majority co-owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle and CEO David Morehouse.

Penguins ownership will consider a sweeping overhaul that could include terminating general manager Ray Shero in addition to Dan Bylsma and the members of the coaching staff, multiple sources told the Tribune-Review. Ownership specifically is concerned about a perceived lack of accountability for players, overall team toughness and unproductive drafts, the sources said.

The sources also said Penguins ownership might not want to undergo a complete front-office shakeup with only about a month before the NHL Entry Draft.

No decisions have been made, and they will not be rushed, the sources said.

Shero and Bylsma have two years remaining on their contracts. Shero signed Bylsma and top assistants Tony Granato and Todd Reirden to extensions a few days after the Penguins were swept from the conference final by Boston last June

I am not a Penguins fan, but I have been taken back by how many fans are calling for his head. This past season Bylsma lead the Penguins went 51-24-7 record and finished first in the Metropolitan Division. That's a very respectable finish and it's very hard to win in the NHL playoffs.

David Savard slash on Chris Kunitz, Kunitz gets diving penalty

Disclosure time, I can be tough on the officials, I admit that. It’s well documented. In this case, I think that the officials got the first call right, but made the second half of the call wrong.

Let me explain, you definitely have a penalty on David Savard for slashing; he hit Chris Kunitz in the hands with his stick. That’s a text book penalty, the ref is supposed to call that. The diving call on Kunizt is kind of a tough call. It’s not like Kunitz leapt to the ice retching in pain and flailing about.  He fell down after being hit with a carbon fiber stick. 

14:48 CBJ David Savard Slashing - 2 min against Chris Kunitz
14:48 PIT Chris Kunitz Diving - 2 min against David Savard

Sid Crosby: Impressive Numbers.

Like him or hate him, Penguins Star Sidney Crosby is an elite hockey player, that has put up some crazy numbers in his short hockey career. Think about this,  (25g-461a—720pts) in 520 games evens out to 1.41 PPG for the All-Star forward. Imagine if he hadn't suffered all of those concussions? If my math is right, Crosby missed  over 100-games due to post concussion syndrome issues. Also, he missed about 20-games due to a ankle injury during the 2008 hockey season.

Related articles

• Ray Shero on the Clock (thehockeywriters.com)

Dan Bylsma to coach team USA for the 2014 Sochi Olympic

USA Flag (Photo credit: freefotouk)

According to Kevin Allen of the USA today, Dan Bylsma head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins, has been selected to lead team USA in the 2014 Sochi games.  Bylsma is a good head coach and a great selection for to be the next head coach to USA Olympic team.  I would imagine many of us have a preliminary line up in our minds that would make the team. 

Kevin Allen, USA TODAY Sports -- USA Hockey is putting the band back together for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, although the members will have a different place on the stage.

According to two people with knowledge of the decision, the Nashville Predators' David Poile will be the team's general manager, while Pittsburgh Penguins Ray Shero will be his associate general manager and Anaheim Ducks consultant Brian Burke will be the director of player development.

Penguins coach Dan Bylsma has been selected to be the USA's coach in Sochi.

The two people asked not to be identified because the official announcement will come Saturday in New York, the day before the NHL draft in Newark.

Related articles

• Deal to send NHL players to 2014 Sochi Olympics could be finalized by Monday (prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com)

Flyers rough up the Pens

More on the CHL vs NCAA...

Image via WikipediaIt looks like the CHL versus the NCAA is an issue that is not going to go away any time soon. I think one of the reasons the NCAA is losing to the CHL is the NCAA is hand cuffing recruiting rules by not allowing a college hockey coach to talk to a prospective recruit until that recruit has finished his sophomore year of school and after June 15th.

The CHL on the other hand doesn't have to worry about that rule. So by the time the NCAA coaches have talked to the kid the CHL might have already had a chance to convince them to go the CHL route.  

Craig Custance; Sporting News --- To slow the trend, college coaches hired former NHLPA executive director Paul Kelly nearly two years ago. As the head of College Hockey, Inc., Kelly has hit the road to educate teenagers, like those in Ann Arbor, on the virtues of playing college hockey. His case is as strong as any major junior franchise.

Colleges also consistently develop NHL players, like Zach Parise (two years at North Dakota), Tim Thomas (four years at Vermont) and Jonathan Toews (two years at North Dakota). For the great majority of young players who never see the NHL, it gives them the backup plan of a college education, often at elite American universities. A degree from Harvard eases the pain of falling short on NHL dreams.

A lighter playing schedule also means college hockey players often have more time to devote to the gym.

Pittsburgh Penguins coach Dan Bylsma -- who spent four years at Bowling Green -- said he can usually distinguish the players who arrive via college.

“In a word, maturity. On-the-ice maturity,” Bylsma told Sporting News. “You get a player that’s had longer to develop physically and mentally.”

It's not my intention to slam the CHL and I am a big fan of both development routes. In the past both the NCAA and the CHL have proved to be successful routes for prospects that want to play in the NHL. I must admit that it's nice to see a NHL head coach plug the NCAA route.