How bad of a coach was Dan Bylsma

[Sidgeni Malkby]

After the cup win in 2009 He was an elite coach for about two years according to one teams fans.Shero was also the best GM in the league.It's to bad those threads are gone.
That tune changed around 2011-2012.
Good times.

All true until Bylsma implemented his own system.

Shero was a good GM. He filled holes where he saw them. Look at what he has done in NJ.

Bylsma created holes by not playing any youth. You would be hard pressed to find any youth developed under Bylsma.

Remember Connor Sheary was available in the Bylsma era.

 

[struckbyaparkedcar]

He was terrible. Buffalo fans can confirm this. Definitely held the team back.

Mike Johnston wasn't any better.

Currently praying to every known god we are also able to complete the trinity. Housley is Johnston level incompetent.

 

[ncm7772]

He was awful. I could go on for hours. Just a few of his many issues (none of these are exxagerated:

- Didn't believe in matchups. Seriously.
- Favored grit over skill to a fault.
- Amazing inability to make in-game adjustments.
- No players were held accountable (see 2012 playoffs).
- Constantly told his team to "get to our game", then completely changed his strategy in certain games that backfired immensely (2013 ECF, 2014 US Olympic team vs Canada and Finland).
- Played Tanner Glass and Craig Adams over actual hockey players.

A truly terrible coach, I hope a team I hate hires him.

 

[Stickpucker]

I hope (insert your team name) does t hire him this off-season.

 

[pucksakes666]

Makes you wonder if they could have won more cups with a better coach than those two.

 

[ncm7772]

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.

It wasn't just their ability to stay disciplined and composed during games, it was some of the other bull**** in his effort to keep things "lighthearted and fun" -- one year he let players wear Halloween costumes at practice, every month they'd play "mustache boy" -- shootout loser had to wear a mustache that month. When the Pirates were in the baseball postseason, he or someone decided it would be fun to play a game of wiffle ball on the ice (and apparently Neal managed to get hurt)

It's not like I have a problem with a coach loosening things up when it's needed, but it added up with him and he didn't provide much discipline when it was needed both in their game plan and team culture. He was a breath of fresh air when the Pens needed it in 2009, but things just got worse with him over time.

Not only did the Pens underachieve under him and he held Buffalo back, he failed miserably for USA at the Olympics as well.

I imagine he would be a great coach for kids. Grown men, not so much.

Outstanding post, especially the bolded.

 

[Extra Texture]

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.

Yup. He was all about the mantra of “getting to our game” and it was to the exclusion of every other possibility. Sometimes when that game didn’t work it was time to try something different. And in 2013 he seemed comfortable to do nothing while his team got rag dolled and dragged into a street fight.

If he had more than one trick up his sleeve, he never decided to use it.

 

[olli]

bad enough for Buffalo to have the best power play in the league last year.

 

[olli]

Makes you wonder how many cups the pens would have if Sullivan had been their coach the whole Crosby/Malkin era.

 

[3074326]

bad enough for Buffalo to have the best power play in the league last year.

Buffalo had the 20th best PP last year.. am I misunderstanding something here?

EDIT: NVM, you meant last year as you clearly stated and I looked at this year for some reason. Weird stat.

 

[CasusBelli]

He was awful. I could go on for hours. Just a few of his many issues (none of these are exxagerated:

- Didn't believe in matchups. Seriously.
- Favored grit over skill to a fault.
- Amazing inability to make in-game adjustments.
- No players were held accountable (see 2012 playoffs).
- Constantly told his team to "get to our game", then completely changed his strategy in certain games that backfired immensely (2013 ECF, 2014 US Olympic team vs Canada and Finland).
- Played Tanner Glass and Craig Adams over actual hockey players.

A truly terrible coach, I hope a team I hate hires him.

Actually, as a Rangers fan, the faults you mention also apply to AV.

 

[mynameisnick4]

His obsession with Craig Adams still pisses me off to this day.

 

[nbwingsfan]

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.

Just like the Hawks have "choked badly" from 2016-18 (so far)?

 

[ncm7772]

Actually, as a Rangers fan, the faults you mention also apply to AV.

I don't disagree.

 

[Bixby Snyder]

He has as many cups as Mike Babcock, but somehow he's garbage and Babcock is the second coming of Scotty Bowman.

 

[Crosbyfan]

He was bad. Not Craig Adams bad but...no wait...that bad

 

[ncm7772]

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.

No one is saying that any other coach would have immediately lead any of those teams to a Cup, but look at the losses from 2011-14:

2011: Blow 3-1 series lead with home ice
2012: Zero defensive play required, zero accountability
2013: Completely changed strategy for ECF
2014: Blow 3-1 series lead with home ice

Much of that can be put squarely on the shoulders of a HC.

 

[ncm7772]

Don't forget his quote (paraphrasing) about how in 2013 he had too many options available to use, as a reason for why they failed against Boston.

"My GM gave me too many good players! I didn't know what to do with them all, so I decided to play bad ones instead".

Don't recall that one, but it sounds like something this imbecile woukd say.

Any chance you could find a link? Or was it like a live presser?

 

[jcs0218]

Was "Disco" Dan Bylsma even a coach?

A coach would put some work into matchups and defensive strategy after watching the Canadiens torch Gonchar and company so many times in 2010.

A coach would get control of his team and tell them to settle down once it became clear they were losing their minds in a 1st-round series against Philadelphia in 2012.

A coach would make in-game adjustments and perhaps move some players up/down the lineup when confronted with shift-after-shift of offensive struggles against Boston in 2013. Iginla on LW? Iginla as 3rd-line RW, playing with Sutter and Cooke? Are you kidding me? A Hall-of-Fame winger, who still had 30 goal ability, was acquired to play on a line with Crosby. The best winger Crosby would have had since Hossa in 2008. Yet, Pascal Dupuis got to keep his spot on that line? This was Bylsma's biggest brain-dead year.

All Bylsma ever did was look on from the bench like a deer caught in headlights, then talk after the game about how "we just couldn't get to our game". I heard that quote so many times.

He didn't actually "coach". The thread topic is misleading.

 

[MasterDecoy]

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 feel Murray is better than fleury ever was during that run, same for Crosby, he's an absolute machine now.

Props for typing the words "therrien" and sending every habs fan into uncontrollable seizures though

 

[madinsomniac]

Dan Bylsma won a cup because he had two generational players, an extremely talented goalie, and a new style offensive defenseman Stud who were all shackled in an extremely rigid defensive system that allowed no creativity at all... players collapsed back to their zone on 95-5% pucks in the O zone... if it wasn't 100%... you didn't risk it....

Bylsma loosened the reigns on that team, but kept the structure. Thats how he won... as soon as he put his own philosophy and system in play the team chronically underachved...

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Don't recall that one, but it sounds like something this imbecile woukd say.

Any chance you could find a link? Or was it like a live presser?

The actual quote was my own mocking Bylsma. But his quote was something to the effect of him having too many options as the reason for why the team just didn't seem to click.

Can't remember if it was a year-end exit interview quote of his or just a regular quote when talking to one of the local media guys.

 

[DegenX]

I think the worst thing about Bylsma was he never seemed to learn from his mistakes.

 

[Shockmaster]

He has as many cups as Mike Babcock, but somehow he's garbage and Babcock is the second coming of Scotty Bowman.

Well, Babcock is overrated. Though at this moment I'd still take him over Bylsma.

 

[exHornet]

I would take my older son's Mite B coach from many years ago over Bylsma. And that is not an exaggeration.