How bad of a coach was Dan Bylsma

[Crosbyfan]

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

Younger son's Mite B coach wasn't very good, eh?

 

[Chuck Norris Trophy]

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[The Shovel Penguin]

^

 

[SEALBound]

Remember Connor Sheary was available in the Bylsma era.

No he wasn't. Sheary came on at the tail end of the 2014 season on a AHL contract. After 2014, Bylsma was fired. Johnston took over for the 14-15 season and he was indeed available then. He then got brought in during the 15-16 season once Sullivan took over. Nitpicking, but I get your point. We had A LOT of younger talent in WBS that would have been better than the broken down vets Bylsma and Shero wanted.

Remember D'Agistini and Kobasew? Bottom 6 was:

Kobasew-Sutter-D'Agostini
Glass-Vitale-Adams

for quite awhile. I puke when I think about that. This is why Shero is every bit to blame for the lack of success for the Penguins as Bylsma was.

Oddly, the second Shero got to NJ he traded a 2nd for Palmieri. Had he done that in Pittsburgh, he may have kept his job. That or taken Forsberg instead of Pouliot when he already had a gluttony of PMD prospects and ZERO wing prospects to speak of outside of Bennett.

 

[Pens x]

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.

Shero was an awful GM during his tenure. Jimmy Rutherford isn’t some mastermind; he’s just competent. This is what happens when you have a decent GM.

 

[heretik27]

I remember following the Pens during the season Iggy was traded to them. Everyone couldn't stop talking about what a stacked roster they had on paper, but then you watched them play and it was the same thing for years in the playoffs. The defensive "system" was to just let the other teams skate the puck into the zone every rush unchallenged backing all the way up to the hashmarks. I still remember his interview during a game in the series against Boston after the PP had completely dried up. "I thought we had some good looks there". The guy just sucked at making adjustments and relied heavily on his teams offensive talent to win games, and not only that but he loved grinders like Tanner Glass to the point that people wondered if Tanner had some dirt on him. Bylsma also coached one of the USA teams too didn't he? I seem to remember that not going over too well.

 

[Rusty Razor]

Bylsma was the worst problem but the team was also horribly managed. In 2013 we signed Mark Eaton off of his couch and played him in the playoffs. Chuck Kobasew scored two goals on a PTO so we signed him and he played 30 games on Malkin's wing. Once we waived him, Taylor Pyatt was his replacement. No young players got a chance to beat out Glass or Adams who were both ECHL level for years. The entire front office was a shit show.

 

[Turin]

When he acquired Iginla he put him in the only spot on the roster where he would automatically not only be useless, but a liability: his weak side to James Neal’s left. He couldn’t defend, skate with the puck, pass, shoot or forecheck. Dan was so proud of his idea to turn Neal into a one-timer and nothing else, he tried the same thing on a veteran potential HoFer on his last legs.

 

[ncm7772]

No he wasn't. Sheary came on at the tail end of the 2014 season on a AHL contract. After 2014, Bylsma was fired. Johnston took over for the 14-15 season and he was indeed available then. He then got brought in during the 15-16 season once Sullivan took over. Nitpicking, but I get your point. We had A LOT of younger talent in WBS that would have been better than the broken down vets Bylsma and Shero wanted.

Remember D'Agistini and Kobasew? Bottom 6 was:

Kobasew-Sutter-D'Agostini
Glass-Vitale-Adams

for quite awhile. I puke when I think about that. This is why Shero is every bit to blame for the lack of success for the Penguins as Bylsma was.

Oddly, the second Shero got to NJ he traded a 2nd for Palmieri. Had he done that in Pittsburgh, he may have kept his job. That or taken Forsberg instead of Pouliot when he already had a gluttony of PMD prospects and ZERO wing prospects to speak of outside of Bennett.

Plah. Ugh, some of the players in that era. Vomit inducing is right. You're 100% correct about Shero.

 

[Rudy Russo]

No he wasn't. Sheary came on at the tail end of the 2014 season on a AHL contract. After 2014, Bylsma was fired. Johnston took over for the 14-15 season and he was indeed available then. He then got brought in during the 15-16 season once Sullivan took over. Nitpicking, but I get your point. We had A LOT of younger talent in WBS that would have been better than the broken down vets Bylsma and Shero wanted.

Remember D'Agistini and Kobasew? Bottom 6 was:

Kobasew-Sutter-D'Agostini
Glass-Vitale-Adams

for quite awhile. I puke when I think about that. This is why Shero is every bit to blame for the lack of success for the Penguins as Bylsma was.

Oddly, the second Shero got to NJ he traded a 2nd for Palmieri. Had he done that in Pittsburgh, he may have kept his job. That or taken Forsberg instead of Pouliot when he already had a gluttony of PMD prospects and ZERO wing prospects to speak of outside of Bennett.

What the hell were Shero and Bylsma thinking of playing and putting together that bottom six. What did they produce like ten goals, and next to nothing in puck possession? I think I just had a panic attack remembering those lines.

 

[Pancakes]

It was really a combination of reasons as to why the Pens struggled from 10-15. Those reasons include:

1) Bylsma. Couldn't adjust to what other teams would do in the playoffs. Laviolette coached circles around him in 2012. Then AV did the same thing the year Disco got fired.

2) Shero. Bottom six was nothing but crappy vets, and Sutter was horrible. Softest center I've ever seen. Getting Bonino was a HUGE deal by JR simply because Bonino can actually win an occasional board battle. The next one Sutter wins will be his first.

3) Injuries. Some years, Sid/Geno got hurt

4) Fleury. Marc-Andre Fleury was so bad for a stretch there that he had 4 straight playoffs with sub 900 save percentage. No team can win with that. When the Pens finally, FINALLY, got him a real goalie coach rather than Gilles Meloche, his flopping tendencies greatly lessened. One of the things Mike Bales taught Fleury to do was to properly hold his post on wraparounds instead of just flopping like a fish out of water. Seriously. Meloche couldn't even teach Maf that much. In general Bales calmed Maf down in the net, and when Maf doesn't rely purely on his athleticism he's an excellent goalie because the athleticism is still there when he needs it.

Replacing Bylsma with Sullivan wouldn't have fixed the porous bottom six or Fleury's issues, so I'm not sure if they do win another Cup just by that move. In reality it took the combination of moves we've seen. An influx of youth (Rust, Sheary, Guentzel, Murray, etc) some good trades (Hags/Kessel etc), a coach with a clue (Sully), and a GM who knew what moves to make (JR), and finally some good luck. They've been mostly healthy in the two cup runs.

As much as I blame Bylsma for some of the failures I'd still say that the depth/Maf was every bit as big a problem as Bylsma was.

 

[NewAgeOutlaw]

When he acquired Iginla he put him in the only spot on the roster where he would automatically not only be useless, but a liability: his weak side to James Neal’s left. He couldn’t defend, skate with the puck, pass, shoot or forecheck. Dan was so proud of his idea to turn Neal into a one-timer and nothing else, he tried the same thing on a veteran potential HoFer on his last legs.

But if he had put Iggy on the wing he has played his entire career then he might have had to take Pascal Dupuis off the top line. You can see the bind he was in.

 

[JohnC]

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

AV is just Dan Bylsma with HOF goaltending

 

[HandshakeLine]

He was no Eddie O, but he was not... shall we say, competant?

 

[exHornet]

Younger son's Mite B coach wasn't very good, eh?

He was a very nice guy, and could drink more than his share of beer at night in the hotel hallway with the other parents. Outside of that.....

 

[Mick Riddleton]

best move the pens made getting Sully being the bench

 

[Pens x]

best move the pens made getting Sully being the bench

Better than finally finding a competent GM??

 

[Mick Riddleton]

Better than finally finding a competent GM??

Touche, well 2 for 2 seems to be working out

 

[Pens x]

Touche, well 2 for 2 seems to be working out

It’s amazing Shero isn’t more hated in Pittsburgh. He wasted years during the prime of Sid and Geno with his poor roster construction.

His drafting and lack of finding quality free agent was so bad. The Hossa and Iginla deals would have happpened with any Pens’ GM.

 

[SotasicA]

The players around the league once voted Bylsma as the coach they'd most like to play under. That was around the first or second Road to Winter Classic, I believe, and he seemed like a great player's coach. As opposed to Bruce Boudreau who seemed like a complete dick.

 

[Pens x]

The players around the league once voted Bylsma as the coach they'd most like to play under. That was around the first or second Road to Winter Classic, I believe, and he seemed like a great player's coach. As opposed to Bruce Boudreau who seemed like a complete dick.

If you were a skill-less grinder, he'd be awesome to play for. But he had no idea how to coach star players. The Penguins were their best under Bylsma when Sid and Geno were hurt.

 

[Jacob]

I remember following the Pens during the season Iggy was traded to them. Everyone couldn't stop talking about what a stacked roster they had on paper, but then you watched them play and it was the same thing for years in the playoffs. The defensive "system" was to just let the other teams skate the puck into the zone every rush unchallenged backing all the way up to the hashmarks. I still remember his interview during a game in the series against Boston after the PP had completely dried up. "I thought we had some good looks there". The guy just sucked at making adjustments and relied heavily on his teams offensive talent to win games, and not only that but he loved grinders like Tanner Glass to the point that people wondered if Tanner had some dirt on him. Bylsma also coached one of the USA teams too didn't he? I seem to remember that not going over too well.

He also put Iginla on the wrong wing even though he could’ve slid next to Kunitz and Crosby easily.

It was Iginla - Malkin - Neal, both wingers on their offsides, and Iginla had *never* played there.

And he sat Jokinen for guys like Glass and Adams.

Also Letang, the #1 d-man, never had a consistent partner throughout the playoffs. It went from Eaton to Despres to Doug Murray.

For Team USA the GMs told Bylsma he had to match lines.. so he did for a few games and it worked then he went back to his same old bullshit of no line matching and they lost.

A stubborn buffoon.

 

[heretik27]

He also put Iginla on the wrong wing even though he could’ve slid next to Kunitz and Crosby easily.

It was Iginla - Malkin - Neal, both wingers on their offsides, and Iginla had *never* played there.

And he sat Jokinen for guys like Glass and Adams.

Also Letang, the #1 d-man, never had a consistent partner throughout the playoffs. It went from Eaton to Despres to Doug Murray.

For Team USA the GMs told Bylsma he had to match lines.. so he did for a few games and it worked then he went back to his same old bull**** of no line matching and they lost.

A stubborn buffoon.

Yep, I remember the Iggy stuff all too well. He even took him off the PP when it was scoring at like a 25% rate, although Iggy was handling pucks like a grenade on the point which still doesn't justify taking him off the top unit. Murray... the fridge on skates. Man was he slow. A complete opposite to the player that Letang is lol

 

[kingsfan28]

Still unemployed since being fired. He not good and I hope he never coaches the Kings at any level.

 

[kingsfan28]

He also put Iginla on the wrong wing even though he could’ve slid next to Kunitz and Crosby easily.

It was Iginla - Malkin - Neal, both wingers on their offsides, and Iginla had *never* played there.

And he sat Jokinen for guys like Glass and Adams.

Also Letang, the #1 d-man, never had a consistent partner throughout the playoffs. It went from Eaton to Despres to Doug Murray.

For Team USA the GMs told Bylsma he had to match lines.. so he did for a few games and it worked then he went back to his same old bull**** of no line matching and they lost.

A stubborn buffoon.

This. He went away from what was making them win and tried to do something different against Canada and lost. Then quit in the Bronze game and blamed everyone but himself.