How bad of a coach was Dan Bylsma

[Shockmaster]

He was fine. Pens apologists have this sad habit of blaming their coaches or any scapegoat really rather than the truth - crosby malkin and the rest choked from 2010-2015. Badly at that.

Didn’t realize Crosby and Malkin were part of Team USA at Sochi.

 

[BigEezyE22]

He was fine. Pens apologists have this sad habit of blaming their coaches or any scapegoat really rather than the truth - crosby malkin and the rest choked from 2010-2015. Badly at that.

I guess they were mailing it in almost as badly as a certain $20+m duo are right now. I mean, those chokers in black and gold at least didn't have a 2 year span with zero playoff wins.

 

[orby]

Byslma made Jarome Iginla, a hall-of-fame caliber right winger, play left wing on the second line so Pascal Dupuis could stay on Crosby's line. That about sums it up.

 

[Peat]

Part of that is the coach's job. The inmates ran the asylum when he was behind the bench and our players lost their sense of discipline and composure under him. And anyone that follows the team remembers the overall culture that prevailed under him over time.

This. So much this. The coach is there to mentally prepare the players for the hardest moments of the game so they keep their cool and do the right thing. He's not solely responsible, but if players keep failing to come through at that moment, the finger has to be pointed at the coach. Particularly when he's had multiple teams fail to do so, and he's had players that could produce in the big moments with other coaches.

 

[ZeroPucksGiven]

How many 3-1 series leads did he cough up? And the disaster in the Olympics?

Yea...trash coach

 

[Remington 700]

Won the cup using Michel Therrien's system then proceeded to lose in sometimes brutal fashion for the rest of his time with the Penguins.

Since Sullivan came in the Penguins haven't lost a series and look like a threat to win the Cup once more. Sure he didn't have Kessel and Murray but still had prime Crosby and Malkin. Makes you wonder if Bylsma was the biggest problem with the Penguins during his time there.

Don’t let Shero off the hook. He always filled the roster out with low skill, high grit vets. Rutherford has filled it out with young, skill guys who can skate.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

As far as I'm concerned, Bylsma is a curse word.

 

[Reds4Life]

Bylsma flat out sucks, he's not NHL-level coach. He rode 87+71's coattails in 09 and things only got worse from then on.

 

[damoose212001]

Obviously, you can't expect to win the cup every year, however having Bylsma behind the bench is honestly as good as throwing in the towel.

 

[bdub24]

He's like Mike Yeo bad.

 

[Crazy Cizikas]

Somewhere between Dallas Eakins and Adam Oates.

 

[valet]

as a buffalo fan I'll give him a 3/10 as a coach

he was 0/10 in press conferences tho

 

[harmonica]

Byslma made Jarome Iginla, a hall-of-fame caliber right winger, play left wing on the second line so Pascal Dupuis could stay on Crosby's line. That about sums it up.

No doubt that was a massive gaff on his part and laughable from a fans perspective on how he couldn't see that being the wrong choice. But lets be honest on the Iginla we traded for and got, instead of the Iginla that once was.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

No doubt that was a massive gaff on his part and laughable from a fans perspective on how he couldn't see that being the wrong choice. But lets be honest on the Iginla we traded for and got, instead of the Iginla that once was.

Iginla had 32 goals the year before the trade and 30 goals the year after the trade (hell, 29 the year after that), he had not become a shadow of himself yet. He was completely misused and effectively wasted.

 

[Shockmaster]

Iginla had 32 goals the year before the trade and 30 goals the year after the trade (hell, 29 the year after that), he had not become a shadow of himself yet. He was completely misused and effectively wasted.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

When ego is mistaken for genius.

 

[Riptide]

The Penguins were very stacked in 2012 and 2013.

2013, yes absolutely. 2012? Not really. Bringing in Sullivan was a nice injection of skill, but aside from him none of our wingers were able to make a play or create space for Crosby and Malkin. 2014 had a decent roster, but it too had the same flaws.

If you're looking over the Pens rosters in the past, only 2013 had a roster that was deep enough that Bylsma should have had a very good chance of going to the Finals. The rest were all lacking in skill or depth or both.

As for Bylsma as a coach? Terrible. He won his cup with Therrien's system, then changed it and won shit afterwards. The rounds he did make in the POs were purely due to the skill he was able to put on the ice. And that's - simply put - not good enough to be a real contender. DB's biggest issue was his inability or unwillingness to change away from his plan if his plan wasn't working. Sullivan makes constant adjustments game to game, period to period and shift to shift if something isn't working. With DB you rarely even saw that game to game.

 

[Riptide]

I’m all for providing context and recognizing that the team’s players and, yes, even the opposition sometimes has something to do with a team not winning a series, but 2012 and 2013 have always jumped out at me as being byproducts of the coach’s system and unwillingness to adjust to what the opposition is doing.

Which was always DBs biggest issue.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Coaching adjustments are for suckers.

 

[Riptide]

Don’t let Shero off the hook. He always filled the roster out with low skill, high grit vets. Rutherford has filled it out with young, skill guys who can skate.

Yes... but was that because that's how Shero wanted the roster constructed, or that's how DB wanted it? Shero deserves his own blame, but I'm unsure how much of that one I'd be placing on him.

 

[harmonica]

Iginla had 32 goals the year before the trade and 30 goals the year after the trade (hell, 29 the year after that), he had not become a shadow of himself yet. He was completely misused and effectively wasted.

I think people let their hatred/frustration/disgust with Disco Dan cloud their memories of Iginla. Yes he was mismanaged, but he played like a shell of the player he was a few years before. He was slow and soft along the boards. Regardless of what position he was forced in to, the things that had made him such a powerhouse his whole career had started to fade or were gone. He also did get games in on the RW, but never looked comfortable no matter who he played with. A side note, our lines were pretty much switched up all the time during those playoff series. Yes Iggy was misplayed, but he didn't do himself any favours with his play while here and it's not like he had any bounce back years afterwards that proved otherwise.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Won the cup using Michel Therrien's system then proceeded to lose in sometimes brutal fashion for the rest of his time with the Penguins.

Since Sullivan came in the Penguins haven't lost a series and look like a threat to win the Cup once more. Sure he didn't have Kessel and Murray but still had prime Crosby and Malkin. Makes you wonder if Bylsma was the biggest problem with the Penguins during his time there.

I dont wonder about this at all, I know for sure that he was the main problem from 2010-2015

 

[harmonica]

Yes... but was that because that's how Shero wanted the roster constructed, or that's how DB wanted it? Shero deserves his own blame, but I'm unsure how much of that one I'd be placing on him.

Those two always seemed like they were a match made in heaven, which resulted in hell for us.
Sully and Jimmy are a match made in heaven as well, but that has been heavenly for us.

 

[harmonica]

I dont wonder about this at all, I know for sure that he was the main problem from 2010-2015

I'd actually say our roster was more of a problem throughout that stretch than anything. Here are the primary problems I would say caused our loses:

2010: depth issues/terrible D
2011: injuries to Sid and Geno
2012: goaltending terrible
2013: Disco Dan/fleury bad
2014: depth compared to the Rangers
2015: depth issues compared to Rangers/terrible D

If we had just about any other coach with us, most of our issues during these years wouldn't magically have gone away. The team was fundamentally flawed for years.

 

[chethejet]

He was given the keys to a elite sports car and drove it to Home Depot for goods. Just was never able to have any self awareness of his shortcomings. Shero backed him and was fired as well. But I blame the Pens management for not seeing just what a cluster f*** he was after the Flyers playoff series. should have been gone then.